Background and objectives: Vaccine hesitancy is a big obstacle for vaccination programs, as is anticipated for the COVID-19 vaccination program, resulting in low uptake of vaccines thereby hindering the process of reaching herd immunity. Bearing this in mind the current study was aimed to explore the determinants of vaccine hesitancy amongst the Pakistani population. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out from the 23rd-31st January 2021. The conceptual framework of the study was based on the 3Cs (Confidence, Convenience, Complacency) model. Google-forms-based questionnaire was disseminated amongst the general population. Data collected were entered into SPSS version 26 and analyzed. Results: Of the 421 participants, 68.4% were females. Non-healthcare workers were 55.8% of respondents. Vaccine hesitant individuals, 26.13% reported they were very unlikely to get vaccinated. Vaccine was not safe as it came out too fast was agreed upon by 12.6% individuals, 50.6% were worried about experiencing side-effects, 18% believed vaccine will not offer protection and 5.9% believed vaccine would cause death. Low Practice of SOP in non-Healthcare workers was the strongest contributor to vaccine hesitancy (OR: 5.338, p=0.040, 95% CI: 1.082-26.330) followed by High complacency (p=0.026) and Moderate Complacency (OR: 0.212, p=0.007, 95% CI: 0.069-0.654) towards COVID-19 vaccination. In Healthcare workers the strongest contributor to vaccine hesitancy was having a Moderate Confidence (OR: 0.323, p=0.042, 95% CI: 0.109-0.958) in the vaccine followed by Moderate Convenience (OR: 0.304, p=0.049, 95% CI: 0.093-0.993) for vaccination Conclusion: Campaigning and communication strategies to reaffirm confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine and educating the general population about the vaccine could lead to increased perception of vaccine safety and effectiveness thereby restoring confidence in vaccine and decreasing vaccine hesitancy. Likewise, working to increase vaccine convenience and decreasing complacency towards the COVID-19 vaccine would translate into high vaccine uptake.

Background and objectives Vaccine hesitancy is a big obstacle for vaccination programs, as is anticipated for the COVID-19 vaccination program, resulting in low uptake of vaccines thereby hindering the process of reaching herd immunity. Bearing this in mind the current study was aimed to explore the determinants of vaccine hesitancy amongst the Pakistani population. Methodology A cross-sectional study was carried out from November 2020 to March 2021. The conceptual framework of the study was based on the 3Cs (Confidence, Convenience, Complacency) model. The google-forms-based questionnaire was disseminated amongst the general population. Data collected were entered into SPSS version 26 and analyzed. Results Of the 421 participants, 68.4% were women. Non-healthcare workers were 55.8% of respondents. Of vaccine-hesitant individuals, 26.13% reported they were very unlikely to get vaccinated. Perception of COVID-19 vaccine was explored, which revealed 12.6% of individuals agreed the vaccine was not safe as it came out too fast, 50.6% were worried about experiencing side-effects, 18% believed the vaccine will not offer protection and 5.9% believed the vaccine would cause death. Low Practice of standard operating procedure (SOP) in non-Healthcare workers was the strongest contributor to vaccine hesitancy (OR: 5.338, p = 0.040, 95% CI: 1.082–26.330) followed by High complacency (p = 0.026) and Moderate Complacency (OR: 0.212, p = 0.007, 95% CI: 0.069–0.654) towards COVID-19 vaccination. In Healthcare workers the strongest contributor to vaccine hesitancy was having a Moderate Confidence (OR: 0.323, p = 0.042, 95% CI: 0.109–0.958) in the vaccine followed by Moderate Convenience (OR: 0.304, p = 0.049, 95% CI: 0.093–0.993) for vaccination. Conclusion Campaigning and communication strategies to reaffirm confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine and educating the general population about the vaccine could lead to increased perception of vaccine safety and effectiveness thereby restoring confidence in vaccine and decreasing vaccine hesitancy. Likewise, working to increase vaccine convenience and decreasing complacency towards the COVID-19 vaccine would translate into high vaccine uptake. MeSH words Vaccine hesitancy; vaccination intention, COVID-19 vaccine, vaccine confidence, complacency, convenience.

Objective: To determine the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV2 antibodies in patients and healthy individuals presenting to a tertiary care hospital in Lahore. Study Design: Cross-sectional study Place and Duration of Study: Pathology Department of Surayya Azeem Hospital, Lahore Pakistan, from May to Jul 2020. Methodology: The study included clinically suspected patients of COVID-19 referred by clinicians and healthy individuals presenting to the hospital for the SARS-CoV-2 antibody test, irrespective of age and gender. Results: The SARS-CoV-2 antibody positivity was 704(59.4%) in our study. Out of 1184 individuals tested, 690 patients had a positive clinical history of COVID-19 infection, and 517(74.9%) were positive for COVID-19 antibodies. Out of 494 asymptomatic healthy individuals, positivity for COVID-19 antibodies was 187(37.8%). It was observed that positivity was significantly higher 169(44.0%) in contacts of COVID-19 infection patients compared to asymptomatic healthy individuals 18(16.3%). Conclusion: Our study shows that the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the general public in Pakistan has greatly increased.

Background and Objective: Dermatophyte infections require laboratory diagnosis before treatment is started. Although direct microscopy is routinely performed but culture of dermatophytes is the gold standard. However, it takes about 4 weeks for species identification on primary media. Our aim was to compare dermatophyte test medium (DTM) as a screening medium for the isolation of dermatophytes in comparison with sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA). Methods: It was a comparative study carried out at the Department of Microbiology of Post Graduate Medical Institute, Lahore over a period of nine months. Samples were collected from one hundred patients with clinically suspected dermatophytoses after taking informed written consent. The samples were examined microscopically and then inoculated on two types of culture media, one Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) with added chloramphenicol, gentacin and cycloheximide and other dermatophyte test medium (DTM) with added chlortetracycline, gentacin and cyclohexamide. Results: Fungal growth was observed in fifty-six samples on culture. Out of the fifty-six positive on cultures, nineteen were that of dermatophytes. Out of n = 100 patients, ten were positive on SDA while n = 14 dermatophyte species were able to grow on DTM. A significantly higher positivity (P ³ 0.05) for isolating dermatophytes was observed by DTM as compared to SDA. DTM was able to isolate (71%) of the dermatophytes in first 10 days. Isolation rate of dermatophyte species was higher (73.68%) on DTM as compared to SDA which was 52.6%. Conclusion: Authors recommend the use of dermatophyte test medium for the primary isolation and identification of dermatophyte species to be more effective and time saving.

2 μg/ml were screened for heteroresistance by Glycopeptide Resistance Detection (GRD) E-test and Vancomycin screen agar. Data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 20.0. Results: When compared with E test GRD, Vancomycin screen agar (V3) showed 100% sensitivity with a 95% CI 39.76% to 100% and the specificity was 65 % with a 95 % CI 47.46% to 79.79%. Its PPV was 23% and NPV was 100% with an overall diagnostic accuracy of 68%. When compared with E test GRD, Vancomycin screen agar (V4) showed a sensitivity of 75% with a 95% CI 19.41% to 99.37% and a specificity of 86.47% with a 95% CI 71.91 to 95.59%. Its PPV was 37.5% and NPV predictive value was 96.96% with an overall diagnostic accuracy of 85.36%. Conclusion: In developing countries like Pakistan, where E tests are costly and difficult to use in routine laboratories, a screening test, which does not miss heteroresistant VISA may be of clinical use.