ICT-enabled teaching and learning modalities followed in pharmacy education during COVID-19 in India

The transformation from conventional to online teaching and learning created an unprecedented learning environment and many challenges for the trainers and learners during COVID-19 in India. In this context, many synchronous and asynchronous online teaching tools were used to continue the pharmacy educational process and to develop and update the instructional strategies with suitable online tools & interactive methodologies. Indian Ministry of Education (MoE) initiated massive online open courses platforms which were utilized to understand the fundamentals of pharmacyrelated subjects. Introductory and advanced pharmacy practice experiences learning was provided to students through online simulation activities, video reflection, case, and problem-based online discussions, and objective structured clinical and practical examination. Virtual conferencing applications and digital education platforms of MoE were majorly used to conduct the pharmacy education during the crisis and investments in digitization become mandatory in pharmacy education and COVID-19 fast-forwarded its process. Information and communication technology enabled continuity of pharmacy education during the pandemic and improved the student-teacher contact hours, self-paced, collaborative, and contextual learning environment in India. © 2022 Sadagoban Gopal Krishnamoorthy et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

A Comprehensive Review on Efficacy and Adverse Events Associated With Different Covid-19 Vaccines

To combat COVID-19, various health agencies around the world gave emergency approval for vaccines. Therefore, the long-term protective effect and the potential adverse effects of the vaccines on immunocompromised patients, pregnant women and geriatrics might not be well-established. The aim of this review was to assess the safety and efficacy of a number of the most commonly approved vaccines all over the world. A review was made to identify clinical trials that studied the vaccines’ efficacy and case reports of potential suspected vaccine-related adverse events. The electronic databases searched to identify relevant studies were Science Direct, PubMed/Medline, Scopus and MedRxiv. Seven randomized controlled trials which assessed the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and case reports which reported the vaccines’ adverse events were included in the review. The efficacy of the vaccines was found to be 94.6% for Pfizer vaccine, 94.1% for Moderna vaccine, 66.1% for Johnson and Johnson’s, 76.4% for Covishield, 91.6% for Sputnik, and 77.8% for Covaxin. No severe adverse events were reported in the studies. All the reported adverse events were mild, self-sustaining and did not require any medical intervention. All the COVID-19 vaccines demonstrated promising immunogenicity profile, different degrees of protective effectiveness and a tolerable safety profile. However, further research to evaluate the efficacy and safety in vulnerable populations including immunocompromised patients, pregnant women and geriatric populations are needed. The long term post marketing surveillance becomes a very important part of identifying the efficacy and side effects among different populations.

Mucormycosis in COVID-19: modifiable risk factors and its mitigation in India

While combating the second wave of COVID-19, India has now been afflicted by another epidemic caused by mucormycosis, a life-threatening opportunistic infection. Due to their immune-suppressed status, COVID-19 patients in India are now more likely to develop mucormycosis during or after treatment. Uncontrolled diabetes, irrational use of steroids, as well as the severity of COVID-19 can all contribute to the growth of mucormycosis. Risk mitigation strategies that could be used to control the rise of mucormycosis-related COVID-19 patients should be evaluated. The purpose of this article is to explore the modifiable risk variables that are involved in the medical management of COVID-19 patients, as well as the mechanisms through which they raise the risk. This overview also includes a brief discussion of mycology and how the disease pattern varies depending on the regions of the body affected. In this article, we detailed about the early detection and treatment of mucormycosis in COVID-19 patients.

Misinformation about covid-19 and confidential information leakage: Impacts on the psychological well-being of indians

Misinformation, in most cases, is the reconfigured content using basic tools. Fake information related to casualties, infections, contacts, lockdowns, investments, exam schedules, and immigration, leads to confusion, fears, phobophobia, discrimination, harassment, physical injuries, deaths, financial damages, reputational losses, and many more long-lasting side effects. Objective: The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the many ways in which misinformation and information leakage related to COVID-19 can influence the stakeholders, such that it gives policymakers and citizens a greater understanding of both direct and indirect risks and harms when assessing the challenges their countries are facing. Methods: An extensive literature review was done on the prevalence of the COVID-19 related misinformation and its associated significant psychological, reputational, physical, and societal implications on Indians. The novel and possible approaches to fight against the misinformation are described. © 2020 Bentham Science Publishers.

COVID-19 Apps: Privacy and Security Concerns

Today, with the rapid spread of COVID-19, many governments and start-ups are coming forward to develop smartphone apps that trace where we all are, whom we met and for how long, with a goal of interrupting new chains by informing potentially exposed people. These new platforms make use of anonymous use of Bluetooth technology and GPS, enabled either on smartphones or armbands in order to prepare maps corresponding to quarantine monitoring, contact tracing, movement tracking, social distancing and density reports. With different apps for different countries, one thing most of the apps facilitate is tracking. To save lives during an extraordinary crisis, many governments are willing to overlook privacy implications. Keeping in view that the sensitive data being collected is not exclusive to public health organizations and governments, this chapter explores different apps that were developed aiming to combat COVID-19, and the related personal data privacy concerns that arise in the post-coronavirus era. © 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.