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Background: The Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region has been one of the regions most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with countries presenting some of the highest numbers of cases and deaths from this disease in the world. Despite this, vaccination intention is not homogeneous in the region, and no study has evaluated the influence of the mass media on vaccination intention. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between the use of mass media to learn about COVID-19 and the non-intention of vaccination against COVID-19 in LAC countries. Methods: An analysis of secondary data from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) survey was conducted in collaboration with Facebook on people's beliefs, behaviors, and norms regarding COVID-19. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated to evaluate the association between the use of mass media and non-vaccination intention using generalized linear models of the Poisson family with logarithmic link. Results: A total of 350,322 Facebook users over the age of 18 from LAC countries were included. 50.0% were men, 28.4% were between 18 and 30 years old, 41.4% had a high school education level, 86.1% lived in the city and 34.4% reported good health condition. The prevalence of using the mass media to learn about COVID-19 was mostly through mixed media (65.8%). The non-intention of vaccination was 10.8%. A higher prevalence of not intending to be vaccinated against COVID-19 was found in those who used traditional media (aPR = 1.36; 95%CI: 1.29-1.44; p < 0.001) and digital media (aPR = 1.70; 95%CI: 1.24-2.33; p = 0.003) compared to those using mixed media. Conclusion: We found an association between the type of mass media used to learn about COVID-19 and the non-intention of vaccination. The use of only traditional or digital information sources were associated with a higher probability of non-intention to vaccinate compared to the use of both sources.
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We aimed to estimate the prevalence and factors associated with parents' non-intention to vaccinate their children and adolescents against COVID-19 in Colombia and Peru. We performed a secondary analysis using a database generated by the University of Maryland and Facebook (Facebook, Inc). We Included adult (18 and over) Facebook users residing in LAC who responded to the survey between May 20, and November 5, 2021. We Included sociodemographic characteristics, comorbidities, mental health, economic and food insecurity, compliance with mitigation strategies against COVID-19, and practices related to vaccination against this disease. We estimated crude (cPR) and adjusted (aPR) prevalence ratios with their respective 95 %CI. We analyzed a sample of 44,678 adults from Colombia and 24,302 from Peru. The prevalence of parents' non-intention to vaccinate their children and adolescents against COVID-19 was 7.41 % (n = 3,274) for Colombia and 6.64 % (n = 1,464) for Peru. In Colombia, age above 35 years old, compliance with physical distancing, use of masks, having economic insecurity, anxiety symptoms, having a chronic condition or more comorbidities, and being vaccinated were associated with a higher probability of vaccinating children and adolescents against COVID-19. In Peru, female gender, compliance with physical distancing, use of masks, having economic insecurity, anxiety symptoms, having a chronic condition or more comorbidities, having had COVID-19, and being vaccinated were associated with a higher probability of vaccinating children against COVID-19. Living in a town, a village, or a rural area was associated with a higher prevalence of non-intention to vaccinate children and adolescents against COVID-19. About 9 out of 10 parents in Colombia and Peru intend to vaccinate their children and adolescents against COVID-19. This intention is associated with some factors which are similar between the two countries, as well as other factors and variations among the different regions of each country.
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Background The Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region has been one of the regions most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with countries presenting some of the highest numbers of cases and deaths from this disease in the world. Despite this, vaccination intention is not homogeneous in the region, and no study has evaluated the influence of the mass media on vaccination intention. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between the use of mass media to learn about COVID-19 and the non-intention of vaccination against COVID-19 in LAC countries. Methods An analysis of secondary data from a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) survey was conducted in collaboration with Facebook on people's beliefs, behaviors, and norms regarding COVID-19. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated to evaluate the association between the use of mass media and non-vaccination intention using generalized linear models of the Poisson family with logarithmic link. Results A total of 350,322 Facebook users over the age of 18 from LAC countries were included. 50.0% were men, 28.4% were between 18 and 30 years old, 41.4% had a high school education level, 86.1% lived in the city and 34.4% reported good health condition. The prevalence of using the mass media to learn about COVID-19 was mostly through mixed media (65.8%). The non-intention of vaccination was 10.8%. A higher prevalence of not intending to be vaccinated against COVID-19 was found in those who used traditional media (aPR = 1.36;95%CI: 1.29–1.44;p < 0.001) and digital media (aPR = 1.70;95%CI: 1.24–2.33;p = 0.003) compared to those using mixed media. Conclusion We found an association between the type of mass media used to learn about COVID-19 and the non-intention of vaccination. The use of only traditional or digital information sources were associated with a higher probability of non-intention to vaccinate compared to the use of both sources.
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Users of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) have a lower intention to receive vaccines. Furthermore, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region are among the most affected areas by the COVID-19 pandemics and present a high proportion of CAM users. Therefore, this study evaluates the association between the consumption of herbal supplements or homeopathic remedies to prevent COVID-19 and the intention to vaccinate against COVID-19 in the LAC region. We conducted a secondary data analysis of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) survey with Facebook to assess COVID-19 beliefs, behaviours, and norms. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using generalized linear models of the Poisson family with the log link function. The prevalence of the use of products to prevent COVID-19 was the following: consumption of herbal supplements (7.2%), use of homeopathic remedies (4.8%), and consumption of garlic, ginger, and lemon (11.8%). An association was found between using herbal supplements (19.0% vs. 12.8%; aPR = 1.44; 95% CI: 1.30-1.58), the use of homeopathic remedies (20.3% vs. 12.3%; aPR = 1.58; 95% CI: 1.25-1.98), and the consumption of garlic, ginger, and lemon (18.9% vs. 11.9%; aPR = 1.55; 95% CI: 1.50-1.61) and non-intention to vaccinate against COVID-19. In the LAC population, there is an association between using herbal supplements, using homeopathic remedies and consuming garlic, ginger, and lemon to prevent infection by COVID-19 and non-intention to vaccinate against this disease. Therefore, it is necessary to design targeted strategies for groups that consume these products as preventive measures against COVID-19 to increase vaccination coverage and expand the information regarding transmission and prevention strategies for SARS-CoV-2.
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OBJECTIVE: We assessed the efficacy of colchicine in COVID-19 patients through a systematic review. METHODS: Six databases were searched until March 2022 for studies assessing colchicine versus control in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The primary outcome was mortality, and secondary outcome was length of hospitalization. Inverse variance and random effect meta-analyses were performed. The strength of evidence was assessed using GRADE. RESULTS: Nine studies (five randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and four non-randomized studies of intervention (NRSI); n = 13,478). Colchicine did not reduce mortality in comparison with the standard of care in RCTs (RR 0.99; 95%CI 0.90 to 1.10; p = 0.90); however, it did reduce mortality in NRSI studies (RR 0.45; 95%CI 0.26 to 0.77; p = 0.02). In the analysis of RCTs, colchicine did not reduce the length of hospitalization in comparison with the standard of care (MD: -2.25 days; 95%CI: -9.34 to 4.84; p = 0.15). Most studies were scored as having a high risk of bias. Quality of evidence was very low for primary and secondary outcomes. CONCLUSION: Colchicine did not reduce the mortality and length of hospitalization in comparison with the standard of care in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The published evidence is insufficient and of very low quality to recommend treatment in patients with COVID-19.