Factors influencing adverse events following immunization with AZD1222 in Vietnamese adults during first half of 2021

COVID-19 vaccines have been speedily developed and deployed. The more vaccine doses are delivered to users, the more common adverse events following immunization (AEFI) are reported. This study aimed to identify factors affecting AEFI in Vietnamese people receiving the COVID-19 vaccine AZD1222 developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.

In July 2021, an online cross-sectional survey was conducted among Vietnamese who have been vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines. The questionnaire collected demographic characteristics, medical history, types of injected vaccines, common AEFI, and post-vaccination activities from respondents. The effects of host-related factors on AEFI including 24 specific symptoms were also explored.

After screening, 1028 participants who were Vietnamese, over 18 years old and received at least one dose of AZD1222, were included in the study. Only 40/1028 (3.9%) participants reported not having any AEFI, whereas 25/1028 (2.4%) reported to have severe symptoms. The most common AEFI were moderate fever (69.4%), muscle aches (68.6%), followed by fatigue/ sleepiness (62.5%), body aches (59.4%), headache (58.5%), pain at injection site (58.3%) and chills (45.7%). Data analysis showed that females complained about AEFI particularly gastrointestinal symptoms more frequently than males. Age of participants and number of doses were also important factors affecting AEFI as the increase of age or number of vaccine doses was associated with the decrease of self-reported AEFI frequency.

This study provides a detailed assessment of risk factors associated with AEFI in Vietnamese people vaccinated with AZD1222. It seems that gender, age and vaccine doses are important factors affecting AEFI.