Side effects and perceptions following Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccination

 Side effects and perceptions following Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccination

Vaccines are one of the best interventions developed for eradicating COVID-19. This study aimed to provide evidence on Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine side effects.To get more news about sinopharm latest news, you can visit shine news official website.

Methods
A cross-sectional survey study was conducted between January and April 2021 to collect data on the effects of the COVID-19 vaccine among individuals in the United Arab Emirates. Demographic data, vaccination and the response of people unwilling to take the COVID-19 vaccine were reported.

Results
Side effects post first vaccine dose of normal injection site pain, fatigue and headache were more common in participants aged ≤49 years versus >49 years, while pain at the vaccination site, fatigue, lethargy, headache and tenderness were the most common side effects post second dose in both groups. All side effects for both doses were more prevalent among participants aged ≤49 years. Side effects were more common in females compared with males for both doses. The most common reason for being unwilling to take the COVID-19 vaccine was that vaccines are not effective.

Conclusion
Post-vaccination side effects for the first and second doses were mild and predictable, and there were no hospitalization cases; this data will help reduce vaccine hesitancy.SARS-CoV-2, causing COVID-19 (Habas et al., 2020), has spread fast worldwide, resulting in various levels of illness. On March 11, 2020, it was announced that SARS-CoV-2 is a worldwide pandemic, and it is with us to this day (Lai et al., 2020). Although numerous therapeutic medications have been presented to resist COVID-19, they remain supportive and require more randomized control studies to determine their efficacy and potency. (Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) 2021, Trivedi et al., 2020).

Vaccines are one of the best interventions developed for eradicating COVID-19, saving millions of lives annually. Moreover, the best option remains an effective, safe vaccine without severe adverse reactions. The lack of effective and approved COVID-19 treatment has triggered a vaccine development race, with 259 COVID-19 vaccine projects underway from November 11, 2020. The rapid creation of vaccinations has increased the risk of vaccine safety issues (Haidere et al., 2021, Petousis-Harris, 2021).

Several candidate COVID-19 vaccines were developed from diverse platforms. One of these was the BBIBP-CorV vaccine (also known as the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine) which was made by the Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical business Sinopharm in China and adopted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Zhang et al., 2021). Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine is an inactivated vaccine that introduces a dead copy of SARS-CoV-2 into the body by a two-dose schedule, with 14 or 21 days between the 2 doses. By inserting the vaccine dose intramuscularly, the dead antigens from the virus are employed to make antibodies that prepare the immune system for future attacks by the virus. (Xia et al., 2021). The traditional inactivated whole-virus vaccines do not lead to clinical disease. In this technology, the inactivated viruses maintain their ability to replicate in vivo with mild or no symptoms (Forni and Mantovani, 2021).

Phases 1 and 2 of the clinical trials for the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine were carried out in China over 1 trial for each phase. A total enrolment of 640 participants showed that the vaccine triggered a COVID-19 neutralizing antibody response with a low rate of adverse reactions. The most common side effects were fever and pain at the site of injection and fever; however, these were mild and self-limiting and did not require treatment (Sharma et al., 2020). Phase 3 was carried out over 4 trials in the following countries: the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Peru and Argentina, with a total 69 000 people enrolled. The UAE approved the vaccine on December 9, 2020; the UAE announced that the vaccine was 86% efficacious, according to the interim results of its phase 3 trial (Xia et al., 2021).

Having administered over 2 million doses of the vaccine as of mid-January 2021, the UAE Ministry of Health reported the vaccine to be 100% effective in preventing mild and severe COVID-19 cases (China to run human coronavirus vaccine trial in UAE 2020, Development of an Inactivated Vaccine Candidate, 2021, Cyranoski, 2020, Zahid et al., 2021). Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that most side effects of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in 3 clinical trials on 16 671 participants aged 18–59 years were mild to moderate, with headache, fatigue, and injection site reactions being the most common (World Health Organization (WHO) 2021).