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Review
. 2023 Jul 7:68:1605526.
doi: 10.3389/ijph.2023.1605526. eCollection 2023.

Effectiveness and Safety of COVID-19 Vaccinations: An Umbrella Meta-Analysis

Zhu Liduzi Jiesisibieke  1 , Wen-Yi Liu  2   3   4 , Yu-Pei Yang  5 , Ching-Wen Chien  2 , Tao-Hsin Tung  1
Affiliations
Review

Effectiveness and Safety of COVID-19 Vaccinations: An Umbrella Meta-Analysis

Zhu Liduzi Jiesisibieke et al. Int J Public Health. .

Abstract

Objectives: This umbrella meta-analysis aims to provide comprehensive and synthesized evidence regarding the effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccinations based on current studies. Methods: Studies from the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and EMBASE, published before 10 December 2021, were included in the analysis. The pooled results of effectiveness and safety were estimated and shown in forest plots. Results: We included nineteen studies (fifteen studies regarding safety and nine regarding effectiveness) in the analysis. The mRNA vaccines, adenovirus vector vaccines, subunit vaccines, and inactivated vaccines were found to be effective; however, mRNA vaccines, adenovirus vector vaccines and subunit vaccines were associated with local adverse events and systemic events when compared with inactivated vaccines. Conclusion: Our study suggested that till date, COVID-19 vaccination is still a preferred pharmaceutical way to control the widespread pandemic. However, all reported adverse events should be revisited to provide further evidence for mass vaccinations.

Keywords: COVID-19; effectiveness; safety; umbrella meta-analysis; vaccination.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they do not have any conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses flow chart (Global, 2021).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Forest plots of COVID-19 vaccination effectiveness (Global, 2021). (A) Pooled risk ratio of messenger Ribonucleic acid vaccination. (B) Pooled risk ratio of Adenovirus vector vaccination. (C) Pooled risk ratio of Inactivated vaccination. (D) Pooled hazard ratio of messenger Ribonucleic acid vaccination. (E) Vaccination effectiveness of messenger Ribonucleic acid vaccination. (F) Vaccination effectiveness of inactivated vaccination. (G) COVID-19 event rate after overall COVID-19 vaccination.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Forest plots of COVID-19 vaccination safety (Global, 2021). (A) The pooled risk ratio of local adverse events associated with messenger Ribonucleic acid vaccination. (B) The pooled risk ratio of systemic adverse events associated with messenger Ribonucleic acid vaccination. (C) The pooled risk ratio of any adverse events associated with messenger Ribonucleic acid vaccination. (D) The pooled risk ratio of local adverse events associated with adenovirus vector vaccination. (E) The pooled risk ratio of any adverse events associated with adenovirus vector vaccination. (F) The pooled odds ratio of systemic adverse events associated with messenger Ribonucleic acid vaccination. (G) The pooled odds ratio of systemic adverse events associated with messenger Ribonucleic acid vaccination. (H) The pooled odds ratio of local adverse events associated with adenovirus vector vaccination. (I) The pooled odds ratio of systemic adverse events associated with adenovirus vector vaccination. (J) The pooled odds ratio of local adverse events associated with subunit vaccination. (K) The pooled odds ratio of systemic adverse events associated with subunit vaccination. (L) The pooled risk ratio of other adverse events associated with overall COVID-19 vaccination. (M) The pooled odds ratio of local adverse events associated with inactivated vaccination. (N) The pooled odds ratio of systemic adverse events associated with inactivated vaccination. (O) The pooled prevalence of ant adverse events associated with overall COVID-19 vaccination.
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