Background The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a major threat to human life around the world. This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding COVID-19 among people with chronic diseases at the outpatient departments in Ho Chi Minh City. Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out between February and March 2020 using a convenience sampling strategy in three hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) via the use of a structured self-administered questionnaire. Factors relating to practices, prevalence ratio (PR), and 95% confidence interval were estimated by using the Poisson regression with robust options. P-value <0.05 was considered as statistically different. Results A total of 522 participants had a mean age of 51.5 ± 10.6 years. Most of them reported seeing information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic (93.7%) via television and social media (72.8% and 62.1%, respectively). Just over two-thirds of the participants (68.4%) answered with sufficient knowledge of COVID-19. Most respondents had a positive attitude toward COVID-19 (90.8%), although some misconceptions existed. Almost over three-fourths of them (77.2%) maintained good practices for prevention. The rate of good practices in those who had sufficient knowledge was 1.24 times greater than that among those who had insufficient knowledge (PR 1.24, 95% CI: 1.10–1.41, P<0.05). Also, the rate of good practices in males was lower than that of females (PR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.83–0.99, P<0.05). Conclusion There still exists an amount of insufficient knowledge and negative attitude regarding COVID-19, which may be barriers to good prevention practices among chronic illness patients. Education programs need to continue via television and social media and emphasize that people with chronic diseases are more likely to experience severe symptoms, including death from COVID-19. Additionally, management authorities should prolong specific policies to protect the more vulnerable in our community.

Two new species of Oreocharis Benth. from Fan Si Pan, the highest mountain in Vietnam (Sa Pa) are described and illustrated. Oreocharis grandiflora W.H.Chen, Q.H.Nguyen & Y.M.Shui, is similar to O. flavida Merr. from Hainan province, China, but differs mainly by its larger and infundibuliform corolla, stamens adnate to the base of the corolla tube and stamens coherent in two pairs. The second, Oreocharis longituba W.H.Chen, Q.H.Nguyen & Y.M.Shui, is similar to O. hirsuta Barnett, endemic to northern Thailand, but mainly differs in its pubescence, coherent stamens and glabrous filaments.

Background Vaccination is one of the interventions that can be employed to control coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The aim of this study is to identify factors that affect vaccination intention among health science students, by using the health belief model (HBM) as a theoretical framework. Methods This study was undertaken in April 2021 using a convenience sample strategy among health science students in Tra Vinh University, which is a university in South Vietnam. Participants were required to complete the self-report questionnaire. All data were calculated by using STATA 14 software, to determine the factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, a multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed, along with odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results A total of 412 eligible participants were taken part in the study, with a questionnaire response rate of 48.2%, reporting that 77.7% of participants intended to receive a COVID-19 vaccination when available. An overall score of knowledge was 7.8 ± 1.5 (range 0–10), a positive attitude toward vaccination including perceived susceptibility and severity (3.1 ± 0.7), perceived benefits (3.1 ± 0.7) and cues to action (4.0 ± 0.6). Determinants of willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccination included their field of education, knowledge and factors in HBM model including perceived susceptibility and severity, perceived benefits and cues to action (all p < 0.05). In contrast, perceived barriers had a negative association with the probability of vaccine acceptance (p < 0.05). The study did indicate a number of participants not willing to receive a vaccination due to, mainly, safety (67.4%), development issues (58.7%) and side effects (79.3%). Conclusion The theoretical framework recognized factors that influence vaccine acceptance. These are considered evidence for the development of planning strategies to optimize the vaccination uptake and offer success in vaccination campaigns for both health science students and the general population.