Abstract
Background: Coronavirus (COVID-19) a new member of the human coronavirus's family, was identified in 2019 as the causative agent of a new disease outbreak in China associated with severe medical complications and even death in some cases. The unavailability of a vaccine or other efficacious therapeutic option has required all the nations worldwide to combat the pandemic's spread. Several precautionary strategies, which include lockdown, social distancing, wearing facemasks, and travel limitations, have been applied to stop this pandemic. On December 11, 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) COVID- 19 vaccine and on February 15, 2021, the adenoviral vector vaccines ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AstraZeneca-Ox- ford) were granted emergency use. To assess and compare the short-term side-effects of Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca vaccines among participants in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It was conducted among people vaccinated with Pfizer or Astra- Zeneca. The respondents were asked about the signs and symptoms after the first and second doses of the vaccines. Data will be collected through the questionnaire that distributed among people in KSA, and Egypt. It was noticed that most of participants were vaccinated with (Pfizer/BioNTech) in KSA (77.4%) which is more than Egypt (45.7%). More symptoms were appeared after the first dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) vaccine and after the second dose of (Pfizer/BioNTech) vaccine in participants either from Egypt or KSA. Severe symptoms were observed in Egypt (31.8%) compared to Saudi Arabia (18.1%), while more than 60% of participants suffering from moderate symptoms that can treated with rest and few medications. Moreover, only a few patients needed to be admitted to the hospital due to vaccines' side effects on respiratory system. Fatigue and fever were significantly associated with Pfizer-BioNTech, compared to the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Headache (47.4% & 38.7%) is the most common symptoms that appeared after vaccination.We can conclude that only a few patients needed to be admitted to the hospital due to vaccines' side effects on respiratory system. Fatigue and fever were significantly associated with Pfizer-BioNTech, compared to the Oxford- AstraZeneca vaccine. These side effects such as pain at the site of the injection, fever, and headache, and they are more common in those after the second dose of the vaccines. A follow-up study is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the vaccines in controlling COVID infection and assessment of long-term side effects.