Abstract

Objective: To assess frequency of various side effects following covid vaccination among medical students and to determine association of gender and type of vaccines with the side effects.
Methodology: This cross-sectional study was included 381 students at Wah Medical College, Wah Cantt and was conducted from 28th January to May 2023. We used convenient sampling technique and a questionnaire was used for data collection. SPSS version 23 was used for data analysis. Chi square test was applied on gender and type of vaccine with various adverse effects following vaccination.
Results: Fever (32.3%), headache (28.1%) and body aches (26.8%) were the most common adverse effects following vaccination. There was significant association between type of vaccines with fever (p=0.001), loss of taste (p=0.003) and smell (p=0.045), shortness of breath (p=0.003), sore throat (p=0.007) chest pain (p=0.015) and hypertension (p=0.047). The loss of taste was reported more in males (p=0.006) while the swelling and tenderness at injection site were reported more common in females (p=0.000).
Conclusion: Side effects were more related to the mRNA or viral vector vaccines.

Key words: COVID 19 vaccines, side effects, medical students.