AUTHOR=Cappelletti-Montano Beniamino , Demuru Giuseppe , Laconi Ezio , Musio Monica 

TITLE=A comparative analysis on serious adverse events reported for COVID-19 vaccines in adolescents and young adults

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1145645

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2023.1145645

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=This study aims to assess the safety profile of COVID-19 vaccines (mRNA and viral vector vaccines) in teenagers and young adults, as compared to Influenza and HPV vaccines, and to early data from Monkeypox vaccination in USA.
Methods. We downloaded data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and collected the following Serious Adverse Events (SAEs) reported for COVID-19, Influenza, HPV and Monkeypox vaccines: deaths, life-threatening illnesses, disabilities, hospitalizations. We restrict our analysis to the age groups 12-17 and 18-49, and to the periods December 2020 to July 2022 for COVID-19 vaccines, 2010-2019 for Influenza and HPV vaccines, June 1, 2022 to November 15, 2022 for Monkeypox vaccine. Rates for millions of doses were calculated in each age and sex group.
Results. Among adolescents the reported SAEs rates for millions of doses for, respectively, COVID-19, Influenza and HPV vaccines were 60.73, 2.96, 14.62. Among young adults the reported SAEs rates for millions of doses for, respectively, COVID-19, Influenza, Monkeypox vaccines were 101.91, 5.35, 11.14. Overall, the rates of reported SAEs were significantly higher for COVID-19, resulting 19.60-fold higher than Influenza vaccines (95% C.I. 18.80-20.44), 4.15-fold higher than HPV vaccines (95% C.I. 3.91-4.41) and 7.89-fold higher than Monkeypox vaccine (95% C.I. 3.95-15.78). Similar trends were observed in teenagers and young adults with higher Relative Risks for male adolescents. 
Conclusion. The study identified a risk of SAEs following COVID-19 vaccination which resulted markedly higher compared to Influenza vaccination and substantially higher compared to HPV vaccination, both for teenagers and young adults, with an increased risk for the male adolescents group. Initial, early data for Monkeypox vaccination point to significantly less reported SAEs compared to COVID-19 vaccines. In conclusion these results stress the need of further studies to explore the bases for the above differences and the importance of accurate harm-benefit analyses, especially for adolescent males, for the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.