Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception towards COVID-19 Vaccination among the Adult Population: A Cross-Sectional Study in Turkey

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to wreak havoc on lives and ravage the world. Several vaccines have been approved for use against COVID-19; however, there may be hesitancy and negative perceptions towards vaccination, which may reduce the willingness to be vaccinated. Further, studies assessing the current perception toward COVID-19 vaccination are scarce. This study aimed to assess community knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding COVID-19 vaccines among the general population of Turkey. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 1009 adult participants from the 13–20 April 2021. Demographic data were collected, and attitudes and perceptions toward COVID-19 vaccines were evaluated. A multivariable regression analysis was performed to identify the factors predicting perception towards COVID-19 vaccinations. Results: Just over half of participants were male (52.6%) and the majority of respondents were aged between 30 and 39 years (33.8%). Our study revealed that 62.7% of participants had positive perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines. Logistic regression analysis results showed that older people (≥30 vs. <30) were less likely to have a positive perception towards COVID-19 vaccines (OR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.51–0.94). We also found participants who had a previous history of influenza vaccines (OR = 2.01, 95% CI = 1.43–2.84), bachelor’s degrees or above (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.12–1.91), and a personal history of COVID-19 (OR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.10–2.26) were more likely to have a positive perception regarding COVID-19 vaccines. Conclusion: The proportion of the general population in Turkey who believe in COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness is not inferior to that of other countries. However, the low positive perception even among the population applying for vaccination indicates that understanding the perception of the general population and its influencing factors may contribute to developing a strategy for improving vaccination rates by addressing these factors

Reproducibility of fluorescent expression from engineered biological constructs in E. coli

We present results of the first large-scale interlaboratory study carried out in synthetic biology, as part of the 2014 and 2015 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competitions. Participants at 88 institutions around the world measured fluorescence from three engineered constitutive constructs in E. coli. Few participants were able to measure absolute fluorescence, so data was analyzed in terms of ratios. Precision was strongly related to fluorescent strength, ranging from 1.54-fold standard deviation for the ratio between strong promoters to 5.75-fold for the ratio between the strongest and weakest promoter, and while host strain did not affect expression ratios, choice of instrument did. This result shows that high quantitative precision and reproducibility of results is possible, while at the same time indicating areas needing improved laboratory practices.Peer reviewe