Search

Background: Conducting a study in rural pre-dominant areas will help to understand the penetration of the vaccination campaign during the COVID-19 health crisis. This study aimed to investigate vaccination coverage against COVID-19 among the rural adult population in India and to identify factors associated with vaccination coverage., Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted among the rural population in one district of north India from January to February 2023. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed on the SurveyMonkey digital platform for interviewing the participants, which consisted of questions related to socio-demographic profile, health problems, vaccination status, types of vaccine, re-infection after vaccination, and functional difficulties. The data regarding infection with COVID-19 was collected based on self-reported positive testing for SARS-CoV 2 on RT-PCR., Findings: A total of 3700 eligible individuals were enumerated for the survey, out of which 2954 (79.8%) were interviewed. The infection rate of past COVID-19 infection, based on self-report of testing positive, was 6.2% (95%CI: 5.3-7.1). Covishield vaccine was received by most participants (81.3%, 2380) followed by Covaxin (12.3%, 361) and Pfizer manufactured vaccine (0.03,1). The coverage for first, second, and booster doses of the vaccine was 98.2% (2902), 94.8% (2802), and 10.7% (315) respectively. The risk of reinfection at 12 months or more among participants with two doses of vaccine was 1.6% (46/2802, 95%CI: 1.2-2.1). The coverage among those with severe functional difficulties was lesser as compared to those with some or no difficulties., Interpretation: Vaccination coverage against COVID-19 in rural Haryana, India is not dependent on factors like gender or occupation but is dependent on age and education. Although the full and partial vaccination coverage is high, the booster dose coverage is poor. In addition, the presence of severe disability was significantly associated with reduced vaccination coverage., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Senjam et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Suraj Singh Senjam,1 Yatan Pal Singh Balhara,2 Pameshwar Kumar,3 Neeraj Nischal,4 Souvik Manna,1 Karan Madan,5 Nishat Hussain Ahmed,1 Noopur Gupta,1 Praveen Vashist,1 Randeep Guleria5 1Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India; 2Department of Psychiatry, National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India; 3Department of Hospital Administration, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India; 4Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India; 5Department of Pulmonary Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, IndiaCorrespondence: Suraj Singh Senjam, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, Tel +91-011-2659-3032 ; +91 9968856431, Email drsurajaiims@gmail.comPurpose: With millions of people being affected by COVID-19, people living with post COVID-19 clinical symptoms (PCS) are expected to rise further. The primary aim of the study was to comprehensively assess self-reported PCS and its associated risk factors among beneficiaries of Hospital Employee Scheme of a tertiary healthcare institution in Delhi.Patients and Methods: An online cross-sectional study was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire developed by employing nominal group technique among individuals aged 18 years and above who were novel SARS-CoV-2 positive from January to April 2021. Participants were telephoned first, before sending the online survey link. Socio-demographic data, information on PCS along with potential risk factors, pre-existing morbidities, vaccination status, severity of acute illness and management were collected between June and July 2021. PCS was presented as relative frequency; Chi-Square test and odds ratio; adjusted values were used to rule out any association between PCS and predictors.Results: In total, 773 of 1801 eligible participants responded to the survey (completion rate 42.9%), with a median age of 34 years (IQR 27– 44). Males accounted for 56.4% and PCS was present in 33.2%. The most prevalent symptoms were fatigue (79.3%), arthralgia (33.4%), myalgia (29.9%), hair loss (28.0%), headache (27.2%), breathlessness (25.3%), and sleep disturbance (25.3%). The prevalence of PCS was reduced to 12.8% at 12 weeks. Female gender, older age, oxygen supplementation, severity of acute illness, and pre-existing co-morbidities were positively associated with PCS. Vaccination (second dose) reduced the odds of developing PCS by 39% compared to unvaccinated participants (aOR 0.61; 95% CI 0.40– 0.96).Conclusion: PCS affects almost all organ systems of the body, regardless of the severity of acute COVID-19 illness. Two doses of vaccine hel reduce the development of PCS.Keywords: COVID-19, post COVID-19 symptoms, long COVID-19, cross-sectional study, Northern India