Background: Despite the increasing success of immunization systems in Saudi Arabia, concerns about the safety of vaccination have increased. While all immunizations can cause symptoms in a few people, but most symptoms are gentle and do not last longer than a couple of days. Caregivers should be aware of post-vaccination complication that they can give the right care to the child after vaccination and if complications happened. The aim of the study was to describe currently available epidemiological data on the prevalence of post-vaccination complications in the studied population.
Methodology: A cross-sectional, community-based study was conducted on the general population of Arar city during the period from July to October 2018 to evaluate the prevalence of post-vaccination complications in children among the selected population in a representative sample of Arar city.
Results: The total prevalence of post-vaccination complication in children of Arar city was 54.8%. Reported complications were fever, redness, and hotness at the injection site, common cold symptoms, hypersensitivity reaction, abscess at the injection site, gastroenteritis, subcutaneous skin rash or arthritis with a percentage of 18.8, 9.6, 4.8, 2.4, 2.4, 0.7, 1.4, and 0.6, respectively. More than half of the children (57.5%) were males. The age group of the children was from below 6 months to more than 24 months. The majority of the children (47.1%) were from 0 to 6 months in age.
Conclusion: The results of the study showed a relatively high prevalence of post-vaccination complications in children of Arar city, Saudi Arabia. Therefore, care should be given to providing caregivers with enough information on how to deal with and give a good level of care to the children.
Key words: Vaccination, side effects, immunization, safety
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