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. 2022 May 18;22(1):476.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-022-07411-5.

Adverse effects following COVID-19 vaccination in Iran

Ebrahim Babaee  1 , Ali Amirkafi  1 , Arash Tehrani-Banihashemi  1 , Neda SoleimanvandiAzar  1 , Babak Eshrati  1 , Zahra Rampisheh  1 , Mehran Asadi-Aliabadi  2 , Marzieh Nojomi  3
Affiliations

Adverse effects following COVID-19 vaccination in Iran

Ebrahim Babaee et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Vaccination is a key intervention to prevent COVID-19. Many vaccines are administered globally, yet there is not much evidence regarding their safety and adverse effects. Iran also faces this challenge, especially as data regarding the Sputnik V vaccine is sparse. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the adverse effects of the most commonly used vaccines in Iran.

Methods: Using a retrospective cohort study design, 6600 subjects aged 18 years or older who had received two doses of any of the three COVID-19 vaccines (Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, and Sputnik V) were selected using a random sampling method between March and August 2021. Subjects were asked about any adverse effects of the vaccines by trained interviewers via telephone interview. Vaccine-related adverse effects in individuals during the first 72 h and subsequently following both doses of the vaccines were determined. The demographic variables, type of administered vaccine, adverse effects, and history of the previous infection with COVID-19 were collected. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and analytical statistics (Chi-squared and Wilcoxon tests) were performed at a 95% significance level using STATA software version 15 (STATA Corp, College Station, TX, USA).

Results: From 6600 participants, 4775 responded (response rate = 72.3%). Of the participants, 1460 (30.6%) received the AstraZeneca vaccine, 1564 (32.8%) received the Sinopharm vaccine and 1751 (36.7%) received the Sputnik V vaccine. 2653 participants (55.56%) reported adverse effects after the first dose and 1704 (35.7%) after the second dose. Sputnik V caused the most adverse effects with 1449 (82.7%) vaccine recipients reporting symptoms after the first or second dose, compared with 1030 (70.5%) for AstraZeneca and only 585 (37.4%) for the Sinopharm vaccine. The most common adverse effects after the first dose were fatigue (28.37%), chill/fever (26.86%), and skeletal pain (22.38%). These three adverse effects were the same for the second dose, although their prevalence was lower.

Conclusions: In this study, we demonstrate that the Sputnik V vaccine has the highest rate of adverse effects, followed by the AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines. COVID-19 vaccines used in Iran are safe and there were no reports of serious adverse effects.

Keywords: Adverse effect; AstraZeneca; COVID-19; Iran; Sinopharm; Sputnik V; Vaccine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

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