EVALUATION OF ADVERSE EVENTS FOLLOWING IMMUNIZATION (AEFI) AFTER 1st DOSE OF COVISHIELD AMONG HEALTH CARE WORKERS.

Abstract

Covid -19 pandemic has been one of the most difficult challenges faced by the world .2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV -2) was the reason behind this pandemic. The outbreak started in Wuhan, a city in the Hubei province of China. ⁽¹⁾  There was a high rate of morbidity and mortality worldwide. To control it, precautionary measures like maintaining distance, sanitization, quarantine of symptomatic patients, and use of face masks were used. Treatment was mostly symptomatic. The most important development in COVID-19 was vaccine development.  Emergency Use Authorization qualified 2 Indian vaccines- Covishield and Covaxin in India. ^(2). The vaccination phase began in India on January 16, 2021. It began with involving the healthcare workers, frontline workers, and elderly people as the priority group ^{(3), (4)}

Covaxin is an inactivated virus vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Institute of Virology ^(5). Whereas, Covishield is a 2-dose version of AstraZeneca vaccine (ChAdOx1/AZD1222,) and was manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. ⁽⁶⁾ COVISHIELD (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) is an adenovirus vector-nonreplicating virus vaccine. It carries the recombinant spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. In Phase I/II trials, it showed an acceptable safety profile. During phase III trials, it had an efficacy of 74% in preventing infections. ⁽⁷⁾

With the introduction of these vaccines, the risk of ADR/ AEFI has also been introduced. These ADR/AEFI can sometimes be mild/moderate and sometimes serious leading to morbidity and mortality and therefore increasing the health care cost. ⁽⁸⁾ Various studies have been done since the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines to evaluate their safety and any adverse effects caused by them. This study has been done to evaluate any adverse drug events following the 1^st dose of the covishield vaccine among healthcare workers of a tertiary care teaching hospital.