May 16th 2024.
New Delhi: A team of researchers at BHU conducted a one-year follow-up study on individuals who had received Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, a vaccine against Covid-19. The study found that almost one-third of the participants had reported adverse events of special interest (AESI). This could include anything from minor side effects to more serious conditions.
Out of the 926 participants in the study, nearly half had experienced infections during the follow-up period. Most of these were viral upper respiratory tract infections. In one percent of individuals, serious AESI such as stroke and Guillain-Barre syndrome were reported. The study, which examined the long-term safety of the BBV152 vaccine in adolescents and adults, has been published in the journal Springer Nature.
This study comes at a time when AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company in the UK, has acknowledged that their Covid vaccine can cause rare side effects such as blood clotting and a decrease in platelet count. The study also revealed that around one-third of the individuals who received the vaccine developed AESIs, with skin and subcutaneous disorders, general disorders, and nervous system disorders being the most common in adolescents.
The study involved 635 adolescents and 291 adults who had received the BBV152 vaccine. After one year of vaccination, the participants were interviewed over the phone to gather information about any long-term adverse events of special interest. The study found that the most common AESIs in adolescents were new-onset skin and subcutaneous disorders, general disorders, and nervous system disorders. In adults, the most common AESIs were general disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, and nervous system disorders.
In female participants, 4.6 percent experienced menstrual abnormalities, while 2.7 percent and 0.6 percent experienced ocular abnormalities and hypothyroidism, respectively. The study also reported four deaths in adults, all of whom had pre-existing conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. In two of the deaths, the individuals had a history of pre-vaccination Covid-19.
The study found that extended surveillance of vaccinated individuals is necessary to understand the course and outcomes of late-onset AESIs. It also highlighted the need for increased awareness and larger studies to understand the incidence of immune-mediated phenomena after Covid-19 vaccination. The study also found that female individuals, adolescents with pre-vaccination Covid-19, and those with co-morbidities had a higher risk of persistent AESIs. Adults with co-morbidities and those who had received three doses of the vaccine were also at a higher risk of AESIs.
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