Prevalence of Adverse Effects of Covishield Vaccine among Nursing Students of Selected Institutes of Assam

COVID-19 infection originated in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and affected the human health in a mass scale. Massive efforts were put urgently to develop and test the efficacy and safety of vaccines against COVID-19 as a public health emergency. Covishield vaccine was developed by the Serum Institute of India. Many reports claimed that Covishield can cause mild to severe adverse effects. This study aims to identify the prevalence of adverse effects of Covishield vaccine among nursing students of selected institutes of Assam.Methods: The online survey was conducted among 200 nursing students of Assam in the month of June-July 2021. Structured questionnaire was used to collect demographic data and to identify the adverse effects of Covishield vaccine. Data was compiled and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.Results: The study revealed that majority of the nursing students i.e. 90% reported pain at injection site, followed by headache (72%), fever (67%), tiredness (61.5%), muscle pain (46.5%), redness at injection site (17.5%), joint pain (16.5%), nausea and vomiting (14%), tingling sensation (6%), itching at injection site (5.5%), diarrhea (4.5%), fainting (4.4%) and breathlessness (4.4%). Among males, 83.3 % reported pain at injection site after 24 hours and for females 47.8% reported pain at injection site 24 hours, followed by 41.75% who reported pain at injection site before 24 hours. It was also found that adverse effects like tiredness and tingling are significantly associated with gender of the nursing students of AssamKey words: Covishield, vaccine, adverse effects, nursing students