Evaluation of Prevalence of Side-Effects Associated with Booster Dose of mRNA-Based COVID-19 Vaccine Among Healthcare Workers in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Figures & data

Table 1 General Demographic and Health Characteristics of the Participants (n = 490)

Variable	Outcome	n(%)
Age group (years)	18–36	332(67.75)
	37–54	130(26.53)
	>55	28(5.71)
Gender	Males	212(43.26)
	Females	278(56.74)
Occupation	Administrative Professional (Nonmedical)	22(4.49)
	Clinical Nutritionist/Dietician (Medical)	19(3.88)
	Dentist (Medical)	48(9.80)
	Nurse (Medical)	125(25.51)
	Medical Laboratory Professional (Nonmedical)	34(6.94%
	Health Education Specialist (Nonmedical)	12(2.45)
	Pharmacist (Medical)	90(18.37)
	Physical Therapist (Medical)	17(3.47)
	Physician (Medical)	50(10.20)
	Respiratory Therapist (Medical)	32(6.53)
	Technician (Nonmedical)	41(8.37)
Experience in years	<1	69(14.08)
	1–2	143(29.18)
	2–5	84(17.14)
	>5	194 (39.59)
History of comorbidities such as DM/HTN/asthma or others	Yes	41(8.37)
	No	449(91.63)
History of COVID-19 infection before taking booster dose	Yes	161(32.86)
	No	329(67.14)

Abbreviations: DM, diabetes mellitus; HTN, hypertension.

Figure 1 The frequency of COVID‐19 vaccine side‐effects reported among the participants (n = 401).

Table 2 Distribution of COVID‐19 Vaccine Side‐effects Reported Among the Healthcare Worker Participants According to Gender (n = 401)

Outcome	Female (n = 243)	Male (n =158)	Total (n = 401)	χ^2 (p)
Body pain	219(90.12)	138(87.34)	357(89)	18.37(<0.001)*
Pain at the site of the injection	217(89.30)	139(87.97)	356(88.78)	17.08(0.001)*
Headache	71(29.22)	44(27.85)	115(28.68)	6.33(0.01)*
Joint or bone pain	63(25.93)	46(29.11)	109(27.18)	2.65(0.10)
Muscle pain	69(28.40)	37(23.42)	106(26.43)	9.66(<0.001)*
Nausea or vomiting	54(22.22)	31(19.62)	85(21.20)	6.22(0.10)
Fever	41(16.87)	35(22.15)	76(18.95)	0.47(0.49)
Redness at the site of the injection	22(9.05)	11(6.96)	33(8.23)	3.66(0.06)
Chills	19(7.82)	13(8.23)	32(7.98)	1.125(0.29)
Fatigue	11(4.53)	20(12.66)	31(7.73)	2.61(0.11)
Swelling at the site of the injection	13(5.35)	4(2.53)	17(4.24)	4.76(0.03)*
Skin rashes	27(11.11)	14(8.86)	41(10.22)	4.12(0.04)*
Delayed menstruation	29(11.93)	–	–	–

Notes: χ²: Chi‐square test statistic. *Significant difference between the two groups (unadjusted p<0.05).

Table 3 Associations of the Reported COVID‐19 Vaccine Side‐effects with the Participants’ Background Characteristics (n = 490)

Characteristic	Participants with Side Effects, (n = 401)	Participants with No Side Effects, (n = 89)	OR (95% CI)	p-value
Age group (years)
18–36 (n=332)	255(76.80)	77(23.2)	0.27(0.14, 0.51)	<0.001*
37–54 (n=130)	121(93.07)	9(6.93)	3.84(1.86, 7.90)	<0.001*
>55 (n=28)	25(89.28)	3(10.72)	1.91(0.56, 6.45)	0.29
Sex
Male (n=212)	158(74.52)	54(25.47)	0.42(0.26, 0.67)
Experience in years
<1 (n=69)	53(76.81)	16(23.18)	0.70(0.37, 1.30)	0.70
1–2 (n=143)	118(82.51)	25(17.48)	1.06(0.65, 1.78)	0.24
2–5 (n=84)	63(75)	21(25)	0.60(0.34, 1.05)	0.07
>5 (n=194)	167(86.08)	27(13.91)	1.63(1, 2.68)	0.04*
History of comorbidities such as DM/HTN/Asthma or others
Yes (n=41)	38(92.68)	3(7.31)	3(0.90, 9.950)	0.08
No (n=449)	363(80.84)	86(19.16)	0.33(0.10, 1.10)	0.05
Occupation
Medical (n=381)	235(61.67)	68(38.33)	0.43(0.25, 0.74)	0.001*
Nonmedical (n=109)	88(80.73)	21(19.26)	0.91(0.52, 1.56)	0.74
Diagnosed previouslywith COVID‐19
Yes (n = 161)	134(83.22)	27(16.77)	1.15(0.70, 1.90)	0.57
No (n = 329)	267(81.15)	62(18.85)	0.86(0.52, 1.42)	0.57

Note: *Significant association (using the Bonferroni–Holm correction for multiple comparisons).

