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Background: Preventive vaccinations play a significant role in reducing the spread of infectious diseases. They mitigate the course of infectious diseases and limit the occurrence thereof. Thus, they allow maintaining the health security of citizens and are one of the activities that allow for effective population health management. However, even though vaccinations bring significant benefits to the population as a whole, the attitudes of individuals to them raise a number of controversies. Objective: The aim of the study was to analyze the characteristics and factors of patient attitudes towards COVID-19 preventive vaccinations based on the opinions of healthcare experts. The study was carried out in the framework of a project "The interdependence of lifestyle and attitudes towards COVID-19 preventive vaccinations", which finished in June 2023. Method: The research method was an in-depth telephone interview with experts who had previously studied the research problem and the results of quantitative research, and expressed individual opinions on the factors of patient attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccinations. The experts indicated various factors which, in their opinion, can influence patient willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In the research process, four main factors were found: patient social environment and patient experience; patient knowledge and awareness, social impact (message of medical authorities and political decision makers), balance of benefits and risks. Results: The results obtained in the study and the conclusions drawn show the need for further, in-depth research in patient attitudes towards preventive vaccinations, not only COVID-19 vaccinations.

E-prescription, introduced on February 16, 2018, as part of a pilot program in two cities, initially met many barriers (resistance and doubts of medical staff, incompatibility of IT systems and inappropriate computer equipment or its lack in medical offices), and is currently one of the most well-known and the most frequently used e-tools in medical services. The usage of e-prescribing was crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic, when forced isolation made contacts with medical staff difficult or even impossible. Patients, left without medical care, could use health care services to a very limited extent. Then, teleconsultations and digital prescriptions turned out to be an excellent remedy for such a problematic situation. In fact, we owe the development of many e-tools and the spread of their use to the COVID-19 pandemic. The importance of e-prescription for the system and medical service providers cannot be overestimated. Through it, the system and health care entities receive reliable and accurate information (e.g. about the number of prescribed drugs, the health condition of Polish patients, or the amount of reimbursement). An e-prescription is not only a record of what medicine the patient should take, but a set of data that, when used in an appropriate manner, can constitute a guide for the further development of medical services, preventive programs and directions of changes in the health care system. The article presents information on the implementation and use of e-prescriptions by medical staff in Poland in 2018-2022. The information contained in the article may constitute the basis for subsequent studies in Poland and abroad, for international comparative analyses, due to their timeliness and detail. The aim of the article is to present the degree of use of e-prescriptions by medical staff in health care entities. To achieve the goal, the fol-lowing research methods were used: critical analysis of literature and websites presenting digital solutions for the health care system, analysis of source materials and numerical data from the e-Health Center (CeZ).

The unfavorable demographic situation and the falling number of births resulted in an increased interest among Polish politicians in introducing tools to social policy that would reverse this negative trend. Implemented to social policy by Prawo i Sprawiedliwość Party in 2016, the “Family 500+” benefit has become such a tool. According to the government’s intention, this financial aid for families with children aims to reverse the decline in the number of births observed for many years and reduce the scale of poverty among families with the most complex financial situation. After several years of the “Family 500+” Program in force, it is difficult to clearly define whether the goals were achieved and whether the expenses for financing the program were adequate to the results. The aim of the article is an attempt at the assessment of the functioning of the Family 500+ Programme. Both the statutory assumptions of the programme, the costs of its functioning, and its results so far were analyzed. The central part of the analysis covered the period 2016–2019.

The social security system in each country, if it exists, plays a crucial role in supporting citizens and specific expenditures of the public finance system. Its importance in public spending depends on many factors; in particular, on its source and on its form of financing benefits or pensions. The social security system in Poland is composed of a social insurance and welfare system, a health insurance system, unemployment and family benefits, from which are enumerated an old-age pension, invalidity pension, sickness and maternity insurance, insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases, and health insurance. The Polish social security system often changes due to implementation of improvements or limits on public spending. The most famous reform took place in 1999 and introduced the largest number of changes in the sphere of pension security. Because the scale of public funds that are passed on to the social security system is very large, pension reforms should are crucial for improving the state of public finances. The aim of the paper is to present changes that took place in the Polish pension system between 1999 and 2017 and how those changes influenced the amount of public expenditures. The study reviews the research hypothesis: frequent changes in the pension system have a negative impact on the state of Polish public finance. The study covers the years 1999-2017, as well as the previous four years before the implementation of the pension reform. Basic research materials used to conduct the research analysis were reports on implementation of the state budget, data prepared by the Social Insurance Institution and the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund as well as statistical data obtained from the Central Statistical Office.