Prevalence of COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects among Early-Vaccinated Healthcare Workers in Eastern Ethiopia.

Background: The Ministry of Health of Ethiopia launched the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in March 2021, with frontline healthcare workers as first-round recipients and a goal of vaccinating 20% of the population by the end of 2021. The study aims to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19 vaccination side effects among early vaccinated healthcare workers in Adama hospital medical college. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out between March and June 2021, following the vaccination of COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in Adama hospital medical college. The study used a structured self-administered questionnaire and additional telephone surveys on items covering the participants' demographic data, local and systemic manifestations after vaccination. Results: A total of 540 health care workers and supportive staff were enrolled in this study. The overall any-symptom report after the first dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV- 19 vaccine was 84.3%. The majority (39.6%) of participants had both systemic and local symptoms and 25.7% had only local and 18.9% had only systemic symptoms. Injection site pain was the most prevalent side effect symptom (64.1%), followed by fatigue (35.7%), headache (28.9%), joint pain (26.5%), and muscle pain (21.5%). Conclusion: Vaccine side effects were common and found to be well-tolerated among the recipients of the first dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 at Adama hospital medical college healthcare workers. The side effects were mainly mild to moderate. More side-effect profiles should be studied and disseminated to detect rare adverse reactions.

Incidence, Pattern and Severity of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFIs) Associated With Chadox1 nCOV-19 Corona Virus Vaccine (Recombinant) Among the Healthcare Workers of a Tertiary Care Institute of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India.

Background In January 2020, the Government of India based on the recommendation of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) and National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) started the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country. Two vaccines, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 coronavirus vaccine (recombinant), i.e., COVISHIELD produced by Serum Institute of India and COVAXIN developed indigenously by Bharat Biotech, were given emergency use authorisation (EUA) by the DCGI. Methods In this cohort study, we assessed the incidence, pattern and severity of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) observed among the healthcare workers of a large tertiary care institute in eastern U.P., India vaccinated with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 Coronavirus vaccine (recombinant) within 30 minutes of vaccination by direct observation. Results Out of the total 836 healthcare workers who were vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine, around 10% experienced any AEFI within the directly observed period. The most common AEFI was pain/tenderness at the injection site experienced by 59.3% of those who experienced any AEFI followed by headache/dizziness (35.3%), itching/rashes at the injection site (8.1%), nausea/vomiting (5.8%) and fever/chills (4.7%). The majority (95.3%) of the AEFIs observed were of minor severity with no serious AEFIs observed as per the WHO severity classification. Conclusion ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 Coronavirus vaccine (recombinant) is proven to be safe based on our findings as the majority of AEFIs observed were of minor grade only. However, the vaccine beneficiaries should be strictly observed for a minimum of 30 minutes at the vaccination site to look for any serious AEFI with arrangements to manage the same.