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval. Significant association (unadjusted p < 0.05).

Table 4 Number of Side‐effects Reported by the Participants Following the Booster Dose of COVID‐19 Vaccine According to the Participants’ Background Characteristics (n = 401)

Characteristic	No. of Reported Side‐Effects	Statistics	p
	Median (IQR)
Age, years		H= 2	0.36
18–36 (n=255)	4(3, 2)
37–54 (n= 121)	2(2, 3)
>55 (n=25)	1(1, 2)
Experience in years		H=3	0.39
<1 (n=53)	1(1, 2)
1–2 (n= 118)	2(1, 3)
2–5 (n=63)	2(2, 3)
>5 (n=167)	4(3, 3)
History of comorbidities such as DM/HTN/Asthma or others		U=9801	0.80
Yes (n=38)	1(1, 2)
No (n=363)	4(3, 3)
Occupation		U=4148	0.05*
Medical (n=381)	4(2, 3)
Non-medical (n=109)	1(1, 2)
History of COVID-19 infection before taking booster dose		U=35511	0.33
Yes (n=134)	1(1, 2)
No (n=267)	4(3, 4)

Notes: Significant difference (unadjusted p < 0.05). Significant difference (using the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons). *Significant association.

Abbreviations: IQR, interquartile range; U, Mann–Whitney U-statistic; H, Kruskal–Wallis test statistic.

Table 5 Multivariate Analysis of Factors Associated with Reporting of Side‐effects Following COVID‐19 Vaccine Among the Participants (n = 401)

Variable	aOR	95% CI	p
History of chronic diseases	0.44	0.224, 0.880	0.020*
Occupation (Medical)	1.61	1.037, 2.513	0.034*
Year of experience (1)	5.41	0.439, 1.408	0.418

Note: *Significant association of COVID‐19 vaccine side‐effects (p < 0.05).

Abbreviations: aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

Table 6 Results of Ordinal Logistic Regression for the Factors Associated with the Number of Reported Side‐effects Following the COVID‐19 Vaccine (n = 401)

Variable	aOR	95% CI	p
Age (Year)	0.946	−1.510, 0.508	0.331
Gender (Female)	5.164	0.116, 1.576	0.023*
Occupation (Medical)	0.172	−0. 603, 0.926	0.679
History of COVID-19 infection	17.410	0.575, 1.974	<0.001*

Note: *Significant association of COVID‐19 vaccine side‐effects (p < 0.05).

Abbreviations: aOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

Table 7 The Onset, Duration, and Management of COVID‐19 Vaccine Side‐effects Were Reported Among the Participants in the Study (n = 401)

Onset and Duration of Side Effects	Male (n = 158)	Female (n = 243)	Total (n =401)	χ^2 (p)
Duration of the side effect symptom				9.80(0.02)
<1 day	15(9.49)	17(7.00)	32(7.98)
From 1 to 2 days	101(63.92)	133(54.73)	234(58.35)
From 3 to 5 days	37(23.42)	67(27.57)	104(25.94)
>5 days	5(3.16)	26(10.70)	31(7.73)
Time of the side effects started to appear				1.03(0.79)
Day 0	120(75.95)	192(79.01)	312(77.81)
Day 1	29(18.35)	36(14.81)	65(16.21)
Day 2	8(5.06)	14(5.76)	22(5.49)
After 2 days	1(0.63)	1(0.41)	2(0.50)
Taking medication to alleviate side effects	125(79.11)	211(86.83)	336(83.79)	22.01(<0.001)
Visiting a hospital due to side effects	3(1.9)	9(3.70)	12(3.0)	3(0.80)
Hospitalization because of side effects				0.89(0.34)
<24 Hours	1(0.53)	5(2.05)	6(1.50)
24–36 Hours	1(0.53)	1(0.411)	2(0.50)

Note: χ²: Chi‐square test statistics.