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Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease that is caused by severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). With the rapid spread of this pandemic, vaccination has been a breakthrough solution. At the time of conducting the study, COVID-19 vaccines were only approved for adults 18 years and older. Therefore, the aim of the study was to assess the parents' likelihood of vaccinating their children once the recommendation for pediatric vaccination is established. Methods This was a cross-sectional study in which a self-administered survey was distributed to all parents visiting National Guard primary healthcare centers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaires were distributed to parents attending primary care clinics. Data collected in the questionnaire include demographics (gender, marital status, educational level, and age), questions assessing parental perception towards the COVID-19 vaccine, and willingness to offer the vaccine to their children. Results A total of 333 respondents completed the survey with a response rate of 83.3%. Half of the participants were males and the other half were females with the majority (45.6%) aged between 31 and 40 years old. In terms of parental acceptability of vaccinating their children against COVID-19, 53.7% of the parents were willing to vaccinate their children as opposed to 27% who were reluctant to do so. Of those who refused, 97.5% and 96.6% cited lack of information and evidence, respectively, as the most common reasons for not accepting COVID-19 vaccine. We have found that age of the parents, especially those 31-40 years old, age of their children, especially 4-12 years old, and previous acceptance of the seasonal influenza vaccine were significantly associated with higher parental acceptability of COVID-19 vaccine. In contrast, gender, marital status and educational level were not statistically significant factors. Conclusion As COVID-19 spread globally and made people's lives in danger, vaccination became a highly important measure to halt the spread of the disease. Parents are now given the choice of protecting their beloved children from COVID-19 infection and its possible complications. Based on our findings, we noticed that majority of parents are going to vaccinate their children. In addition, some certain age groups of parents and children were significantly associated with decreased vaccine hesitancy to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
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Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is also known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), is an infection that is caused by the novel coronavirus. COVID-19 has severely affected the public health by causing more than 200 million cases and four million deaths worldwide. There are, presently, no specific antiviral treatments for COVID-19. As immunization is one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions to prevent this infectious disease, a number of vaccines, around 112, have been developed. In Saudi Arabia, many vaccination campaigns have already started. There are currently four approved COVID-19 vaccines but only three are available for use in Saudi Arabia. Methods This was a cross-sectional study in which a web-based survey was distributed to medical students in their clinical years at the College of Medicine in King Saud bin Abdulaziz University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A total of 209 questionnaires were distributed. The survey assessed the demographic data, perception towards COVID-19 vaccine, barriers and predictors for accepting COVID-19 vaccine. Results Two-hundred and four respondents completed the survey with a response rate of 96.7%. Overall, 118 of the participants were males and 86 were females. Sixty-six percent of our participants had taken the vaccine. Of those, males and females were distributed equally in half. Fifty-three percent of the participants who had taken the vaccine aged 21-23. This age group had a significant effect on acceptance of the vaccine. Most common deterrent to taking COVID-19 vaccine was safety issues despite not having a statistical significance. In terms of motivators, the majority thought that fear of getting COVID-19 infection was the most important motivator to taking COVID-19 vaccine, which was statistically significant as well. Conclusion In the setting of spreading COVID-19 infection, the vaccine is still the solution to halting infection spread. Based on our findings, we see that there was a high acceptance rate (66.2%) of COVID-19 vaccine.
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BACKGROUND: Patients with COVID-19 usually present with fever and respiratory symptoms such as cough, sputum production, and dyspnea. However, they may suffer from severe hypoxemia without a clinical correlation with the respiratory symptoms, also known as silent or apathetic hypoxia. The aim of the study was to assess the predictors and clinical outcomes of COVID-19 patients without dyspnea. METHODS: A single-center retrospective cohort study, based on data extracted from the electronic hospital information system, with COVID-19 patients over a 10-month period in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. RESULTS: Of the COVID-19 patients presenting at the Emergency Department with a SpO2 < 90%, 13% had silent hypoxia. The majority of the patients required BiPAP, 34% were intubated and 60% were admitted to an intensive care unit. There was no association between dyspnea and gender, age group, body mass index, or comorbidity. Cough, fever, and chronic cardiac diseases were predictive for dyspnea in a regression analysis. There was no difference in the clinical outcome between patients with silent dyspnea or dyspnea. Age and obesity were significantly associated with a decrease in survival, and an increase in the initial SpO2 increased survival. CONCLUSION: Patients with cardiac disease are more likely to present with silent hypoxia. The SpO2 saturation in COVID-19 may be an independent predictor of survival. Silent hypoxia in COVID-19 patients does not appear to have an association with increase in mortality.
