Immediately after declaring COVID-19 as a pandemic, numerous wild conspiracy theories sprouted through social media. Pakistan is quite vulnerable to such conspiracy narratives and has experienced failures of polio vaccination programs because of such claims. Recently, two well-known political figures raised conspiracy theories against COVID-19 vaccines in Pakistan, stating that COVID-19 is a grand illusion and a conspiracy against Muslim countries. This theory is much discussed in the local community, supporting COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. We urge healthcare authorities in Pakistan to take necessary measures against such claims before they penetrate to the general community. Anti-vaccine movements could undermine efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that ethical and responsible behavior of mass media, a careful advisory from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, stern measures from healthcare authorities, effective maneuvers to increase public awareness on COVID-19, vigorous analysis of information by data or communications scientists, and publication of counter opinions from health professionals against such theories will go a long way in neutralizing such misleading claims. Because Pakistan is experiencing a large burden of disease, with a sharp rise in confirmed cases, immediate action is of paramount importance to eradicate any potential barriers to a future COVID-19 vaccination program.

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Objectives: We aimed to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia in various severity groups. Methods: Data for 485 patients were extracted from the medical records from the infectious disease center of Prince Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz Hospital in Riyadh. Patients' basic information, laboratory test results, signs and symptoms, medication prescribed, other comorbidities, and outcome data were collected and analyzed. Descriptive data were reported to examine the distribution of study variables between the severe and not severe groups. Results: Of 458 included patients, 411 (89.7%) were classified as not severe, 47 (10.3%) as severe. Most (59.1%) patients were aged between 20 and 39 years. Patients with severe conditions were non-Saudi, with a chronic condition history, and tended to have more chronic conditions compared with those without severe disease. Diabetes, hypertension, and thyroid disease were significantly higher in patients with severe disease. Death was reported in only 4.26% of severe patients. Only 16 (34.04%) patients remained in the hospital in the severe group. Conclusions: Severe cases were more likely to have more comorbidities, diabetes, hypertension, and thyroid disorders were most common compared with non-severe cases.

Background Evaluation of patients`satisfaction towards pharmacy services is of utmost importance to ensure the quality of care. It helps in identifying domains requiring improvements to provide high quality pharmacy services to ensure the provision of enhanced pharmaceutical care. The current study aims to ascertain the extent of satisfaction towards pharmacy services among patients attending outpatient pharmacies in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods A hospital-based cross-sectional study involving 746 patients attending outpatient pharmacies of various public hospitals was conducted from 01 January to 15 February 2020. Information on socio-demographic profile of the study subjects along with their satisfaction towards outpatient pharmacy was extracted by using a 23-items questionnaire. These questions were divided into two domains including 7 questions related to the pharmacy facilities (questions from 1F to 7F) and 8 questions for pharmacy services (questions from 1S to 8S), where F and S denotes facilities and services, respectively. The cumulative satisfaction score was estimated by a 5-item Likert scale with a maximum score of 5 for each item. The relationship between demographics and satisfaction scores was evaluated by using appropriate statistics. Results There were 746 patients with male preponderance (58.8%). The overall satisfaction score was 2.97 ± 0.65. Satisfaction towards pharmacy services scored lower (mean score: 3.91 ± 0.77) than pharmacy facilities (mean score: 4.03 ± 0.66). Items related to patient`s counseling (3F, 2S, 3S, 6S) scored least during the analysis. Older patients (p = 0.006), male gender (p<0.001), Saudi nationality (0.035), patients attending primary care centers (p = 0.02), and patients with chronic illnesses were significantly associated with lower satisfaction score. Conclusion This study reported that the satisfaction level of patients attending outpatient pharmacies was low and differed among various socio-demographic groups. Approximately one-half of the patients were not satisfied with outpatient pharmacy services. These findings underscore the dire need for managerial interventions including the hiring of trained professionals, onsite training of pharmacy staff, initiation of clinical or patient centered pharmacy services, evaluation of patient`s response towards the services and appropriate controlling measures, irrespective to the type of hospitals.

Vaccines are the solution to overcome SARS-CoV-2. This study aimed to determine the post-Sinopharm vaccine safety-profile and immunity through antibody titers. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from Egyptian participants who received two doses of Sinopharm vaccine. Data were divided into three parts, the first and second parts were to detect participants’ post-first and second dose symptoms and practices, and the third for the results of IgG anti spike protein antibodies test and laboratory tests. Pain, redness, swelling at the injection site, headache, fatigue, and lethargy were the most common post-vaccine symptoms for both first and second doses. Most of the participants felt mild or no symptoms after vaccination. The symptoms started mostly during the first day post-vaccination and lasted for no more than two days. Forty-nine percent of the participants resulted in positive antibodies tests on day 18 post-vaccination. The average antibody level for vaccinated participants with past SARS-CoV-2 infection was much higher than that for non-past infected participants. These vaccines’ administration methods need to be reevaluated by changing the dose, dose interval, adding a third dose, or mixing it with other vaccines with different techniques to improve their protection rates. Further studies are required to validate this finding.