Short-Term Adverse Effects Following Booster Dose of Inactivated-Virus vs. Adenoviral-Vector COVID-19 Vaccines in Algeria: A Cross-Sectional Study of the General Population

Abstract

COVID-19 booster vaccines have been adopted in almost all countries to enhance the immune response and combat the emergence of new variants. Algeria adopted this strategy in November 2021. This study was conducted to consider the self-reported side effects of COVID-19 booster vaccines by Algerians who were vaccinated with a booster dose of one of the approved inactivated-virus vaccines, such as BBIBP-CorV and CoronaVac, or one of the adenoviral-vector-based vaccines, such as Gam-COVID-Vac, AZD1222 and Ad26.COV2.S, and to determine the eventual risk factors. A cross-sectional study using an online self-administered questionnaire (SAQ) was conducted in Algeria between 28 April 2022, and 20 July 2022. A descriptive analysis of the 196 individuals who were included showed a nearly equal distribution of adenoviral- (52%) and inactivated-virus vaccines (48%) and of males (49.5%) and females (50.5%). The results showed that 74.7% of the studied population reported at least one local or systemic side effect. These side effects were more frequent among adenoviral-vector vaccinees (87.3%) than inactivated-virus vaccinees (60.6%) (sig. < 0.001). Injection site pain (40.3%), heat at the injection site (21.4%), and arm pain (16.3%) were the most common local side effects. These signs generally appeared in the first 12 h (73.3%) and generally lasted less than 24 h (32.8%). More interestingly, these signs differed from those that followed the administration of primer doses (48.5%) and were generally more severe (37%). The same observation was reported for systemic side effects, where the signs were especially most severe in the adenoviral-vaccinated group (49.4% vs. 20.8%; sig. = 0.001). These signs generally appeared within the first day (63.6%) and mostly disappeared before two days (50.8%), with fatigue (41.8%), fever (41.3%), and headache (30.1%) being the most common. Adenoviral-vector vaccinees (62.7%) were more likely to use medications to manage these side effects than were inactivated-virus vaccinees (45.7%) (sig. = 0.035) and paracetamol (48.5%) was the most-used medication. Adenoviral-based vaccines were the types of vaccines that were most likely to cause side effects. In addition, being female increased the risk of developing side effects; regular medication was associated with local side effects among inactivated-virus vaccinees; and previous infection with COVID-19 was associated with systemic and local side effects among adenovirus-based vaccinees. These results support the short-term safety of booster vaccines, as has been reported for primer doses.

Prevalence and risk factors of adverse effects after the first COVID-19 booster dose: evidence from Greece

“…Literature supports this finding since two other studies found that all participants had adverse effects after the first booster dose [20,21]. Other studies found also high prevalence of adverse effect after the first booster dose ranging from 74.7% to 89% [14][15][16][17]22,23]. Slight differences in prevalence of adverse effects among studies could be attributed to different study designs, populations, and definitions.…”

“…To our knowledge, our study investigated for first time the relationship between severity of COVID-19 symptoms and adverse effects and thus a direct comparison with other studies could not be feasible. However, it is well known that adverse effects are more common among individuals with a history of COVID-19 or/and past exposure to SARS-CoV-2 not only after the primary vaccination [24][25][26] but also after the first booster dose [16,20]. Repeated COVID-19 vaccine doses can induce more adverse effects due to cytokine production especially in people who had previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2 [27].…”

Achieving COVID‐19 herd immunity in Algeria: Current state of vaccination, challenges, and recommendations

“…It is also important to note that some studies conducted in Algeria have reported adverse events following vaccinations. These adverse events ranged from mild side effects such as pain or swelling at the injection site, to more serious side effects such as fever or allergic reactions [15][16][17]. Additionally, one of the studies reported that some individuals have regretted receiving the vaccines [17].…”

Psychometric properties of the traditional Chinese version of the COVID Stress Scales in Hong Kong

“…The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has exerted long-lasting impacts on multiple domains of health (1)(2)(3). The first COVID-19 case was identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019 (4,5).…”