All commercial influenza vaccines elicit antibody responses that protect against seasonal infection, but this approach is limited by the need for annual vaccine reformulation that precludes efficient responses against epidemic and pandemic disease. In this study we describe a novel vaccination approach in which a nanoparticulate, liposome-based agent containing short, highly conserved influenza-derived peptides is delivered to the respiratory tract to elicit potent innate and selective T cell-based adaptive immune responses. Prepared without virus-specific peptides, mucosal immunostimulatory therapeutic (MIT) provided robust, but short-lived, protection against multiple, highly lethal strains of influenza in mice of diverse genetic backgrounds. MIT prepared with three highly conserved epitopes that elicited virus-specific memory T-cell responses but not neutralizing antibodies, termed MITpep, provided equivalent, but more durable, protection relative to MIT. Alveolar macrophages were more important than dendritic cells in determining the protective efficacy of MIT, which induced both canonical and non-canonical antiviral immune pathways. Through activation of airway mucosal innate and highly specific T-cell responses, MIT and MITpep represent novel approaches to antiviral protection that offer the possibility of universal protection against epidemic and pandemic influenza.

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BACKGROUND: Medical centers across the country have had to rapidly adapt clinician staffing strategies to accommodate large influxes of patients with the coronavirus disease 2019 . OBJECTIVE: We sought to understand the adaptations and staffing strategies that US academic medical centers employed in the inpatient setting early in the spread of COVID-19, and to assess whether those changes were sustained during the first phase of the pandemic. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey assessing organizationlevel, team-level, and clinician-level inpatient workforce adaptations. PARTICIPANTS: Hospital medicine leadership at 27 academic medical centers in the USA. KEY RESULTS: Twenty-seven of 36 centers responded to the survey (75%). Widespread practices included frequent staffing reassessment, organization-level changes such as geographic cohorting and redeployment of nonhospitalists, and exempting high-risk healthcare workers from direct care of patients with COVID-19. Several practices were implemented but discontinued, such as reduction of non-essential services, indicating that they were less sustainable for large centers. CONCLUSION: These findings provide guidance for inpatient leaders seeking to identify sustainable practices for COVID-19 inpatient workforce planning.

Background During the initial wave of COVID-19 hospitalizations, care delivery and workforce adaptations were rapidly implemented. In response to subsequent surges of patients, institutions have deployed, modified, and/or discontinued their workforce plans. Objective Using rapid qualitative methods, we sought to explore hospitalists’ experiences with workforce deployment, types of clinicians deployed, and challenges encountered with subsequent iterations of surge planning during the COVID-19 pandemic across a collaborative of hospital medicine groups. Approach Using rapid qualitative methods, focus groups were conducted in partnership with the Hospital Medicine Reengineering Network (HOMERuN). We interviewed physicians, advanced practice providers (APP), and physician researchers about (1) ongoing adaptations to the workforce as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, (2) current struggles with workforce planning, and (3) evolution of workforce planning. Key Results We conducted five focus groups with 33 individuals from 24 institutions, representing 52% of HOMERuN sites. A variety of adaptations was described by participants, some common across institutions and others specific to the institution’s location and context. Adaptations implemented shifted from the first waves of COVID patients to subsequent waves. Three global themes also emerged: (1) adaptability and comfort with dynamic change, (2) the importance of the unique hospitalist skillset for effective surge planning and redeployment, and (3) the lack of universal solutions. Conclusions Hospital workforce adaptations to the COVID pandemic continued to evolve. While few approaches were universally effective in managing surges of patients, and successful adaptations were highly context dependent, the ability to navigate a complex system, adaptability, and comfort in a chaotic, dynamic environment were themes considered most critical to successful surge management. However, resource constraints and sustained high workload levels raised issues of burnout. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11606-022-07480-x.