After a relaxing 3 day weekend at the beach, I started my week working remotely for the San Juan CDC HQ helping with file conversions using a program created by one of the data scientists there. From an epidemiological perspective, it was interesting seeing how the data was stored and what goes into understanding the codebook used to decipher it. I personally have never dealt with such a large and intricate data set, so seeing the internal organization of it all makes it easier to exercise my epi-trained brain on how it is analyzed. I have also enjoyed collaborating with the other interns and have learned about some valuable resources they use in their programs. I have also taken it upon myself to start on an introductory modeling course in preparation for next semester when I have free time in the office.
For the rest of the week, I ran routes for sample pickups for both COPA and COCOVID. I still enjoy interacting with the residents of Ponce and seeing the city. In other relevant news, as of June 24th, a committee met to present and vote on the usage of the dengue vaccine, “Dengvaxia”. It was passed 14-0 by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACPI). Have done a little research about the efficacy of the vaccine, I found it interesting the majority opinion is pushing to accept the vaccine here considering its flaws.