ABSTRACT
Background: To control the COVID-19 pandemic, the only measure could be vaccination drive among country individuals. Pathetically, immunization refusal has been a common story in the media for well longer than 10 years. The study aimed to enlist the reasons for COVID-19 vaccine refusal among health workers of L3 level hospital and also to study the reasons for COVID-19 vaccination refusal by health care workers of L3 level hospital. To carry out this present study research question, the objectives were to prepare a detail list comprising of refusal reasons and also to find out correlations between refusal reasons and selected demographical variables like age/sex. Material(s) and Method(s): The present study consisted of 192 subjects from the Out-Patient Department at the Department of Medicine of Era's Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, U.P. conducted between late December 2020 and March 2021. Informed written consent were obtained from all the study group subjects. A Questionnaire based research design was adopted for this study to assess the reasons for COVID -19 vaccination refusal by Health care workers of L3 level hospital. Result(s): The total study subjects involved in the present project were 192 with the mean age of the study population being 26.33 +/- 5.31 years. Majority of the hesitant respondents were females (56.8%). Out of all the 192 healthcare workers involved in the study, maximum (n=75) were from the allied courses followed by paramedical staff (n=61) and clinical doctors (n=56). Out of all the reasons enlisted for refusal of vaccination, sickness (n=51, 26.6%) was the single most dominant reason followed by drug allergy (n=23;12%), pregnancy (n=18;9.4%), food allergy (n=12;6.2%) and lactation (n=8;4.2%), with 79 respondents giving various other reasons for refusal like parents' denial (n=26), followed by presence of a medical condition (n=18), travel and scheduled appointments for personal/official tasks (n=4 each). A total of 27 respondents had failed to cite any specific reason for refusal. Reasons for refusal showed a significant variation for different age groups, sexes and professional categories (p<0.001). In effect, there was a statistically significant difference among different professional categories with respect to reasons for vaccine hesitancy (p=0.001). Conclusion(s): Improving intention to vaccinate against COVID-19 in India is influenced by the effectiveness of the vaccine. To retard the progress of the pandemic, it will require acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine along with targeted health communication strategies that effectively reach the populace. Copyright © 2022 Necati Ozpinar. All right reserved.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: COVID 19 disease has wrecked a havoc as pandemic in the entire world. It causes cardiac manifestations, digestive system disturbances, and adversely affecting other organs. As a result, ardent efforts are underway to find effective antiviral treatments targeting possible mechanisms to identify a specific medication for the disease to curb its progression and to prevent patients sufferings, one such therapy being injectable antiviral treatment namely, Remdesivir. Objectives: To evaluate the clinical outcomes and safety profile of Remdesivir in COVID-19 patients in a tertiary care center. Methods: An observational retrospective cohort study was planned with sample size of 210 patients suffering from active moderate to severe COVID 19 disease admitted in a single center tertiary care hospital requiring injectable anti-viral therapy that is Remdesivir. Patient data was collected from the case record forms. Primary outcomes in terms of length of hospital stay, duration of treatment with Remdesivir, survival rate in patients on Remdesivir and assessment of the days for the COVID 19 positive test to eventually become negative in patients and secondary outcome in terms of safety were evaluated. Results: There was a clinically significant improvement in the SPO2 levels from the time of admission till discharge. The appearance of adverse effects was taken as the secondary outcome. Hepatic and renal toxicity was observed after completion of treatment whereas no immunological abnormalities were observed. Conclusion: Until stronger evidences come to the fore, we cannot derive substantial inference that our injectable antiviral therapy drug namely, Remdesivir is efficacious for treating COVID-19.
ABSTRACT
Disasters and pandemics raise distinctive challenges to healthcare system. The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is swiftly spreading worldwide which is leading to the increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Telepharmacy and telehealth service serve as a modern approach to seek new opportunities to improve patient care particularly effective during epidemic outbursts when implementing social distance systems is recommend by health authorities such as World Health Organization (WHO). It served as a contemporary approach for the healthcare providers to deliver pharmaceutical services through telecommunications technology i n distant populations as well as to allow pharmacist and patients to connect via using smartphones or webcam to seek information regarding medication dispensing, patients counseling, and prescription verification. It is a fruitful and proactive way to provide a variety of benefits to patients seeking healthcare services. Telepharmacy will be a great boon for a country like India with very huge population, where people from remote areas retail cannot reach to a pharmacy, now can order and buy medicines, protective equipment’s like masks, gloves and face shields through online pharmacy. It will help to avoid direct contact between the pharmacist and costumers that will be beneficial in reducing the chances of community spread of COVID-19 and will promote social distancing concept among the people.