• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.370-378
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• 2024

Objectives: Comorbidities increase susceptibility to severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, but limited information has been published regarding human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and COVID-19 co-infections. This study explored the relationships among socioeconomic characteristics, sexual behaviors, and COVID-19 infection rates among Korean men who have sex with men (MSM) who are also living with HIV. Methods: Data were collected through a web survey aimed at members of the largest gay portal site in Korea, supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (n=1005). The primary independent variables included COVID-19-related vaccinations and sexual behaviors. The dependent variable was the incidence of COVID-19 infection among respondents during the pandemic. For statistical analysis, hierarchical multiple logistic regression was performed, controlling for potential confounding variables. Results: Model I indicated that older MSM were less likely to contract COVID-19 (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.96 to 0.99). Model II demonstrated that HIV-positive MSM were nearly twice as likely to be infected with COVID-19 compared to their HIV-negative counterparts (aOR, 1.97; 95% CI, 1.14 to 3.41). Furthermore, even after accounting for COVID-19 vaccination status in model III, HIV-positive MSM continued to show a higher risk of infection (aOR, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.12 to 3.35). Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that HIV-positive MSM are at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19, even when their vaccination status is considered. Therefore, it is essential to prioritize the prevention of COVID-19 infections in HIV-positive individuals by administering appropriate antiretroviral therapy and ensuring adherence to public health guidelines.

• Korean journal of aerospace and environmental medicine
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-3
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• 2021

In Vol. 31, No. 1, our journal prepared four review articles and two original papers. First, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of our journal, the first review article described the history, development, and recent efforts for the qualitative improvement of the journal. For aviation workers, dizziness is an important disease that can interfere with their work. So, in the second review, we introduced guidelines that aviation medical examiners should be aware of in evaluating aviation workers who complain of dizziness. In the era of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, it is very important for aviation workers to get the vaccination safely and return to their work. So, Kwon introduced the latest updated guidelines for vaccination for aviation workers. In addition, Kim described the relationship between COVID-19 infection and respiratory allergic disease, and appropriate treatment guidelines. Lim investigated the recent trend of human papillomavirus vaccination for foreigners during the COVID-19 period, and investigated its implications. Finally, Ra developed various programs to strengthen students' global competencies and analyzed their satisfaction.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.57-64
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• 2022

Purpose: The government of India has initiated the Covid-19 Vaccination drive from early January 2021. Vaccination is identified to be best option to protect the people across the globe. However, owing to fast wide spread of the Covid-19, the Vaccine Distribution is a major challenge owing various issues like temperature control, infrastructure, hesitancy, geographical diversity, and other critical factors. Various research is carried out globally to understand and study the Vaccine Distribution issues based on the respective country issues and factors. Research Design, Data, and Methodology: This research paper attempts to explore prominent factors that could be taken up on priority for better and effective vaccination program. The study tries to rank various factors and sub-factors affecting vaccine distribution in India. AHP methodology based on feedback from 22 experts from the Vaccine industry has been deployed to get the desired results. Result: The results show that factors vaccine approval process, geographical prioritization, power supply, infrastructure maintenance costs for vaccine storage, and vaccine pricing are the prominent factors of effective vaccination in the country. Conclusion: The role and need for district-level health officers towards vaccine storage has been brought forward. A long-term effective vaccination policy is needed for optimum vaccine distribution.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.109-120
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• 2022

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccinations on deaths of the COVID-19 cases in some elderly long-term care facilities (LTCF) in Gwangju Metropolitan City. Methods: The study subjects were 659 COVID-19 cases in residents of 7 elderly LTCF, Gwangju, from 21 Dec. 2021 to 28 Jan. 2022. The used variables were confirmed dates for COVID-19, demographic characteristics, co-morbidities, presentation of symptoms, death and vaccination related characteristics including type of vaccine, doses and dates. Vaccination status were classified as not vaccinated, partially and fully vaccinated. The associations of vaccination status and deaths of COVID-19 cases were tested by chi-square test and multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: The rates of not vaccinated, partially vaccinated and fully vaccinated were 19.4%, 10.2% and 70.4%, respectively. The mortality rate of the cases was 6.4%. The death rate by vaccination status was 16.4% in not vaccinated, 15.4% in partially vaccinated and 2.6% in fully vaccinated, showing a statistically significant difference. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) (95% confidence intervals, CIs) of death compared to fully vaccinated were 7.64 (3.87-16.34) in non-vaccinated, and 6.97 (3.44-14.14) in partially vaccinated. Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccination seems to work effectively in preventing deaths of COVID-19 cases of elderly LTCF residents. This finding support that fully vaccinations in high risk group such as elderly LTCF residents is very important for one of strategies of COVID-19 management.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.542-551
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• 2023

Objectives: Prospective studies on vaccination status and mortality related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in low-resource settings are still limited. We assessed the association between vaccination status (full, partial, or none) and in-hospital mortality among COVID-19 patients at most hospitals in Jakarta, Indonesia during the Delta predomination wave. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study among hospitalized COVID-19 patients who met the study criteria (>18 years old and admitted for inpatient treatment because of laboratory-confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection). We linked individual-level data in the hospital admission database with vaccination records. Several socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were also analyzed. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to explore the association between vaccination status and in-hospital mortality in this patient group. Results: In total, 40 827 patients were included in this study. Of these, 70% were unvaccinated (n=28 543) and 19.3% (n=7882) died during hospitalization. The mean age of the patients was 49 years (range, 35-59), 53.2% were female, 22.0% had hypertension, and 14.2% were treated in the intensive care unit, and the median hospital length of stay across the group was 9 days. Our study showed that the risk of in-hospital mortality among fully and partially vaccinated patients was lower than among unvaccinated adults (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.43; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.40 to 0.47 and aHR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.64 to 0.77, respectively). Conclusions: Vaccinated patients had fewer severe outcomes among hospitalized adults during the Delta wave in Jakarta. These features should be carefully considered by healthcare professionals in treating adults within this patient group.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.48-53
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• 2022

