Assessment of COVID 19 Post-Vaccine Side Effects among People Attending Al- Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Baghdad

Background: Vaccines in general are save lives of population, it is providing strong protection against serious illness and death. COVID-19 vaccine could decrease mortality rate caused by infection.  WHO reports that unvaccinated people have at least 10 times higher risk of death from COVID-19 than somebody who has been vaccinated.                                                                                                             Objective(s): The study aimed to assess post vaccine side effect to identify its safety on the community health, and to identify the relationship between post vaccine side effect and sociodemographic characteristics of vaccinated people attending AL-Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Baghdad. Methodology: A cross-sectional design was employed to achieve the objectives of the study for the period from 15 May to 15 March 2022. A purposive sample of (224) individual is vaccinated at Al- Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Baghdad. The data for this study was collected by using assessment test scale, which consists of two parts, were designed to measure post vaccine side effect of vaccinated people. First Part was designed to measure the participant’s socio-demographic characteristics, and clinical history. Second Part was developed to measure post vaccine side effect. It contains 28 items divided into 14 items for each dose of vaccine first and second. Each question scored into four levels (1) for never answer, (2) for mild answer, (3) for moderate answer and (4) for sever answer. A good validity and reliability in a number of studies. The validity of the questionnaire was tested by presenting it to (10) experts in medical field. The reliability of the instrument was tested by using data for 10 vaccinated individuals who were excluded from the study sample. Cronbach's alphas test was calculated to determine the internal consistency of the study instrument. The overall internal consistency for the questionnaire was accepted which recorded:  α=0.84.  Results:  Related age groups the majority of participants in the study are between age 26- 35 year- old (38.4%). Related body mass index, overweight recorded (44.2%), normal weight (31.7 %) of participants. concerning gender (52.7%) are male, and (47.3%) are female.  Regarding level of education majority of participants are in college level (62.9%) and institution (16.1%). Associated with medical history people diagnosed with hypertension documented (16.5%) and diabetes mellitus recorded (12.5%) from all participants. Related assessment of post vaccine side effects, majority of vaccinated people recorded never side effects (81.3%), rather than (14.3%) recorded mild symptoms. Associated with second dose (78.6%) of participants documented never side effects and (20.1%) of them recorded mild symptoms. Regarding with correlation between post vaccine side effect and sociodemographic characteristics of vaccinated people after first dose, there is a correlation between post vaccine side effects and both age and hypertension. Regarding second dose there is a strong negative correlation between post vaccine side effects and . Conclusions:  The result of the study shows that both first and second doses of all vaccine, which, are currently used in Iraq, are safe and don’t produce serious or sever symptoms. In general majority of vaccinated people do not have any symptoms and few of them have mild symptoms and do not effected on their daily living.