COVID-19 vaccine trials: Duty of care and standard of prevention considerations

Factors Associated with Intention to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Among HIV Positive Patients Attending ART Clinic in Southwest Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION

By the end of 2021, Ethiopia plans to vaccinate 20% of the population. The prioritized group includes people older than 65 years, health care workers, teachers, soldiers, and people living with comorbid diseases, including HIV/AIDS. However, due to a lack of intention and other reasons, only less than one percent of the population has taken COVID-19 vaccine. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the determinant factors of intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccine among HIV-positive patients attending ART clinics in southern Ethiopia.

METHODS

A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 398 HIV-positive patients from March 1 to April 28, 2021. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire by three midwives. We entered the data into Epi InfoTM 3.5.1. Binary logistic regression was used to identify independently associated variables in bivariate and multivariate analyses using SPSS version 20.

RESULTS

Currently, the intention to take COVID-19 vaccine among HIV-positive patients was 33.7%. The probability of PLWHA to take COVID-19 vaccine was two (AOR = 2 (1.08-3.44)) times higher among those who have been diagnosed with chronic diseases (exclude HIV) with those with not been diagnosed. PLWHA who were male in sex were five (AOR = 5 (2.96-8.68)) times more likely to take COVID-19 vaccine than female. The study also indicated that the odds of intention to take the COVID-19 vaccine were 4.1 times (AOR = 4.1 (2.33-7.31)) times higher among those participants who had good knowledge of COVID-19 practice compared with those who had poor knowledge.

CONCLUSION

The overall intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccine among PLWHA is low. Therefore, there is a need to improve the intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccine among HIV-positive patients to achieve the 2021 goal of Ethiopia for 20% of the population vaccination. Patients with chronic illness, knowledge of the COVID-19 vaccine, and sex were factors associated with the intention to receive COVID-19 vaccine.

The granting of emergency use designation to COVID-19 candidate vaccines: implications for COVID-19 vaccine trials

An efficacious COVID-19 vaccine is currently the world's leading research priority. Several nations have indicated that if there is a compelling case for use of a vaccine before it is licensed, they would be prepared to authorise its emergency use or conditional approval on public health grounds. As of Dec 1, 2020, several developers of leading COVID-19 candidate vaccines have indicated that they have applied, or intend to apply, for emergency authorisation for their vaccines. Should candidate vaccines attain emergency use designation and be programmatically deployed before their phase 3 trials conclude, such a strategy could have far reaching consequences for COVID-19 vaccine research and the effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic. These issues merit careful consideration.

COVID-19 and cancer: From basic mechanisms to vaccine development using nanotechnology

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Shows updated understanding of SARS-CoV-2, including the interaction between ACE 2 and the viral spike protein.

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More effective vaccines are required for immunocompromised cancer patients.

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Cancer alters the immune system through different levels of D-Dimer, albumin, prothrombin, and neutrophils.

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Nanomaterials assist vaccine delivery, including viral vector and mRNA vaccines with lipid nanoparticles.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a global pandemic which has induced unprecedented ramifications, severely affecting our society due to the long incubation time, unpredictably high prevalence and lack of effective vaccines. One of the interesting notions is that there is an association between COVID-19 and cancer. Cancer patients seem to exhibit exacerbated conditions and a higher mortality rate when exposed to the virus. Therefore, vaccines are the promising solution to minimise the problem amongst cancer patients threatened by the new viral strains. However, there are still limitations to be considered, including the efficacy of COVID vaccines for immunocompromised individuals, possible interactions between the vaccine and cancer, and personalised medicine. Not only to eradicate the pandemic, but also to make it more effective for immunocompromised patients who are suffering from cancer, a successful vaccine platform is required through the implementation of nanotechnology which can also enable scalable manufacturing and worldwide distribution along with its faster and precise delivery. In this review, we summarise the current understanding of COVID-19 with clinical perspectives, highlighting the association between COVID-19 and cancer, followed by a vaccine development for this association using nanotechnology. We suggest different administration methods for the COVID-19 vaccine formulation options. This study will contribute to paving the way towards the prevention and treatment of COVID-19, especially for the immunocompromised individuals.