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The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life in Europe and globally. The pandemic affects both individuals and the broader society across many domains, including physical and psychological health, the economy and general welfare. The measures taken to counteract the pandemic have significantly altered daily life and, along with the threat of contracting the coronavirus and uncertainties surrounding future developments, created a complex system of stressors with a negative impact on public mental health. This paper aims to outline the ESTSS strategy to address mental health issues related to COVID-19 and focuses on (1) trauma-informed policies, (2) capacity building, (3) collaborative research and (4) knowledge-exchange. To facilitate implementation of a trauma-informed approach and appropriate measures, ESTSS has developed a toolkit of recommendations on mental health and psychosocial assistance to be provided during the different phases of crisis and its aftermath. To promote capacity building, ESTSS offers a certification programme based on a curriculum in psychotraumatology and corresponding on-line training to the European community of mental health professionals. To assure evidence-based approaches and methods tailored to current circumstances, ESTSS has initiated a pan-European research project with international cooperation aimed at studying the mental health consequences of the pandemic, with a focus on psychological trauma and other stress-related reactions. To foster knowledge-exchange, the European Journal of Psychotraumatology (EJPT), the official journal of ESTSS, is publishing a special issue on COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of vaccination against COVID-19, the problem of parents who do not want to vaccinate their school-age children has been evident. A conflict arises between two fundamental rights: the right to ideological freedom, privacy, and physical integrity of parents and minors who do not opt for vaccination; and the right to health of the rest of the children who attend the same school, provoking a social debate on the need to introduce regulatory changes that favor the mandatory imposition of vaccination in certain cases. This research offers an observational study through a cross-sectional design of a quantitative nature, in which one thousand people belonging to the education, health, and economy sectors from seventy-six countries of five continents have participated. The instrument used was a previously validated questionnaire: VACUNASEDUCA. It was considered essential to know the awareness of vaccination processes of professionals from essential social sectors. Therefore, the objectives were: to reflect on the measures of mandatory vaccination, to know the importance of teachers being able to demand a regulated vaccination card from students, to study the need for regulation by administrations of compliance with vaccines, and to analyze the importance of health education. It has been shown that women and those under thirty years of age are the least in favor of compulsory vaccination, with the health sector being the most defending of their demand, and with Europe with the lowest means. It is concluded that mandatory vaccination could be an acceptable tactical option to prevent high-risk situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]