ABSTRACT
Background: A number of vaccines were introduced to fight the COVID-19 pandemic;however, questions have been raised about their safety. Aims: The objective of this study was to assess the adverse effects that students at Mutah University who received various COVID-19 vaccines reported experiencing. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey employing a well-designed questionnaire was undertaken to look for any side effects that university students might have experienced after receiving a single or double dose of several COVID-19 vaccines. Results: The study sample consisted of 416 university students, of whom 61 percent were women and around 38 percent had COVID-19. In addition, 70.9 percent of research participants received the Pfizer vaccine, 28.1 percent got the Sinopharm vaccine, and just 0.7 percent and 0. 2 percent, respectively, selected the AstraZeneca vaccine and the Moderna vaccine. Localized discomfort following injection (reported by 75% of participants), fatigue (reported by 56.6%), headache (reported by 52.4%), myalgia (reported by 49%), fever (reported by 43%), chills (reported by 37.3%), and arthralgia (37.3 percent) were the most common adverse effects. Conclusion: Majority of short -term side effects of COVID-19 vaccines are mild. Nonetheless, additional studies are required for evaluating their long-term side effects.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has now been declared as a worldwide pandemic. Currently, no drugs have been endorsed for its treatment; in this manner, a pressing need has been developed for any antiviral drugs that will treat COVID-19. Coronaviruses require the SARS-CoV-2 3CL-Protease (3CL-protease) for cleavage of its polyprotein to yield a single useful protein and assume a basic role in the disease progression. In this study, we demonstrated that punicalagin, the fundamental active element of pomegranate in addition to the combination of punicalagin with zinc (Zn) II, appear to show powerful inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV-2. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The 3CL protease assay kit was used to quantify 3CL protease action. The tetrazolium dye, MTS, was used to evaluate cytotoxicity. RESULTS: Punicalagin showed inhibitory action against the 3CL-protease in a dose-dependent manner, and IC50 was found to be 6.192 µg/ml for punicalagin. Punicalagin (10 µg/mL) demonstrated a significant inhibitory activity toward 3CL-protease activity (p < 0.001), yet when punicalagin is combined with zinc sulfate monohydrate (punicalagin/Zn-II) extremely strong 3CL-protease activity (p < 0.001) was obtained. The action of 3CL-protease with punicalagin/Zn-II was decreased by approximately 4.4-fold in contrast to only punicalagin (10 µg/mL). Likewise, we did not notice any significant cytotoxicity caused by punicalagin, Zn-II, or punicalagin/Zn-II. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that these compounds could be used as potential antiviral drugs against COVID-19.