Investigation of the Side Effects of COVID-19 Vaccines in Southern Iran: A Cross-Sectional Study

The COVID-19 disease is a newly emerging disease, and the COVID-19 vaccine is one of the necessities to prevent this disease. The present study aimed to investigate the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines in southern Iran. We used convenience sampling to conduct this cross-sectional study on 647 people living in cities under coverage in Kerman province, southern Iran. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire of vaccine symptoms and signs. The results were analyzed using ANOVA and Chi-squared tests by SPSS software (version 24). The mean age of the participants was 40.19±15.20. The results indicated that 431 people (66.6%) reported post-vaccination side effects, with 18.23% of them having severe side effects. We noticed the most severe side effects in AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sputnik, and Bharat. Fever, headache, and pain at the injection site were the most common side effects after vaccination in descending order, which had a statistically significant relationship with all types of vaccines (P=0.001). The side effects differed in the types of vaccines, and most of the vaccines had mild to moderate side effects. People with the B blood type showed the most severe side effects, while those with the AB showed the lowest rate of side effects. Therefore, the injection of the AstraZeneca vaccine in blood group B should be done with more caution. More attention should also be paid to blood groups B and A in the injection of COVID-19 vaccines. Moreover, health officials and the government should plan appropriate educational strategies to increase public awareness of the importance of vaccines in eradicating viral infections.