{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,20]],"date-time":"2025-07-20T03:40:28Z","timestamp":1752982828656,"version":"3.40.5"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,23]],"date-time":"2021-12-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1640217600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Khyber Medical University Publication Fund","award":["KMU\/ORIC\/ar\/003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KMU\/ORIC\/ar\/003"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Government of Pakistan has established Adult Vaccination Counters (AVCs) to immunize general population with COVID-19 vaccine. Different brands of COVID-19 vaccines have different protocols. It is important that the knowledge and skills of the vaccination staff at AVCs should be accurate. To assess this, a cross-sectional study was conducted in all 15 AVCs at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa\u2019s provincial capital in May 2021, using the simulated client approach. Structured open-ended and simulated scenario-based questions were used to collect data from the vaccination staff of AVCs. This study showed that 53.3% of the AVCs had at most three out of four brands of COVID-19 vaccines. 60% of the AVCs did not have the mechanism to track client\u2019s vaccine first dose, date, and brand. Only 66.7% of the AVCs had a complete knowledge of all the available vaccines. 86.7% and 80% of the AVCs knew the correct duration and administration of the same brand of COVID-19 vaccine\u2019s second dose respectively. At the client\u2019s end, 6.7% were aware about the brand of administered COVID-19 vaccine. 46.7% were advised about the date of the second shot of vaccination. Only 13.3% of the clients were informed about the procedure of getting an official vaccination certificate. It was concluded that the knowledge and skill of the vaccination staff at AVCs is inadequate. Every vaccine has a different protocol in terms of number of doses and duration. AVCs must have a tracking system to inoculate the second dose with the same brand as the first dose. There is a need for rigorous monitoring and training of the COVID-19 vaccination staff on various protocols of vaccine to prevent losing public\u2019s trust.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0261286","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,23]],"date-time":"2021-12-23T18:25:44Z","timestamp":1640283944000},"page":"e0261286","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Assessing the knowledge and skill of vaccination staff at Adult Vaccination Counters for COVID-19 vaccines: Simulated client method"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Wajiha","family":"Qamar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mehran","family":"Qayum","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4141-0714","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Naveed","family":"Sadiq","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0261286.ref001","unstructured":"WHO. COVID-19 advice for the public: Getting vaccinated 2021 [https:\/\/www.who.int\/emergencies\/diseases\/novel-coronavirus-2019\/covid-19-vaccines\/advice."},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1969","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMp2005630","article-title":"Developing Covid-19 Vaccines at andemic Speed","volume":"382","author":"Nicole Lurie","year":"2020","journal-title":"New England Journal of Medicine"},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref003","unstructured":"7 Vaccines Approved for Use by WHO: McGill COVID19 Vaccine Tracker Team; 2021 [https:\/\/covid19.trackvaccines.org\/agency\/who\/."},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref004","unstructured":"Pettersson H, Manley B, Hernandez S, McPhillips D. Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide 21 May 2021 [https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/interactive\/2021\/health\/global-covid-vaccinations\/."},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref005","unstructured":"Health Emergency Dashboard (COVID-19) [Internet]. 2021. https:\/\/covid19.who.int\/region\/emro\/country\/pk."},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref006","unstructured":"NCOC. National Command and Operation Center: Vaccine Stats 30 August 2021 [https:\/\/ncoc.gov.pk\/#section2."},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref007","unstructured":"DRAP. News and Updates\u2014COVID-19 2021 [https:\/\/www.dra.gov.pk\/Home\/covid."},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref008","unstructured":"Ministry of National Health Services RC. Guidelines for Adult Vaccination Counters (AVCs) in Pakistan. 28 January 2021."},{"volume-title":"COVID: What\u2019s behind Pakistan\u2019s low vaccination rate?","year":"2021","author":"S. Khan","key":"pone.0261286.ref009"},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref010","article-title":"COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, barriers and facilitators among healthcare workers in Pakistan","author":"Khalid Rehman","year":"2021","journal-title":"Journal of Infectious Diseases & Therapy"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0261286.ref011","first-page":"1465","volume":"45","author":"J M Madden","year":"1997","journal-title":"Undercover careseekers: simulated clients in the study of health provider behavior in developing countries Social Science & Medicine"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0261286.ref012","first-page":"108","article-title":"Strategies for Optimal Implementation of Simulated Clients for Measuring Quality of Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries","volume":"5","author":"A Fitzpatricka","year":"2017","journal-title":"Global Health: Science and Practice"},{"issue":"11","key":"pone.0261286.ref013","article-title":"COVID-19 vaccines: the importance of transparency and fact-based education","volume":"86","author":"Adam F. Cohen","year":"2020","journal-title":"British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology"},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref014","unstructured":"CDC. Vaccines & immunizations: CDC; [https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/vaccines\/covid-19\/info-by-product\/moderna\/moderna-faqs.html."},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref015","article-title":"Covid-19 vaccine mixing: the good, the bad and the uncertain","author":"K. Parkins","year":"2021","journal-title":"Clinical Trials Arena"},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2043","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(21)01115-6","article-title":"Heterologous prime-boost COVID-19 vaccination: initial reactogenicity data","volume":"397","author":"Robert H Shaw","year":"2021","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"issue":"10289","key":"pone.0261286.ref017","article-title":"Heterologous prime-boost COVID-19 vaccination: initial reactogenicity data","volume":"397","author":"Robert H Shaw","year":"2021","journal-title":"The Lancet"},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref018","unstructured":"WHO. COVID-19 vaccination training for health worker 2021 [https:\/\/openwho.org\/courses\/covid-19-vaccination-healthworkers-en."},{"key":"pone.0261286.ref019","unstructured":"CDC. COVID-19 Vaccination Training Programs and Reference Materials for Healthcare Professionals. 07 April 2021."},{"issue":"63","key":"pone.0261286.ref020","article-title":"Eradicating polio in Pakistan: an analysis of the challenges and solutions to this security and health issue","volume":"12","author":"Shoaib Fahad Hussain","year":"2016","journal-title":"Globalization and Health volume"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0261286.ref021","first-page":"545","article-title":"Understanding Health Seeking Behavior Of Health Care Professionals In Tertiary Care Hospitals In Pakistan","volume":"28","author":"Shazia Bana","year":"2016","journal-title":"Journal of Ayub Medical College Abbottabad"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0261286.ref022","first-page":"560","volume":"24","author":"Miyuki Kawado","year":"2003","journal-title":"A comparison of error detection rates between the reading aloud method and the double data entry method Controlled Clinical Trials"}],"container-title":["PLOS ONE"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0261286","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,23]],"date-time":"2021-12-23T18:26:05Z","timestamp":1640283965000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0261286"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Hamidreza","family":"Karimi-Sari","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"editor","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,23]]},"references-count":22,"journal-issue":{"issue":"12","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,23]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0261286","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1932-6203"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,23]]}}}