Physical side effects of covid-19 vaccines reported among healthcare workers in Sudan: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is quickly becoming a global health issue. For the first time in the history of extremely contagious illnesses, a vaccine has been created in one year. Vaccination is having a beneficial impact across the globe. Elimination of this sickness is still far from the reality due to virus mutations. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in Kosti Teaching Hospital, Sudan (October 2021- June 2022). Google forms were used to collect data. Samples were taken using total coverage. The data were analyzed using SPSS v28 and the association between variables was checked using the Q-square and Fisher's Exact Test. Result: This study includes (133) participants, the majority are female (77.4%) and the rest were male (22.6%) and the main age group is (37.98 ± 9.5 SD) years. About three-quarters of the study population )76.7%) showed side effects after getting a vaccine. The following adverse effects were experienced by study participants: mild pain at the injection site (77.5%), fever (65%), headache (50%) and fatigue (43%). About 7% were unable to work the next day owing to side effects. Significant differences were observed between the side effects and marital status; p-value = (.005), type of vaccine p-value = (.042) and age p-value = (.021). No significant differences between vaccine side effects and age, previous infection with COVID-19, gender, occupation, number of hours spent at work and infection with other chronic illnesses (p-value< 0.05). Conclusion: Based on current research, pain at the injection site is the most frequent adverse reaction, demonstrating the vaccine's safety and the absence of any problems or lethal effects. Additionally, these side effects don't significantly affect daily activities.