A retrospective evaluation of side-effects associated with the booster dose of Pfizer-BioNTech/BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine among females in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUNDS: The development of several types of vaccines to avert COVID-19 has taken place. Despite several reports of undesirable reactions noted post-COVID-19 vaccine administration, later remains one of the best prevention and management tools in fighting the spread of the virus and its variants and reducing the harshness of this viral attack. The purpose of the current paper was to explore the side-effects experienced by the females in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia directly after receiving the booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech/BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study among adults living in the East-ern Province, Saudi Arabia was applied. A survey link was, distributed through WhatsApp, SMS, or e-mail to community members. Respondent's demographic information was acquired, as well as information about any local and systemic side-effects reported following booster dose of BioNTech/BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine. RESULTS: A total of 72.36% (432/597) of the respondents who participated in this study reported at least one side-effect. Pain and redness at the injection site (75.93%), myalgia (71.99%), headache (53.24%), fever (33.56%), and fatigue (43.78%) were the highest frequently stated side-effects. Furthermore, 9.25% of the respondents had to see a physician due to side effects, plus merely four participants were admitted to the hospital. The respondents working in the non-healthcare-related sector had a 1.677-fold more possibility of side effects in comparison with the other respondents (adjusted odds ratio = 1.677; 95% CI = 1.363, 2.064). CONCLUSIONS: All reported side-effects were mild to moderate. These findings might persuade pessimists and refusers to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Myalgia and pain or redness at the site of injection were the most common reported side-effects in our study.

Prevalence of side-effects associated with the booster dose of Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) of COVID-19 Vaccine among vaccinated adults in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia.

Background: Reports of local and systemic side-effects of COVID-19 vaccination may play an important role in public confidence in the acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine booster dose. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study among adults living in Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. A link to the survey was distributed to community members via WhatsApp, SMS, or e-mail. Participants' general and demographic information was also collected, as well as information about any local and systemic side-effects reported following vaccination. Results: A total of 370/390 (94.87%) of respondents reported one or more side-effects. Pain or redness at the site of injection (88.92%), fatigue (43.78%), body pain fever (37.84%), and headache (15.95%) were the most commonly reported side-effects. Moreover, 2.43% of the participants reported side-effects needed to see a physician; only four were admitted to the hospital. The non-healthcare respondents (n=273 (97.15%), OR (95% CI) = 5.22 (2.02, 13.48, P <0.001) were more likely to report side-effects compared to the healthcare related respondents (n=36 (85.71%), OR (95% CI) = 0.25 (0.10, 0.70), P=0.013). Conclusion: According to this study, the Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) COVID-19 vaccine was safe when given to Saudi Arabian adults. All reported side-effects were mild to moderate. The findings will likely persuade vaccine-hesitant individuals and pessimists to accept booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Analyzing preventive precautions to limit spread of COVID-19.

With the global spread of COVID-19, the governments advised the public for adopting safety precautions to limit its spread. The virus spreads from people, contaminated places, and nozzle droplets that necessitate strict precautionary measures. Consequently, different safety precautions have been implemented to fight COVID-19 such as wearing a facemask, restriction of social gatherings, keeping 6 feet distance, etc. Despite the warnings, highlighted need for such measures, and the increasing severity of the pandemic situation, the expected number of people adopting these precautions is low. This study aims at assessing and understanding the public perception of COVID-19 safety precautions, especially the use of facemask. A unified framework of sentiment lexicon with the proposed ensemble EB-DT is devised to analyze sentiments regarding safety precautions. Extensive experiments are performed with a large dataset collected from Twitter. In addition, the factors leading to a negative perception of safety precautions are analyzed by performing topic analysis using the Latent Dirichlet allocation algorithm. The experimental results reveal that 12% of the tweets correspond to negative sentiments towards facemask precaution mainly by its discomfort. Analysis of change in peoples' sentiment over time indicates a gradual increase in the positive sentiments regarding COVID-19 restrictions.

Evaluation of Prevalence of Side-Effects Associated with Booster Dose of mRNA-Based COVID-19 Vaccine Among Healthcare Workers in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the mild and moderate side-effects experienced by the healthcare workers (HCWs) in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia after receiving the booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech/BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine. Methods: We directed a descriptive cross-sectional study among adults living in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. A survey link was distributed through WhatsApp, SMS, or e-mail to HCWs. Participants' general and demographic information were also collected, as well as information about any local and systemic side-effects reported following vaccination. Results: The results of this study showed that 81.84% (401/490) of the HCWs who contributed to this study reported the minimum COVID-19 post-vaccination side-effect. Body pain (89%) and pain at the site of injection (88.73%) were the most frequent frequently reported side-effects, followed by headache (28.68%), joint or bone pain (27.18%), muscle pain (26.43%), nausea or vomiting (21.2%), fever (18.95%), skin rashes (10.22%). History of chronic diseases had a 0.44-fold increased risk of side-effects compared to no history of chronic diseases HCWs (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.224, 0.880), and significant association of occupation with side-effects was also 1.61-fold increased risk compared to nonmedical ((aOR) = 1.61; 95% CI = 1.037, 2.513). Conclusion: According to this study, the Pfizer-BioNTech/BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine was safe when given to Saudi Arabian HCWs. All reported side-effects were mild to moderate. The outcomes indicated that most participants had body pain and pain at the site of injection and fatigue is among the least reported side-effect post-booster dose. Healthcare was highly connected with more reporting of side-effects.

A single-center experience of steroid therapy for COVID-19 management (preprint)

Aim: There is an emerging role of steroids in the management of COVID-19. We aimed to compare the outcome of COVID-19 patients (recovery versus mortality) who were treated with steroids with those who were not treated with steroids during their course of hospital stay. Methods: A retrospective analysis of all moderately to severely ill COVID-19 patients, meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria, admitted to our center during the study period of four months, was performed. The patients were categorized into two groups: Group I included 25 patients who were given steroids, and Group II also included 25 patients who were not given any steroids during their hospital stay. The primary outcome (recovery versus mortality), length of hospital stay as well as other features were compared between the two groups. Results: The mean length of hospital stay was 9.3 days in the steroids group and 10.9 days in the non-steroids group with a p value of 0.249. None of the patients was shifted to a ventilator in either group. One patient in the steroids group (4%) and two patients in the non-steroids group (8%) needed to be put on high flow nasal cannula. One patient died in the steroids group with a recovery rate of 96%, while two patients died in the non-steroids group with a recovery rate of 92% (p value 0.552). Conclusion: Treatment with steroids in moderately to severely ill COVID-19 patients did not decrease the length of hospital stay or mortality in our study.

Epidemiology, risk, myths, pharmacotherapeutic management and socio economic burden due to novel COVID-19: A recent update

[...]date there is not even a single drug or vaccine that can be used for the effective treatment for this disease. The lung epithelial cells are the primary target of the virus because host cell is the first step of viral infection followed by the fusion with the cell membrane hence it has been reported that human to human transmission of SARS-CoV2 occurs by the binding between the receptor-binding domains of virus spikes with the cell, which has been identified as angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) receptor. The sample should be stored in laboratory for the amplification of the genetic material extracted from the mucus or saliva sample is through a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), which involves the synthesis of a double-stranded (ds) DNA molecule from an RNA. The probes are taken on the initial gene sequence released by the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre & School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China on Virological.org, and subsequent confirmatory evaluation by other labs. If the test result is positive, it is recommended that the test is repeated for verification [27].

COVID-19 infection and its deadly cytokine storm in a young obese adult.

SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus that was initially described in Wuhan China in December 2019. In the USA (US), the person to be diagnosed with the novel Coronavirus infection (COVID) was on 19 January 2020. On 18 March 2020, a 31-year-old morbidly obese African American woman presented with severe dyspnea with associated hypoxemia, fever and bilateral interstitial pulmonary ground glass infiltrates consistent with viral pneumonitis. Nasopharyngeal PCR testing was positive for SARS-CoV-2. Despite initiation of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin along with supplemental oxygen therapy, rapid disease progression consistent with cytokine release syndrome ensued, leading to initiation of mechanical ventilatory support. Anti-Interleukin (IL)-6 receptor monoclonal antibody (tocilizumab) was administered. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) leads to refractory hypoxemia and demise. Severe morbid obesity as well as race may be unidentified risk factors for the development of severe Illness in patients with COVID-19.