Safety and Side Effects of COVID-19 Vaccines

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The types of COVID-19 vaccines have been distinguished, ie vector viral vaccines, mRNA, subunit vaccines. These include traditional approaches - inactivated, live-attenuated and protein / adjuvant-based, as well as novel, as yet unlicensed - viral vectors and nucleic acids. There are scientific publications showing the safety and possible side effects of vaccines from various companies.

Purpose of the work : Analysis of the safety of COVID-19 vaccines on the basis of scientific publications published on the PubMed scientific platform. Publications have been published in the last 12 months. The safety and adverse effects of vaccines were assessed in the course of clinical trials.

Results: Among the main side effects so far were mild / moderate pain at the injection site, redness, hives and rash. Allergic reactions to vaccines are - apart from pronounced local reactions (> 10 cm) at the injection site - very rare and are usually caused by the vaccine's allergy to the components of the vaccine. In addition, there may be swelling or tenderness of the lymph nodes in the armpit, headache, pain in the muscles and joints, nausea and vomiting.

Conclusions: Regardless of the concern, these vaccines are characterized by similar mild, systemic side effects, which indicates the similarity in the safety of these vaccines. Severe adverse reactions occur in extreme cases. More patients only experienced side effects after the second dose.

Keywords: vaccines; coronavirus; COVID-19; safety of COVID-19 vaccines; side effects