ABSTRACT
Objective: Vaccines are one of the promising approaches to control the pandemic. The aim of this study, which was conducted on healthcare workers who previously were or were not infected with COVID-19, was to evaluate the undesirable effects that developed after the CoronaVac (Sinovac Life Sciences, Beijing, China). Method(s): Volunteers who were administered the first dose of inactivated CoronaVac vaccine between January 14-24, 2021, were included in this retrospective study. Demographic information was obtained from the questionnaire results and from the data of the applications made due to side effects. Result(s): 911 healthcare workers, 232 of whom had a history of COVID-19 were included in the study. The mean age of those with a history of COVID-19, was 36 (20-66), and 33.6% were men. 26.7% were doctors, 34.9% were nurses, 155 (66.8%) worked in internal and 62 (26.7%) in surgical units. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding age, gender, task, and the departments they worked in. Comorbidities were present in 25.9% of the group with a history of COVID-19;the most common disease was asthma (5.6%). Allergy history was 4.3% in the group with COVID-19 and 7.8% in the other group (p=0.070). The incidence of post-vaccine adverse events (62.9%) was higher in those with a history of COVID-19 than in those without (57.1%). The most common adverse event was a headache, and it was significantly higher in the group who had COVID-19 compared to those who had not (36.6% vs. 27.7%;p=0.01). Conclusion(s): In our study, we observed that the rates of undesirable effects after vaccination were high in individuals with a history of COVID-19. Although it is thought that this situation may be related to the developing antibody response rates, the insufficient number of cases and the lack of determination of the antibody response after infection and vaccination are a disadvantage of the study.Copyright © 2023, DOC Design and Informatics Co. Ltd. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Generating memory T cell responses besides humoral immune responses is essential when it comes to the efficacy of a vaccine. In this study, the presence of memory T cell responses after aluminum-adjuvanted inactivated whole-virion SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (CoronaVac) in seronegative and seropositive elderly individuals were examined. CD4+ and CD8+ memory T cell proliferation and IFN-gamma production capacities were evaluated. Additionally, clinical frailty scale (CFS) and FRAIL scales of the individuals were scored. CD4+ memory T cell responses more prominent than CD8+ memory T cells. In seronegative individuals, 80% of them had memory CD4+ and IFN-gamma, whereas 50% of them had memory CD4+ and all of them had IFN-gamma responses. Additionally, 40% of seronegative patients and 50% of seropositive patients had memory CD8+ responses. To sum up, humoral immune responses are not associated with memory T cell responses, and in seronegative individuals, memory T cell responses can be detected.Copyright © 2022
ABSTRACT
Paediatric population is the high-risk segment for the infection of COVID-19 due to weak immune status and low compliance to COVID-19 prevention protocols. The first dose of vaccination for the paediatric population is started in the fifth phase of vaccination, after the vaccination was administered to health workers, elderly individuals, and young adults. Present article aims to analyse the status, trends, and challenges in the implementation of the paediatric vaccination for COVID-19 and provide recommendations that could be taken under consideration by healthcare authorities while designing the second and third vaccination protocols for the paediatric population. Relevant articles published by various journals related to paediatric COVID-19 vaccination were searched from the different databases and analysed for the current status of vaccination, trends, challenges, compliance level, implementation hurdles, and other relevant information. Limited research is available in the paediatric domain for the COVID-19 vaccination. Few vaccines are approved for the paediatric population in India, including the Covaxin, ZyCoV-D, Corbevax and Covovax. It is recommended that the vaccination trials should be accelerated by the government agencies to make COVID vaccines available from other indigenous manufacturers. It is also recommended that the COVID-19 prevention protocol should be made in such a manner that children find that interesting and like to follow them.Copyright © The Author(s) 2023.
ABSTRACT
Covid immunization commenced on 2nd Feb 2021 in Pakistan and as of 7th Sep 2021, over 84 million vaccine doses were administered in Pakistan, of which 72% procured by the government, 22% received through Covax and 6% were donated. The vaccines rolled out nationally included: Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSinoBIO (China), AstraZeneca (UK), Moderna and Pfizer (USA), Sputnik (Russia), and PakVac (China/Pakistan). About half of the eligible population in Pakistan (63 m) had received at least one dose of Covid vaccine as of Sep 2021. Pakistan National Pharmacovigilance Centre (PNPC) in coordination with WHO, MHRA and Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) established pharmacovigilance centers across Pakistan. The Covid vaccine AEFIs in Pakistan were mainly reported via NIMS (National Immunization Management System), COVIM (Covid-19 Vaccine Inventory Management System), 1166 freephone helpline and MedSafety. There have been 39,291 ADRs reported as of 30th Sept 2021, where most reported after the first dose (n = 27,108) and within 24-72 h of immunization (n = 27,591). Fever or shivering accounted for most AEFI (35%) followed by injection-site pain or redness (28%), headache (26%), nausea/vomiting (4%), and diarrhoea (3%). 24 serious AEFIs were also reported and investigated in detail by the National AEFI review committee. The rate of AEFIs reports ranged from 0.27 to 0.79 per 1000 for various Covid vaccines in Pakistan that was significantly lower than the rates in UK (~4 per 1000), primarily atrributed to underreporting of cases in Pakistan. Finally, Covid vaccines were well tolerated and no significant cause for concern was flagged up in Pakistan's Covid vaccine surveillance system concluding overall benefits outweighed risks.Copyright © 2022
ABSTRACT
Background: Vaccination proved useful in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection;however, there were instances of breakthrough infection occurred. Unvaccinated people are liable to have a severe infection while infection in vaccinated people has different outcomes, especially in relation to the type of vaccine. In this study, we aimed to assess the severity of the disease in unvaccinated people and the severity of break through infection in vaccinated people in relation to the type of vaccines available in Iraq. Method(s): Two groups of Iraqi patients were studied, of which the first included 8,096 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, including their vaccination status;and the second group included 1,124 patients who received the vaccine and developed the disease later. The severity of infection in these groups in relation to the three types of vaccine administered in Iraq was evaluated. Result(s): Among the 8,096 patients who developed severe and critical COVID-19 pneumonia, most (96%) were not vaccinated. Among 1,124 patients who received the vaccine and developed breakthrough infection, Sinovac was associated with mild cases while Pfizer and AstraZeneca were associated with moderate and severe cases. Conclusion(s): Infection in unvaccinated people tended to be more severe and critical than that in vaccinated people, where it was mild or moderate. Of the vaccines given in Iraq, Sinopharm appeared to be superior to the other two in terms of breakthrough infection.Copyright © 2022 Zangana, licensee HBKU Press