Adverse events following immunization (AEFI): COVID-19 vaccine dose and characteristics in Central Java, Indonesia

Vaccination is an effort to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Although vaccines can be effective prevention, they can have potential side effects, or adverse events following immunization (AEFI). CoronaVac, BBIBP-CorV, BNTb262-BioNTech, mRNA-1273, and ChAdOx1NCoV-19 were vaccines used in Indonesia when this study was conducted. This study aimed to analyze the factors associated with AEFI for the COVID-19 vaccines for each dose in the community.

This study used a cross-sectional design. The study was conducted in Central Java Province, Indonesia from August to October 2021. The variables included respondent characteristics, COVID-19 infection history, COVID-19 vaccine AEFI, dose, and type. Data collection was performed through questionnaires and data was analyzed by a logistic regression test.

The percentage of AEFI was 21.1% after the first dose, 14.1% after the second dose, and 83.9% after the third dose of the vaccine. The factors associated with higher odds of COVID-19 vaccine AEFI were different for each dose, as follows: for the first dose: age group >45 years (p=0.009; OR=2.837; 95%CI: 1.301-6.187) and overweight (p=0.007; OR=3.323; 95%CI: 1.242-8.689); for the second dose: overweight (p=0.007; OR=9.118; 95%CI: 1.827-45.5), female sex (p=0.011; OR=2.885; 95%CI: 1.274-6.531), age group >45 years (p=0.017; OR=3.257; 95%CI: 1.24-8.555) and prior episode of COVID-19 (p=0.044; OR=2.459; 95%CI: 1.026-5.893); and for the third dose: female sex (p=0.040; OR=3.650; 95%CI: 1.062-12.550).

The factors that were associated with AEFI of COVID-19 vaccine were sex, age, nutritional status and prior history of COVID-19.