Despite the wide distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, refugees remain last in line for the intake of vaccines. Syrian refugees in Jordan reach up to 700,000 registered and almost up to 700,000 unregistered refugees. This study aims to assess the willingness of Syrian refugees in Jordan to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Participants in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan were invited through social media to complete the survey between January and March 2022. A total of 230 refugees participated in our study, with almost half the participants of male gender. The majority of the participants had secondary school as their highest education level and were unemployed, being below the social poverty line. Interestingly, Syrian refugees showed a high vaccine acceptance rate, as 89.6% were willing to take the vaccine. Moreover, they showed high knowledge regarding the vaccine, the disease, and the virus. Our findings highlight the importance of knowledge and awareness of the COVID-19 vaccine to increase the acceptance rate. This is very important as refugees represent a vulnerable group to infection and complications and require close attention, especially with their significant numbers in Jordon and challenges of providing adequate vaccine supplies at their camps. We hope that, with proper dissemination of knowledge and awareness and with easy accessibility to the vaccines, it will ensure high immunization to reach herd immunity in Jordan.

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is an inflammatory disease that develops following streptococcal infections. IL10 helps to balance immune responses to pathogens. IL10 polymorphisms have been associated with RHD, although results remain inconclusive. Our aim was to investigate the association between IL10 polymorphisms and RHD in Saudi Arabian patients. IL10 promoter polymorphisms (-1082A/G, -829C/T, and -592C/A) were genotyped in 118 RHD patients and 200 matched controls using the TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. There was a significant difference in IL10-1082 genotype frequency between patients and controls (p = 0.01). -1082G allele carriage (GG+GA vs AA) and the (-1082, -819, -592) GCC haplotype carriage were associated with an increased risk of RHD (p = 0.004, OR 2.1, 95% CIs 1.7-3.4 and p = 0.004, OR 2, 95% CIs 1.3-3.4, respectively). The ACC haplotype was associated with a decrease in RHD risk (p = 0.015, OR 0.6, 95% CIs 0.4-0.9). IL10 promoter polymorphisms may play an important role in the development of RHD and provide an opportunity for therapeutic stratification.