To address the challenges of bringing COVID-19 solutions into clinical practice quickly, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) convened an international COVID-19 forum. In the group, 29 scientific researchers and innovators, industry leaders, clinical experts, and policy makers from the USA, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific provided a comprehensive and multi-dimensional perspective on the pandemic crisis. Their major recommendations are now published in the IEEE Journal of Biomedical Health Informatics.

Bringing vaccine delivery into the 21st century

Although they may not replace the traditional jab, new methods of vaccine delivery—including tablets and transdermal delivery systems—provide stable, easy-to-transport alternatives that could enable widespread dissemination and contribute to herd immunity for a range of infectious diseases.

This article presents simulation results from a cardiopulmonary model during simulated mechanical ventilation conditions in order to analyze mechanical heart-lung interactions and their effects on cardiac activity. The model is validated with human data and helps in explaining contradictory experimental observations.