A population’s desire to take the COVID-19 vaccine is an important predictor of a country’s future pandemic management. This cross-sectional study examines the impact of psychological and sociodemographic factors on attitudes toward and intentions to take the COVID-19 vaccine among students and faculty at four colleges of health professions and sciences at Qatar University. The data were collected through an online survey using Google Forms. The survey was distributed through various online platforms. Data analysis was conducted using Stata 16. Of the 364 participants, 9.89% expressed a high mistrust of vaccine safety, and 21.7% were uncertain about their levels of trust; 28% expressed strong worries about unforeseen side effects, whereas 54.95% expressed moderate worries. Furthermore, 7.69% expressed strong concerns and 39.84% showed moderate concerns about commercial profiteering. Approximately 13% of the participants expressed a strong preference towards natural immunity, whilst 45.33% appeared to believe that natural immunity might be better than a vaccine. Importantly, 68.13% of the participants intended to receive the COVID-19 vaccine once it became available, compared to 17.03% who were uncertain and 14.83% who were unwilling to be vaccinated. Our findings differ from the data on vaccine hesitancy among the general population of Qatar. We argue that this gap is due to scientific knowledge and domain of education. Furthermore, although knowledge and awareness may affect vaccine attitudes, mental health and sociodemographic factors play a role in shaping attitudes towards vaccines.

Diabetes is one of the most common diseases worldwide, with steady increase in its prevalence around the globe. One of the common and most devastating complication of such disease is diabetic foot ulcer. The prevalence of diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) among adults with diabetes globally has been estimated at 6.3%, while the annual incidence has been reported to range between 9.1 to 26.1 million cases. DFU is associated with several risk factors including a longer duration of diabetes, poorly controlled diabetes, diabetic neuropathy and foot deformities such as foot callus and flat foot. It can also result in many complications, among which infections are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Infections are estimated to occur in 60% of all diabetic ulcers. Moreover, the mortality rate is higher by 2.5-fold in patients with diabetes with foot ulcers compared to patients with diabetes without foot ulcers. In this chapter, we discuss the epidemiology of DFU, and review its prevalence in different parts of the world, along with risk factors, complication rates and overall impact on quality of life.