July 6 - Digest debuts, universal vaccine moves forward

Aloe and magenta trees bloom in Aldrich Park. Photo by Ian Parker

CAMPUS UPDATES

UCI Digest launches today

Welcome to the new UCI Digest! We have updated and expanded the daily UCI Forward COVID-19 Latest Updates to include events, UCI in the News and other helpful information. We hope you enjoy it.

Free virtual well-being services for employees

Your health and well-being are important and vital to the UCI community. Join the UCI Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute as it provides free access to evidence-based theories and practices through a newly expanded Wellbeing Initiative for UCI and UCI Health employees.

UCI ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS

UCI team readies universal coronavirus vaccine prototype for human trials

Scientists at UCI have designed a promising vaccine prototype aimed at preventing all coronavirus strains and variants, not just the one that causes COVID-19. The research team — led by Lbachir BenMohamed, Ph.D., director of the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Immunology and professor with the UCI School of Medicine's Gavin Herbert Eye Institute — hopes to begin a phase 1 clinical trial of the prototype’s safety by early next year.

“If this universal vaccine performs as we expect, it could prevent the spread of future coronaviruses by humans and animals,” said BenMohamed. “It would be like the polio or smallpox vaccines that everyone gets.”

UCI Health acute care surgery units honored with Beacon Award for Excellence

UCI Medical Center’s inpatient acute care surgery units have earned the silver-level Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses in recognition of their exceptional patient care and healthy work environment. The Beacon Award for Excellence recognizes unit caregivers who successfully improve patient outcomes and align practices with AACN’s six Healthy Work Environment Standards.

UC NEWS AND GENERAL NEWS

US misses 70% vaccination goal on July 4

Currently, 67% of adult Americans have gotten either the first shot of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. If you include people ages 12 to 17, who are now eligible for Pfizer-BioNTech, the national percentage of those who have gotten at least one shot is 64%.

How Americans’ risky behavior surged during lockdown

More Americans in the past year embraced wide-ranging risky behavior—from violence to substance abuse to terrible eating—according to data emerging across industries and public research groups. And social science research suggests that traumatic experiences are often a leading trigger for self-destructive behavior. All of which tells us that COVID-19 impacted the public in ways we are just beginning to understand.

EVENTS

UCI Great Big Read Book Club Discussion: ‘The Vanishing Half,’ Thursday, noon (sponsored by the Office of Inclusive Excellence)

Please visit today.uci.edu to see featured events and to submit your event. Events of general interest will be shared here two days before the event date.

UCI IN THE NEWS

UCI professor wins international prize for work that led to COVID-19 vaccines

July 2, 2021 Referenced: Philip Felgner, professor and director of UCI’s Vaccine Research and Development Center. [Subscription required, campus-wide access provided by UCI Libraries. Sign-up here: https://guides.lib.uci.edu/news/ocregister]

July 4 COVID-19 Vaccination Goal: The Difference Between 67 and 70% 

July 2, 2021 Referenced: Dr. José Mayorga, assistant clinical professor of family medicine.

Stop Blaming Crime Rates on Defunding the Police 

July 2, 2021 Referenced: Charis Kubrin, professor of criminology, law & society.

#UCICONNECTED

“To a UCI faculty member, as an incoming freshman in the middle of a global pandemic, I didn’t know what to expect coming into UCI. Everything was so new to me, & it was overwhelming. However, as I started meeting faculty members like you, I felt welcomed into the university setting. I’m so grateful for all the hard work you put in to help your students every day. Thanks!”

The All-truism project (@alltruism_uci on Instagram), which is supported through a Barnes & Noble College Scholarship, aims to create connections through community, compassion and the creative arts. In this series, Anteaters write letters to faculty and staff.

If you have a shoutout, or if you’d like to share what you’ve been up to during the pandemic, send photos and/or words about your COVID-19 vaccination, activities, workstation, volunteering, etc., to marketing@uci.edu or post on social media with the #UCIconnected hashtag.