Assessment of COVID-19 Vaccination Experience Among the Vaccine Beneficiaries Visiting Tertiary Care Hospital- A Cross Sectional Study

Introduction

As we all know COVID-19 is still an ongoing pandemic infecting majority of the people globally; the only measure to reduce the severity and hospitalization is through getting vaccinated. Vaccine acceptancy depends on individual choice and preference. So far, we have two vaccines widely used (in Government set-up) in India as well as in Bengaluru- Covishield and Covaxin, which people above 18 years are eligible to get vaccinated with. Recently from January 10, 2022 precautionary dose has been started for the healthcare workers, frontline workers and general public aged > 60 years. Initially there were 7-8 vaccination centers working for COVID-19 vaccination, out of which two are working till now. Experts assessed that about 67% of the people must be immunized against Coronavirus to stop the transmission.¹ COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is an obstacle to achieve herd immunity through mass vaccination.² Trust in the vaccine and social trust may be important factors in individual heterogeneity, because they influence people’s decision to vaccinate, especially given that many vaccines have a reputation for poor quality, leading to a drop in vaccine coverage.³ Total 81,363 doses were given till 31^st December, 2021, of which 54,040 were Covishield beneficiaries and 27,323 were Covaxin beneficiaries.

Materials and Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2021 to December 2021 among the beneficiaries who visited Victoria Hospital for COVID-19 vaccination. The beneficiaries aged more than 18 years were considered for the study. The inclusion criteria were subjects who gave the consent for the study and those aged >18 years. Among the vaccine beneficiaries, 586 beneficiaries gave the consent for the study. The data was collected using a pre-tested, semi-structured, validated questionnaire. The data collected was entered in an Excel sheet and analyzed using SPSS 20.0.

Tools

The questionnaire consisted of socio-demographic details, any comorbidities or any significant medical/ surgical history, perception towards COVID-19 vaccination, adverse events following immunization (injection site pain, injection site soreness, fever, fatigue, headache, cold, body ache, vertigo, drowsiness, vomiting, others), individuals without adverse events.

Results

Out of 586, 368 (62.8%) were males, 218 (37.2%) were females. 172 (29.35%) belonged to 18-44 year age group, 248 (42.32%) belonged to 45-60 year age group and remaining 166 (28.32%) were above 60 years. Among 399 beneficiaries who had AEFI, 223 (55.88%) were males, 176 (44.11%) were females. Hypertension, diabetes, heart diseases, asthma, allergic history were the few comorbidities seen in this study (Table 1, figure 1). The most frequently reported adverse events were injection site pain, fever, headache, fatigue and injection site swelling (Table 2, figure 2). Adverse events usually appeared after 12 hours and subsided within 48 hours of vaccination.

Conclusion

COVID vaccines are intended to provide immunity against COVID-19 infection, reduce the severity and thus hospitalizations. Adverse events following vaccinations are mild, non-serious and are temporary. Vaccination is the best measure to control the spread of the pandemic. COVID vaccines have good safety profile among the population. The individuals with comorbidities should be vaccinated with some precautions with observatory period.