Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) exploded into a global pandemic, killing over 6.5 million people and forever changing the world. While many developed countries are well into their vaccination campaigns, India outperformed global expectations by providing over 2 billion doses to its citizens and assisting other countries worldwide. Following the emergence of various covid variants, it is critical to comprehend the willingness of Indians to receive additional doses of the newer generation of covid vaccination, as well as the fatigue associated with maintaining the most essential covid appropriate behaviour, masking. This study aimed to determine general public attitudes and perceptions of the COVID-19 vaccine in India. Method: A pan-India cross-sectional analysis was conducted at RUHS college of medical sciences, Jaipur, between October 20, 2022, and December 15, 2022. Through web-based links, a self-administered and semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Results: Of the total responses received (n=391), 55.6% were males, and 43.8% were females. 63.2% have received two doses of the vaccine, while 33.8% have received three doses. 50.9% of respondents were willing to take the fourth dose of the vaccine, 20.5% were utterly unwilling, and 28.6% were undecided. 10.7% of our respondents were utterly reluctant to wear masks, whereas 26.6% always did. Conclusions: Based on the findings, vaccination acceptance in India remains high with 50.9% of applicants willing to take the fourth dose. Furthermore, the pandemic has resulted in the incorporation of face masks into our lifestyles, with the majority of people using a face mask in at least one setting.

Medicine is rapidly adopting newer technologies such as Quick Response (QR) codes to effectively and efficiently manage, share and store information. QR codes can have a wide variety of applications in the healthcare, medical education and pharmaceutical industry. This article aims to explore the applications of Quick Response code in Medicine and other affiliated sectors. Through this survey we have tried to score the attitude and awareness of healthcare professionals towards the viability of QR codes. The study sample was of n = 142 respondents. Majority of respondents were aware about the utility of QR codes in day-today aspects and academics with Online transactions being the predominant usage. 84.5% respondents were aware of the technology involved in QR codes and 83.1% respondents had used the QR code in different scenarios. Despite the awareness only 21.1% respondents knew how to create a QR code. Overwhelming majority of 80.3% respondents replied that they would prefer access to educational material and recording of attendance through QR codes. According to the findings, awareness of technology and use of QR codes is not a significant factor in QR code acceptance in accessing study material and attendance. But we have a significant p-value (p value = 0.017) when acceptance of QR codes in medical education was significant among healthcare professionals who were exposed to QR codes in the Department of Pharmacology. Our findings further suggest that most healthcare professionals have convenient access to the technology essential to generate QR codes, and yet, about 21.1% of healthcare professionals are unaware of the technique for QR code generation. Based on this finding, we conclude that knowledge of QR codes and use of QR codes outside of the medical setup doesn't affect the acceptability of QR codes in healthcare professionals, but when they're exposed to QR codes in the medical setup, there is a significant correlation in acceptance of QR codes for study materials and attendance. From our results, we can conclude that most healthcare workers and medical students approve of more integration of QR codes in medical workflow and agree with the convenience and ease of use and easier access to information.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often being touted as the means to bring about the fourth industrial revolution and its role in almost all sectors of our society is almost certain. This brings about an urgent need for evaluating the benefits and limitations of AI and machine learning (ML) across various sectors. Pharmaceutical industry has pioneered in embracing the use of AI in all its core areas but the success as of now seems very limited. The major advantage of AI is that it reduces the time that is needed for drug development, and in turn, it reduces the costs that are associated with drug development, enhances the returns on investment, and may even cause a decrease in cost for the end user along with improved drug safety. Hence, in this article, we will review the scope and limitations of AI in the pharmaceutical industry along with the brief review of how AI/ML can impact geriatric health care.

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