We’ve all read about the repercussions of pandemics in the past centuries, but COVID-19 is the first one we’ve struggled through! As uncertainty prevails in this unprecedented lockdown, we have deliberated over our perspective of our country’s preparedness and evolving protocols, along with the brunt taken by the academic courses. Nevertheless, there’s always a silver lining to look for, as we escape from our overbearing deadlines!

Background: CKD (chronic kidney disease) is one of the major complications of diabetes and hypertension. With increase in prevalence of non-communicable diseases, the patients presenting with the symptoms of CKD are also rising. Most of the patients suffering from CKD eventually land up on renal replacement therapy, putting extra burden economically as well as psychologically to the self and their family. The aim of the study is to find out the socio demographic and clinical profile of the patients suffering from CKD attending a tertiary care hospital in Delhi.Methods: It was a record based descriptive analysis, conducted between January 2019 and June 2019 in one of the ESIC (Employee State Insurance Corporation) hospital of Delhi. Medical Records of the only those patients were considered whose complete data were present in the record file. Data about Socio demographic profiles , clinical data, duration of CKD, duration of haemodialysis, viral markers, number of blood transfusions, vascular access, number of failed AV fistula etc. were entered in MS Excel and analysed through SPSS 11.Results: Hospital records of 473 CKD patients undergoing hemodialysis were analyzed. It was found that 315 (67%) were males and 158 (33%) were females. Majority of the patients i.e. 245 were in the age group of 41-60 years followed by 166 who were in the age group of 21 to 40. Out of total patients, 195 (41.2%) participants were undergoing hemodialysis twice a week, 276 (58.4%) thrice a week, 2 (0.4) patients were undergoing hemodialysis session four times a week. Majority of the participants i.e. 414 (88%) were Hindu. Out of total 473 participants, 439 (93%) participants had sero negative for viral marker (i.e. HbsAg, HCV, HIV I and II) and 33 (7%) participants were sero positive for viral marker. Most common etiology of CKD was found to be hypertension in our study followed by diabetes.Conclusions: Patients suffering from chronic kidney diseases are increasing day by day with increasing prevalence of hypertension. Most of the patients of CKD patients were middle aged males. Most of the patients have to visit 3 times a week to any health care institution for hemodialysis.  Many of the patients are getting infected with viral hepatitis during course of the illness.

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Background Adult immunization has recently emerged as an area of emphasis in research and policy. Increasing life expectancy, outbreaks like COVID-19, and the endemic nature of diseases like dengue, malaria have underscored its importance. Therefore, this study was carried out with the aim to assess hesitancy and factors influencing the uptake of vaccines in adults. Methods An online cross-sectional study was conducted among adults (age more than 20 years). Data collection was done by convenience sampling in January 2021. Information on awareness and perceptions regarding adult vaccination and immunization status of participants was collected. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 21. Results A total of 461 adults responded to the survey. Among those who had never received any vaccine in adulthood (n = 158), the reasons were lack of recommendation by healthcare providers (38.6%), lack of knowledge of vaccines (15.8%) and fear of adverse effects following vaccination (7.6%). Hesitancy for vaccines among those who were informed by healthcare workers was as follows: shingles (97.8%), human papillomavirus (92.1%), pneumococcal (91.1%), influenza (79.7%), varicella (79.4%) and tetanus (57.6%). Conclusions Reduced vaccine uptake due to vaccine hesitancy in adulthood is a major health concern. Hesitancy was highest for the shingles vaccine and least for the tetanus vaccine. Key messages Coverage of adult vaccination can be improved by formulating national guidelines and encouraging healthcare providers to raise awareness. In-depth qualitative studies are needed to understand the perception of adults towards vaccination.