The vaccine was the only way to fight against Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) from its statement as a pandemic till day. COVID-19 vaccines were approved by the world health organization (WHO) in December 2020. Despite a large number of studies regarding the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines, to our knowledge, there were limited studies that outlined the gender disparity towards COVID-19 vaccine adverse effects. This study aims to outline the variety of side effects among men and women after getting COVID-19 vaccines (either single or two doses). It is a cross-sectional study accomplished electronically from September to November 2021. The participants involved were 843 Health Care Workers (HCWs) from different cities in Iraq. The majority of respondents were females (664). Around 65% of males experienced adverse effects compared to 77% of females. A high frequency of severe pain was reported among females. Regarding dermatological reactions like swelling, redness and skin rash were also higher reported among female subjects. In addition to that, higher frequencies of moderate and severe systemic adverse effects and mild to moderate nausea was also reported more frequently among females. In terms of cardiopulmonary adverse effects, all the reported adverse effects were found more frequently among females. In conclusion, COVID-19 vaccines produced limited adverse effects and the majority of them were reported among women. This may be associated with hormonal and psychological factors related to them.

Since the declaration of Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), it was clear that vaccination is the best way to overcome it. Sinopharm, AstraZeneca and Pfizer were the first vaccines introduced to defeat it. To recognize the short-term adverse effects among Iraqi health care workers (HCWs) after vaccination, the three COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available in Iraq were compared. An online survey was distributed to Iraqi HCWs who had received at least one of the COVID-19 vaccines as part of a retrospective cross-sectional study. Data were statistically analyzed using SPSS. The total number of participants was 843. The majority of the participants (85.9%) were under 39 years old, with 78.8% of them being females. Around 60% of individuals had received the Pfizer vaccine. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) had infected 46.7% of the total participants. A total of 628 out of 843 participants experienced adverse effects after receiving the vaccine, accounting for 74.49% of the overall respondents. After receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, the vast majority of respondents who received the three vaccines experienced pain at the injection site (n = 800), while other side effects like headache, myalgia, tiredness and fever mainly appeared with Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines. Most of the reported adverse effects were tolerable and self-limited and they were linked to the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines.

Background: Corona virus disease (COVID-19) is a health concern that produced considerable psychological and physical health challenges to Health care providers (HCPs) internationally. Aims: This study aims to determine the level of depression, anxiety, and stress after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine among HCPs in Iraq. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study design was used in this study. The participants involved were 700 Iraqi HCPs who received one or two doses from COVID-19 vaccines. The questionnaire was designed and brought to them electronically using Google form and distributed by social media. Then mental health status was measured using a specific depression, anxiety and stress scale named DASS-21. Each domain of the DASS scale was calculated for each subject and DASS-21 scores were compared between different demographic groups. Results: Females represented a large percentage of participants (80%). The majority of participants had a normal level of DASS-21 after receiving the vaccine. Higher scores were obtained among graduated young age groups also among individuals who have side effects associated with the vaccine. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that assesses mental health after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine in the middle east. The study concluded that HCPs have low DASS-21 scores and this gives us promising results for the use of the COVID-19 vaccine in future.

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Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first reported in December 2019. The plasma markers of coagulation, like D-dimers and elevated prothrombin time (PT) are higher in patients with COVID-19. The administration of anticoagulant is beneficial in those patients. Heparins have many therapeutic functions that are important for the controlling of COVID-19-associated clinical manifestations like, neutralization of inflammatory mediators and neutralization of extracellular cytotoxic histones. Many observational studies in different countries have been done and large number of clinical trials have been designed and registered to evaluate efficacy and safety of heparin for patients with COVID-19. The aim of this narrative review is to summarize all available data from previously published studies concerning the use of heparin in treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic.