AUTHOR=Yesuf Elias Ali , Riad Abanoub , Sofi-Mahmudi Ahmad , Sudhakar Morankar , Mekonnen Addisalem , Endalkachew Selamawit , Mama Feyissa , Muhidin Semira , Ayele Bethelhem , Yahya Mohammed , Usman Abduselam , Abafita Jemal , Klugar Miloslav 

TITLE=Self-reported side effects of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare workers in Ethiopia, Africa: A cross-sectional study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.937794

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.937794

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Introduction: Ethiopia is the second most populous country in Africa.  Ethiopia received most of its COVID-19 vaccines through donations. The Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine is the first to be donated to Ethiopia by the COVAX facility. Healthcare workers were the priority population that received the COVID-19 vaccine. However, there was no nationwide study on the safety of the vaccine in Ethiopia. This study aimed to measure the prevalence and predictors of self-reported side effects of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.
Materials and methods: The study employed a cross-sectional design. A sample of healthcare workers who took COVID-19 Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine was drawn from four regions of Ethiopia; namely, Amhara, Oromia, Somali, and Southwest. Data were collected on sociodemographic characteristics, medical anamnesis, COVID-19 related anamnesis, and COVID-19 vaccine anamnesis via telephone interview. Descriptive and inferential analyses were done. The software, IBM SPSS Statistics v21.0, was used for analyses of data. 
Results: Out of 384 people, 346 responded (response rate: 90.1%). Female accounted for 34.1% of the respondents. The mean age of the respondents was 31.0 years (Standard Deviation (SD) =7.4). Nurses accounted for 43.7% of the respondents. The prevalence of at least one local- and systemic-side effect was 50.6% and 44.5%, respectively. The most frequent local side effect was injection site pain. Headache was the most frequent systemic side effect. Both types of side effects mostly subsided in the first three days. A third of healthcare workers with side effects took at least one medication. Paracetamol followed by diclofenac were taken by healthcare workers to overcome side effects. There was no independent predictor of local side effect. After controlling for age and chronic diseases, the odds of healthcare workers with COVID-19 like symptoms to experience systemic side effects was 1.38 (Confidence Interval (CI): 1.04–1.82) times more than that of healthcare workers without COVID-19 like symptoms. 
Conclusions: The prevalence of local- and systemic-side effects of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine was modest. As the symptoms were mostly common in the first three days, it is preferable to monitor healthcare workers at least in the first three days following the administration of the vaccine.