Higher probability of experiencing a side effect in women after COVID-19 vaccination
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Females have a two-fold higher odds of experiencing an adverse event following immunization (AEFI) than males after a COVID-19 vaccination. This difference was greater after the first COVID-19 vaccination. These were the results of a prospective cohort study by The Netherlands Pharmacovigilance Centre Lareb.
The cohort included 27,540 vaccinees (62,5% females and 38.5% males).
Females showed around two-fold higher odds of having any AEFI as compared to males with most pronounced differences after the first dose and for nausea and injection site inflammation. Age was inversely associated with AEFI incidence, whereas a prior COVID-19 infection, the use of antipyretic drugs and several comorbidities were positively associated. The perceived burden of AEFIs and time-to-recovery were slightly higher in females.
In addition, a literature review was done to retrieve sex-disaggregated outcomes of COVID-19 vaccination.
Our results confirm the outcomes of previous studies and aid in the gain of knowledge with regard to differences in response to vaccination between males and females.