When the COVID-19 vaccine rollout began, pregnant women hesitated to roll up a sleeve for a shot, according to a survey conducted by the University of California, Davis.

The University of California, Davis, today (June 24) named the recipients of the 2021 Chancellor’s Innovation Awards. The awards recognize faculty, project teams and community partners for their work, dedication and success in improving the lives of others and addressing the needs of our global society through innovative solutions.

Farmers and agricultural employers can protect their business and their employees by supporting workers’ access to COVID-19 vaccines. It’s now faster and easier for farmers to help their workers get vaccinated, thanks to a new partnership program sponsored by the California Department of Public Health.

Teacher Patty Yeung kneels down with a container of ladybugs, and six tiny children encircle her like a hug. She gently lifts the lid, releasing a cloud of ladybugs into the spring garden at the Early Childhood Lab School.

“Open your palm and let them come to you,” Yeung says as the ladybugs flit amid the lavender and fava beans and the toddlers’ outstretched arms.

Testing employees with and without COVID-19 symptoms is an important part of California’s pandemic control strategy, even as more people become vaccinated. To make testing easier, employers, schools and community groups can team up with the California Department of Public Health to provide fast, on-site testing with little or no cost to local groups.

An estimated 334,000 COVID-19 cases are attributable to meatpacking plants, resulting in $11.2 billion in economic damage, according to a new study led by a researcher at the University of California, Davis. The study was published in the journal Food Policy.

Waiting for your turn can be frustrating, especially when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations. But prioritizing who receives the limited supply of vaccines available saves lives and reduces spread of infection, according to a study published today in the journal PNAS from the University of California, Davis. 

While COVID-19-related lockdowns may have decreased the spread of a deadly virus, they appear to have created an ideal environment for increased domestic violence. Extra stress in the COVID-19 pandemic caused by income loss, and lack of ability to pay for housing and food has exacerbated the often silent epidemic of intimate partner violence, suggests a new University of California, Davis, study.

California’s 800,000 farmworkers have been hit hard by COVID-19, the disease that has infected more than 25 million people and killed more than 420,000 in the United States. Farmworkers are especially vulnerable to the airborne virus that causes COVID-19 because they often live, work and carpool in close quarters with other people. As essential employees, farmworkers have stayed on the job during the pandemic to plant, process and harvest the nation’s food.

Thanks to greenhouse staff and students in the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES), 6,300 tiny tomato and strawberry plants originally planned for Picnic Day giveaways will soon find a good home.

“We’re reaching out to local food banks, community gardens and students here on campus to find places and ways to safely distribute these plants,” said Saarah Kuzay, graduate student researcher with the Horticulture and Agronomy Graduate Group.