Abstract

Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (COVID 19) is a global pandemic since December 2019. The subject expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization made recommendations for Restricted Emergency Approval of COVID-19 virus vaccine of M/s Serum Institute of India ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) COVISHIELD™ which was developed at Oxford University. In India, this vaccine was launched on January 16, 2021, and healthcare workers were included first in this vaccination program.

Aim and Objectives: This study aimed to record and analyzes all the adverse events following the immunization (AEFI) in healthcare workers for monitoring the safety and find the correlation if any.

Materials and Methods: This was a prospective observational study. After obtaining Institutional Ethics committee approval, we collected the data by phone call to the participants within 3 days after the first and second dose of the vaccine. We collected the data from 100 healthcare workers randomly with their consent.

Results: The most common adverse effect found was myalgia followed by local pain at the injection site after the first dose. About 92% of participants did not react to the second dose of the vaccine.

Conclusion: There were no serious adverse events after the first as well as the second dose of vaccination. More studies and monitoring are needed to find out any unexpected reactions following COVID-19 vaccination.

Key words: Adverse Events following the Immunization; Coronavirus 19; CovishieldTM; Healthcare Workers; Immunity; Vaccine