Side effects of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine in health workers of a hospital in the southeast of Mexico

Authors

  • Jesús Arturo Ruiz-Quiñones Research Center for Tropical and Emerging Diseases, High Specialty Regional Hospital “Dr. Juan Graham Casasús”, Villahermosa, Tabasco, México
  • Víctor Manuel Narváez-Osorio Research Center for Tropical and Emerging Diseases, High Specialty Regional Hospital “Dr. Juan Graham Casasús”, Villahermosa, Tabasco, México
  • Oscar Antonio Ulín-Tejeda Research Center for Tropical and Emerging Diseases, High Specialty Regional Hospital “Dr. Juan Graham Casasús”, Villahermosa, Tabasco, México
  • Oscar Israel Flores-Barrientos Research Center for Tropical and Emerging Diseases, High Specialty Regional Hospital “Dr. Juan Graham Casasús”, Villahermosa, Tabasco, México
  • Samuel Suárez-Méndez Research Center for Tropical and Emerging Diseases, High Specialty Regional Hospital “Dr. Juan Graham Casasús”, Villahermosa, Tabasco, México
  • Guadalupe del Carmen Baeza-Flores Research Center for Tropical and Emerging Diseases, High Specialty Regional Hospital “Dr. Juan Graham Casasús”, Villahermosa, Tabasco, México

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3855/jidc.15545

Keywords:

BNT162, vaccine, pain, COVID-19, hospital, workers

Abstract

Introduction: The goal of this study was to evaluate the side effects of application of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine on the workers at a Mexican hospital.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out, in which 1351 workers from a tertiary care center in the Mexican southeast were included. Sociodemographic data, comorbidities, and side effects after the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine were obtained through an online survey. The variables were analyzed through descriptive statistics. The presence or absence of side effects was analyzed through the Chi-square test or t-test, as appropriate. The result was considered statistically significant at p < 0.05.

Results: A total of 1351 health workers participated in the online survey. The mean age was 37.8 ± 10.9 years and 56.4% were women. Among them, 8.2% suffered from high blood pressure. In addition, 76.7% manifested pain in the application area. The presence of side effects was associated with the female gender (p < 0.01). Side effects were more prevalent in younger age (37.2 ± 10.7) than older age (41.5 ± 10.8) (p < 0.01). There was no association with the presence of comorbidities (p > 0.05).

Conclusions: The data suggest that pain in the application area is the most frequent side effect among workers in a Mexican hospital who received the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19. In addition, we observed sialorrhea as a side effect in the studied population and this had not previously been reported. The highest number of adverse events occurred between 24 to 72 hours after application.

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Published

2022-09-30

How to Cite

1.
Ruiz-Quiñones JA, Narváez-Osorio VM, Ulín-Tejeda OA, Flores-Barrientos OI, Suárez-Méndez S, Baeza-Flores G del C (2022) Side effects of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine in health workers of a hospital in the southeast of Mexico. J Infect Dev Ctries 16:1413–1416. doi: 10.3855/jidc.15545

Issue

Section

Coronavirus Pandemic