Tehmina Khan

Importance: Although effective vaccines against COVID-19 have been developed, additional vaccines are still needed. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and adverse events of 2 inactivated COVID-19 vaccines. Design, Setting, and Participants: Prespecified interim analysis of an ongoing randomized, double-blind, phase 3 trial in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain among adults 18 years and older without known history of COVID-19. Study enrollment began on July 16, 2020. Data sets used for the interim analysis of efficacy and adverse events were locked on December 20, 2020, and December 31, 2020, respectively. Interventions: Participants were randomized to receive 1 of 2 inactivated vaccines developed from SARS-CoV-2 WIV04 (5 µg/dose; n = 13 459) and HB02 (4 µg/dose; n = 13 465) strains or an aluminum hydroxide (alum)-only control (n = 13 458); they received 2 intramuscular injections 21 days apart. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was efficacy against laboratory-confirmed symptomatic COVID-19 14 days following a second vaccine dose among participants who had no virologic evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection at randomization. The secondary outcome was efficacy against severe COVID-19. Incidence of adverse events and reactions was collected among participants who received at least 1 dose. Results: Among 40 382 participants randomized to receive at least 1 dose of the 2 vaccines or alum-only control (mean age, 36.1 years; 32 261 [84.4%] men), 38 206 (94.6%) who received 2 doses, contributed at least 1 follow-up measure after day 14 following the second dose, and had negative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction test results at enrollment were included in the primary efficacy analysis. During a median (range) follow-up duration of 77 (1-121) days, symptomatic COVID-19 was identified in 26 participants in the WIV04 group (12.1 [95% CI, 8.3-17.8] per 1000 person-years), 21 in the HB02 group (9.8 [95% CI, 6.4-15.0] per 1000 person-years), and 95 in the alum-only group (44.7 [95% CI, 36.6-54.6] per 1000 person-years), resulting in a vaccine efficacy, compared with alum-only, of 72.8% (95% CI, 58.1%-82.4%) for WIV04 and 78.1% (95% CI, 64.8%-86.3%) for HB02 (P < .001 for both). Two severe cases of COVID-19 occurred in the alum-only group and none occurred in the vaccine groups. Adverse reactions 7 days after each injection occurred in 41.7% to 46.5% of participants in the 3 groups; serious adverse events were rare and similar in the 3 groups (WIV04: 64 [0.5%]; HB02: 59 [0.4%]; alum-only: 78 [0.6%]). Conclusions and Relevance: In this prespecified interim analysis of a randomized clinical trial, treatment of adults with either of 2 inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines significantly reduced the risk of symptomatic COVID-19, and serious adverse events were rare. Data collection for final analysis is pending. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04510207; Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR2000034780.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, educators worldwide are facing a major challenge in how to adapt, become resilient, and to monitor/detect potential safeguarding issues amid nursery and school closures. Online communication between parents, children and early years practitioners/teachers rapidly became a new 'norm' during the first lockdown in the UK. This paper reports on quantitative and qualitative findings from 55 participants compromised of early years practitioners and primary school teachers working with 3 to 8 years old children in the South-East of England. Methods of data collection deployed online surveys and a qualitative focused questionnaire, to capture what measures nurseries and primary schools adopted to ensure children are safeguarded. We argue that pressure on early years practitioners and teachers to monitoring safeguarding children by using various online platforms is physically and emotionally challenging. This paper highlights the difficulties of detecting safeguarding issues amid school closures, which should be avoid during further future closures.

Upon COVID-19 being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, parent-carers worldwide faced major challenges in how to adapt, become resilient, and to continue educating their children at all levels amid school closures. Home-schooling, with parent-carers becoming the substitute teachers, had become the new ‘norm’ during the first and third lockdowns in England. This paper reports on qualitative findings from semi-structured interviews with 35 participants comprised of parents with children aged between 5 and 8 years old in South London, England. Thematical analysis is used to capture parents’ well-being experiences of home-schooling amid COVID-19 compulsory school closures. This paper explores how the pressure on parent-carers to provide education at home akin to a school setting is physically and emotionally challenging. The paper also addresses how parents’ stress levels intensified in the second (January 2021) home-schooling period. A post-structural feminist framework is deployed to unpick gender socio-cultural inequalities relating to the distribution of work/labour/childcare duties at home during lockdown. Existing research has focussed on the impact on low-income families and children’s well-being during the pandemic. This research contributes to existing research by addressing an under-researched area relating to the impact on well-belling for middle-income maternal caregivers. Findings of this research show how financial privilege does not provide an escape from additional stress and how parents’ well-being was affected.

BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in December 2019. The severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ranges from asymptomatic to severe and potentially fatal. We aimed to describe the clinical and laboratory features and outcomes of hospitalised patients with COVID-19 within the Abu Dhabi Healthcare Services Facilities (SEHA). METHODS: Our retrospective analysis of patient data collected from electronic health records (EHRs) available from the SEHA health information system included all patients admitted from 1 March to 31 May 2020 with a laboratory-confirmed PCR diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Data of clinical features, co-morbidities, laboratory markers, length of hospital stay, treatment received and mortality were analysed according to severe versus non-severe disease. RESULTS: The study included 9390 patients. Patients were divided into severe and non-severe groups. Seven hundred twenty-one (7.68%) patients required intensive care, whereas the remaining patients (92.32%) had mild or moderate disease. The mean patient age of our cohort (41.8 years) was lower than the global average. Our population had male predominance, and it included various nationalities. The major co-morbidities were hypertension, diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease. Laboratory tests revealed significant differences in lactate dehydrogenase, ferritin, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and creatinine levels and the neutrophil count between the severe and non-severe groups. The most common anti-viral therapy was the combination of Hydroxychloroquine and Favipiravir. The overall in-hospital mortality rate was 1.63%, although the rate was 19.56% in the severe group. The mortality rate was higher in adults younger than 30 years than in those older than 60 years (2.3% vs. 0.95%). CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis suggested that Abu Dhabi had lower COVID-19 morbidity and mortalities rates were less than the reported rates then in China, Italy and the US. The affected population was relatively young, and it had an international representation. Globally, Abu Dhabi had one of the highest testing rates in relation to the population volume. We believe the early identification of patients and their younger age resulted in more favourable outcomes.