Evaluation of local and systemic side effects of Turkovac vaccine in adults

Abstract

Background/aim: COVID-19 is a respiratory disease that caused a pandemic after reportedly emerging from Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Different types of COVID-19 vaccines such as viral vectors, mRNA, and inactivated vaccines have been produced since the beginning of the pandemic. Turkovac is an inactive COVID-19 vaccine developed and produced in Türkiye. We conducted our study to investigate the local and systemic side effects of the Turkovac vaccine. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted to collect data on the postvaccine side effects in people aged over 18 who were vaccinated with Turkovac, between March and June 2022, in the Malatya Turgut Özal University Research and Training Hospital. A 54 question, multiple-choice questionnaire was used to collect demographic data from the participants and identify the possible local and systemic side effects after Turkovac vaccine administration. Results: Of the 403 participants included in the study, 134 (33.3%) were female and 269 (66.7%) were male with a mean age of 47.7 ± 13.7. The most common local side effects observed after vaccination were pain at the injection site (22.8%) and local swelling and redness (0.5%). Systemic side effects included weakness or fatigue (4.2%), muscle or joint pain (2%), headache (1.7%), fever (1%), cough (0.25%), lymphadenopathy (0.25%), and urticaria (0.25%). Side effects were most commonly observed within the first 24 h. We found that for participants under 47 years of age, female sex, chronic diseases, and regular medication use were associated with the risk of suffering side effects. Conclusion: Our study revealed that Turkovac is a generally well-tolerated vaccine and had no side effects. More studies are required to evaluate Turkovac’s side effects in other populations.