Safety and Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccines: Results from a Cross-Sectional Survey among Staff, Workers and Students at an Egyptian University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2022

Abstract

Mass vaccination is the most effective strategy against the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, concerns about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness remain a huge obstacle to vaccine acceptance. The aim of the present study was to explore different COVID-19 vaccine outcomes, including the development of adverse events and/or COVID-19 infection following COVID-19 vaccination. A cross-sectional study was conducted by distributing an online survey targeting staff and students at the British university in Egypt. A total of 637 participants fully completed the survey. Of these, 609 (95.6%) participants received the COVID-19 vaccine. Only 12.6% of the total vaccinated participants reported COVID-19 infection after vaccination. Of these, only 2.8% reported having severe symptoms while 9.9% reported having no or mild symptoms. The most common side effects reported after the first vs. second dose were headache (36.3% vs. 14.6%), tiredness and fatigue (26.9% vs. 10.7), and fever (25.6% vs. 6.7%). In conclusion, the present study explored different COVID-19 vaccine outcomes where the overall incidence of side effects is higher after the first dose than after the second dose. There is a relationship between COVID-19 vaccines’ side effects and gastrointestinal disorders, gender, and the type of COVID-19 vaccine. Post-vaccination symptoms were more frequently reported in women compared to men and more frequent with viral vector vaccines compared to other types. The effectiveness of different types of COVID-19 vaccines was confirmed by the lower incidence rate of post-vaccination COVID-19 infection.

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