Vaccinations Status against Vaccine-Preventable Diseases and Willingness to Be Vaccinated in an Italian Sample of Frail Subjects

Influenza and pneumococcal vaccine prescription for adults during COVID-19 first wave in three regions of Argentina

Immunizations for influenza and pneumococcus are effective interventions in reducing morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to describe the vaccination rates in volunteers from three regions of Argentina during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, 3853 adults were surveyed, 61.6 % were females, 45 % were aged between 40 and 60 and 18.6 % were > 60 years old. The commonest comorbidities were hypertension (12.9 %), dyslipidemia (8.5 %), and smokers or former smokers (9.2 %). The global influenza vaccination rate was 37.7 %, pneumococcal vaccination 24.7 %, and both 17.8 %. Multivariable regression showed that the vaccination rate increased with age and the presence of comorbidities. However, in the subgroup with indications for both vaccines, 71.7 % had the influenza vaccine, 59 % had the pneumococcal vaccine, and 28.3 % received neither. Our study suggests that influenza and pneumococcal vaccine percentages in high-risk patients in Argentina remain sub-optimal. Immunizations with proven reductions in morbimortality could have also been relegated during the COVID pandemic.

Short-Term Adverse Effects Following Booster Dose of Inactivated-Virus vs. Adenoviral-Vector COVID-19 Vaccines in Algeria: A Cross-Sectional Study of the General Population

COVID-19 booster vaccines have been adopted in almost all countries to enhance the immune response and combat the emergence of new variants. Algeria adopted this strategy in November 2021. This study was conducted to consider the self-reported side effects of COVID-19 booster vaccines by Algerians who were vaccinated with a booster dose of one of the approved inactivated-virus vaccines, such as BBIBP-CorV and CoronaVac, or one of the adenoviral-vector-based vaccines, such as Gam-COVID-Vac, AZD1222 and Ad26.COV2.S, and to determine the eventual risk factors. A cross-sectional study using an online self-administered questionnaire (SAQ) was conducted in Algeria between 28 April 2022, and 20 July 2022. A descriptive analysis of the 196 individuals who were included showed a nearly equal distribution of adenoviral- (52%) and inactivated-virus vaccines (48%) and of males (49.5%) and females (50.5%). The results showed that 74.7% of the studied population reported at least one local or systemic side effect. These side effects were more frequent among adenoviral-vector vaccinees (87.3%) than inactivated-virus vaccinees (60.6%) (sig. < 0.001). Injection site pain (40.3%), heat at the injection site (21.4%), and arm pain (16.3%) were the most common local side effects. These signs generally appeared in the first 12 h (73.3%) and generally lasted less than 24 h (32.8%). More interestingly, these signs differed from those that followed the administration of primer doses (48.5%) and were generally more severe (37%). The same observation was reported for systemic side effects, where the signs were especially most severe in the adenoviral-vaccinated group (49.4% vs. 20.8%; sig. = 0.001). These signs generally appeared within the first day (63.6%) and mostly disappeared before two days (50.8%), with fatigue (41.8%), fever (41.3%), and headache (30.1%) being the most common. Adenoviral-vector vaccinees (62.7%) were more likely to use medications to manage these side effects than were inactivated-virus vaccinees (45.7%) (sig. = 0.035) and paracetamol (48.5%) was the most used medication. Adenoviral-based vaccines were the types of vaccines that were most likely to cause side effects. In addition, being female increased the risk of developing side effects; regular medication was associated with local side effects among inactivated-virus vaccinees; and previous infection with COVID-19 was associated with systemic and local side effects among adenovirus-based vaccinees. These results support the short-term safety of booster vaccines, as has been reported for primer doses.