Evaluation of side effects associated with global COVID-19 vaccines in Iraq

Since the start of the pandemic of COVID-19, it was clear that vaccination was the best way to combat it. A few vaccines were produced and approved in the last year. Many questions about the vaccinations' efficacy and safety arose due to this unprecedented vaccine development effort. This study aimed to evaluate the short-term side effects after receiving the available COVID-19 vaccines by the students of the Kut university college. This research was conducted as a cross-sectional, retrospective study using an online questionnaire distributed among COVID-19 vaccine recipients. The number of students who are enrolled in this study is 804, nearly (81%) of our study subjects were symptomatic after receiving the vaccination. Participants with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, comorbid diseases, females, non-smokers, and AstraZeneca vaccine receivers showed significantly (p<0.05) more severe side effects. In conclusion, the side effects described by our undergraduate students after receiving vaccinations from Pfizer BioNTech, Oxford AstraZeneca, and Sinopharm are similar to those reported in clinical trials, showing that these vaccines have safe profiles. More research is needed to assess the efficiency of current vaccinations in preventing SARS-CoV-2 reinfections.