Chan PH, Yeung ANM*, Pong LKM, Chan HYC, Man KK, Kho CH, Lee YS, Lui YL, Cheung SY, Hui CT and Chung WSK

LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

*Corresponding Author: JYeung ANM, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Received: April 11, 2022; Published: May 03, 2022

Abstract

Background: The Hong Kong Government announced the arrangement of a city-wide COVID-19 Vaccination Program with the provision of BioNTech vaccines in 29 Community Vaccination Centres in December, 2021. According to the List of Serious or Unexpected Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI), the cumulative number of report received for Comirnaty COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine (BNT162b2) as at 30^th September is 81 cases per 100,000 disease administered which account for 0.08% of total vaccination. Among all age groups, the age group of 20-29 are the least reported age group among citizens which had 55 cases per 100,000 doses administered. It reveals the adverse effects of vaccines are mostly underreported.

Method: The information in this study was gathered by a Qualtrics questionnaire (online survey). The result includes the responses of 425 individuals. Adverse effects of BNT162b2 vaccine after the first and second doses were reported.

Results: The participants reported similar effects on the first and second doses. The most common side effects were generalized symptoms including fatigue and fever, localized symptoms such as injection site reactions, soreness, and myalgia. Other predominant symptoms included: dizziness, chills, headache, nausea, diarrhea, palpitations, joint pain, flushing and sweating. Some respondents also reported symptoms included: insonmia, shortness of breath, chest pain and spasm.

Conclusion: Majority of the adverse effects reported in this study were consistent with existing studies and guidelines overseas. However, further policies and studies are needed to shorten the gap to inform and protect vaccine recipients in the long-run. Furthermore, Correlation between chronic conditions (allergies or eczema) and specific symptoms (myalgia or soreness), and correlation of gender to the perceived impact of symptoms on daily functioning were analyzed. However, various factors can result in this correlation. Hence, further investigations and literature are necessary.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; WHO

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Citation

Citation: Yeung ANM., et al. “A Cross-sectional Study of the Side Effects of BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine on University Students Aged 18-30 with Detailed Self-reported Symptoms". Acta Scientific Women's Health 4.6 (2022): 11-20.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Yeung ANM., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.