Covid-19 Vaccine Side Effects and Its Associated Factors Among Healthcare Workers at Dessie Hospital, Ethiopia [Letter]

Dear editor

We have read the paper by Reta Dewau et al on Covid-19 Vaccine Side Effects and Its Associated Factors Among Healthcare Workers at Dessie Hospital, Ethiopia.¹ We congratulate the authors for their valuable findings the side effects of the Covid-19 Vaccine in healthcare workers. We would like to share our views about this study because there are many complaints found in the field regarding the side effects of the Covid-19 Vaccine on health workers and the wider community.

The study conducted by Reta Dewau et al aimed to assess the side effects of the covid-19 vaccine and related factors in health workers in hospitals and found that health workers who were vaccinated experienced at least one side effect including fever, headache, fatigue and injection site pain.¹ The vaccine used is the Covax vaccine which is a recombinant platform vaccine of the matrix-M1 spike adjuvant glycoprotein subunit protein subunit.² However, in this study, no information was obtained regarding the composition contained in the vaccine. The same study was conducted by Yoseph Solomon et al regarding the side effects of using the Oxford–AstraZeneca type covid-19 vaccine. It was reported that this vaccine has several side effects which peak in the first 24 hours after injection. Significant symptoms were found and the reason why vaccine recipients did not plan to take their second dose. We suggest that recipients of the covid-19 vaccine must be given information regarding possible symptoms, the effects of the vaccine and how to handle it. We also recommend that health workers be provided with protection or self-protection by using Personal Protective Equipment in providing vaccination services, to avoid transmission.³

The study conducted by Reta Dewau et al used an institution-based cross-sectional study method. The instrument used was a questionnaire and the Variance inflation factor was used to assess the multicollinearity of the independent variables.¹ The method used is relevant to the research being carried out; however, in discussing the results and conclusions by the researchers, we only found explanations regarding factors related to the use of antihypertensive drugs with the Covid-19 vaccine which were negatively related to the development of vaccine side effects. However, it is also necessary to pay attention to the factors of respondents who have a history of chronic medical illnesses and the development of herd immunity to the Covid-19 vaccine, these are factors that are significantly related to the side effects of receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.⁴

In conclusion, we agree that the Covax vaccine is the same as other Covid-19 vaccines, after giving this vaccine, several respondents will experience commonly identified side effects. We recommend holding information dissemination related to vaccines to the public who will be vaccinated to reduce misunderstandings regarding vaccine safety. In addition, it is necessary to promote the Covid-19 vaccination in healthcare practitioners to raise awareness of the importance, safety and efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine and focus on populations at higher risk of contracting the disease.²