The current SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been a particular challenge for diabetes patients. Since these patients are at a higher risk of COVID-19, they have been prioritized for vaccination. In this report, we describe the case of a patient scheduled for diabetic foot amputation who received the first dose of ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vaccine and subsequently developed severe purpura in his genitalia and both of his hands and feet, accompanied by acute renal failure. The operation had to be postponed as severe limb purpura appeared just before the operation. With adequate management for acute renal failure and topical steroid application for the severe purpura lesions, a successful outcome could be obtained after the delayed first ray amputation. We recommend that COVID-19 vaccination should be carefully administered in patients with a diabetic foot requiring amputation.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.20-35
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• 2022

COVID-19 vaccines have been developed worldwide in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection-19, but some people tend to refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Therefore, we will investigate how people's understanding of COVID-19 vaccines affects their attitude to accept COVID-19 vaccination information. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the determinants that affect the acceptability of COVID-19 vaccine through the informational characteristics of COVID-19 vaccine and the individual health belief theory. This study conducted an offline survey of 215 adult men and women living in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do Province during the period from September 1 to September 10, 2022, and we have conducted a final analysis using a total of 212 questionnaires. The results of our study were as follows. First, among the information characteristics of COVID-19 vaccine, it was confirmed that the amount of information had a significant positive effect on susceptibility, severity, and barriers in health belief theory, respectively. Second, among the information characteristics of COVID-19 vaccine, it was found that the quality of information had a significant positive effect on the susceptibility in health belief theory. Third, susceptibility and barriers in the health belief theory significantly had a positive effect on voluntary attitude and involuntary attitude in acceptance attitude, respectively. And finally, it was found that the severity of the health belief theory had a positive effect on the involuntary attitude in acceptance attitude. The results of this study suggest that policy efforts are needed to make accurate information about COVID-19 vaccine known to the people.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.402-406
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• 2024

Cronkhite-Canada syndrome is a rare gastrointestinal polyposis syndrome with distinctive clinical features and endoscopic findings. Diagnosis can be challenging without suspicion, and the disease carries high mortality due to complications such as infection, gastrointestinal bleeding, and malignancies. This paper presents two cases of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome occurring after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mRNA vaccination. Both cases exhibited typical clinical findings, including hypogeusia, onychodystrophy, alopecia, and weight loss. Typical polyposis in the gastrointestinal tract was confirmed through endoscopies. As symptomatic treatment did not improve the symptoms, corticosteroids were administered, and symptoms and laboratory test results improved immediately. The patients improved upon corticosteroids tapering. These cases illustrate typical presentations of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome and the course of the disease following corticosteroid treatment. Additionally, they suggest the possibility that Cronkhite-Canada syndrome may be triggered by COVID-19 mRNA vaccination.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2022

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has been rampant since the end of 2019, has evidently affected pain management in clinical practice. Fortunately, a COVID-19 vaccination program is currently in progress worldwide. There is an ongoing discussion that pain management using steroid injections can decrease COVID-19 vaccine efficacy, although currently there is no direct evidence to support this statement. As such, the feeling of pain in patients is doubled in addition to the co-existing ill-effects of social isolation associated with the pandemic. Thus, in the COVID-19 era, it has become necessary that physicians be able to provide high quality pain management without negatively impacting COVID-19 vaccine efficacy. Steroids can alter the entire process involved in the generation of adaptive immunity after vaccination. The period of hypophysis-pituitary-adrenal axis suppression is known to be 1 to 4 weeks after steroid injection, and although the exact timing for peak efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines is slightly different for each vaccine, the average is approximately 2 weeks. It is suggested to avoid steroid injections for a total of 4 weeks (1 week before and after the two vaccine doses) for the double-shot vaccines, and for 2 weeks in total (1 week before and after vaccination) for a single-shot vaccine. This review focuses on the basic concepts of the various COVID-19 vaccines, the effect of steroid injections on vaccine efficacy, and suggestions regarding an appropriate interval between the administration of steroid injections and the COVID-19 vaccine.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.515-522
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• 2023

Objectives: The pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has exerted an unprecedented impact on the health of populations worldwide. However, the adverse health consequences of the pandemic in terms of infection and mortality rates have varied across countries. In this study, we investigate whether COVID-19 mortality rates across a group of developed nations are associated with characteristics of their healthcare systems, beyond the differential policy responses in those countries. Methods: To achieve the study objective, we distinguished healthcare systems based on the extent of healthcare decommodification. Using available daily data from 2020, 2021, and 2022, we applied quantile regression with non-additive fixed effects to estimate mortality rates across quantiles. Our analysis began prior to vaccine development (in 2020) and continued after the vaccines were introduced (throughout 2021 and part of 2022). Results: The findings indicate that higher testing rates, coupled with more stringent containment and public health measures, had a significant negative impact on the death rate in both pre-vaccination and post-vaccination models. The data from the post-vaccination model demonstrate that higher vaccination rates were associated with significant decreases in fatalities. Additionally, our research indicates that countries with healthcare systems characterized by high and medium levels of decommodification experienced lower mortality rates than those with healthcare systems involving low decommodification. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that stronger public health infrastructure and more inclusive social protections have mitigated the severity of the pandemic's adverse health impacts, more so than emergency containment measures and social restrictions.