Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine

145-147

Authors: Neha Srivastava, Rohit Beniwal, Brij Ranjan Misra, Umaer Alam, Hirawati Deval, Rajni Kant

None.

162-168

Authors: Abdullah Nadeem, Wajeeha Bilal

Malaria remains the most serious infectious disease and is one of the leading causes of death among children in malaria endemic areas. The development of malaria vaccines has been underway since 1960s. Significant progress in the development of vaccine has been made in the last decade. On 6 October 2021, World Health Organization recommended widespread use of the RTS, S/AS01 malaria vaccine. The level of acceptance of RTS, S/AS01 malaria vaccine is relatively low in middle-income countries. This might be because of lack of information regarding vaccine implementation in such countries. The proper and efficient execution of the malaria vaccination program necessitates careful consideration of each community's socio-cultural setting. The most prominent RTS, S/ AS01 vaccine trial was conducted from 2009 to 2011 in which eleven sites in seven African countries participated. Results of the trial, published in 2015, provided a promising advance in the development of a malaria vaccine for African children. As of 2019, large-scale pilot studies of the vaccine have been conducted in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi, involving several hundreds of thousands of infants. The RTS, S/AS01 vaccine shows modest efficacy against malaria and has a feasible mode of administration. Although there is increased risk of meningitis, cerebral malaria, pneumonia, anemia, febrile convulsions and gastroenteritis, the vaccine still has a feasible mode of administration and high cost effectiveness and can be easily implemented in resource-limited settings.

176-186

Authors: Yu Huang, Qingqing Wu, Shuiyang Xu, Xiang Zhao, Lei Wang, Qiaohong Lv, Suxian Wu, Xuehai Zhang

Objective: To examine COVID-19 vaccine uptake and its determinants among teenagers and their parents in Zhejiang, China. Methods: An online cross-sectional study was conducted among parents of teenagers in Zhejiang, China from May 1 to 31, 2022. Data were interpreted via univariate and multivariate analyses using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) program. Results: A total of 11 115 (96.11%) participants and 11 449 (99.00%) of their children in Zhejiang, China had been vaccinated against COVID-19. Children whose parents did not receive COVID-19 vaccination were 19 times (aOR 18.96, 95%CI 12.36-29.08) more likely to be unvaccinated than their counterparts. In addition, children with no previous influenza vaccination, those whose parents doubted the COVID-19 vaccine’s safety or effectiveness, were 6.11 times (aOR 6.11, 95%CI 2.80-13.34), 8.27 times (aOR 8.27, 95%CI 5.33- 12.83), and 2.69 times (aOR 2.69, 95%CI 1.11-6.50) more likely to be unvaccinated than their counterparts, respectively. COVID-19 vaccine uptake varied between different sociodemographic groups. However, the odds of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine decreased as age and education level increased. The main refusal reasons claimed by participants were that they had medical conditions that may not qualify them for vaccination (53.78%), followed by safety concerns about the vaccine (13.56%), not knowing where to get vaccinated (6.44%), and concerns about fertility issues (5.56%). Conclusions: Despite a highly encouraging level of COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Zhejiang, China, the elderly and highly educated people had lower COVID-19 vaccine uptake. It is suggested that tailored health education strategies should be taken to increase the COVID-19 vaccine uptake in such groups. Furthermore, with vaccination rates at such a high level, the pandemic is still ongoing, and public confidence in vaccines may decline. Thus, sufficient evidence-based information regarding COVID-19 vaccines should be provided to the public.

190-192

Authors: Mahadevan Ganesan, Robert Sudha, Ganesan Sucila Thangam, Sivathanu Lalitha

None.