AccScience Publishing / JCBP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/jcbp.4727
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BRIEF REPORT

Association between concerns regarding COVID-19 mRNA vaccination and the adverse event rate among healthcare workers

Isabel Hach1†* ,  Bunila-Yuwang Francisca1,2† ,  Wolfgang Hitzl3 ,  Annette Sattler4 ,  Stephan Kolb1 ,  Cosima Brucker2
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1 Department of Education and Science, Klinikum Nürnberg, Paracelsus Medical University, Nuremberg, Germany
2 Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics, Klinikum Nürnberg, Paracelsus Medical University Nuremberg, Germany
3 Department of Research and Innovation Management, Biostatistics and Publication of Clinical Trial Studies, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
4 Department of Hospital Pharmacy, Klinikum Nürnberg, Paracelsus Medical University, Nuremberg, Germany
JCBP, 4727 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcbp.4727
Submitted: 31 August 2024 | Revised: 31 October 2024 | Accepted: 12 November 2024 | Published: 12 December 2024
© 2024 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Healthcare workers must be vaccinated regularly. However, vaccination-related side effects can lead to sick leaves and decreased willingness to be vaccinated. Negative expectations can cause nocebo effects, potentially increasing the rates of adverse events (AEs). Herein, we evaluated the relationship between concerns regarding the vaccination course and the prevalence rate of AEs after the first and second doses of mRNA vaccines in 982 healthcare workers from the Nuremberg Hospital. Most of our participants were women (78%). Fatigue and headache were the most common systemic AEs. Healthcare workers who were worried about the vaccination process reported significantly more AEs after the first vaccine dose than those who were not worried (80% vs. 68%, P < 0.05). Thus, strategies to minimize concerns could reduce vaccination-related side effects and improve willingness to be vaccinated.

Keywords
Nocebo effects
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Pharmacovigilance
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Journal of Clinical and Basic Psychosomatics, Electronic ISSN: 2972-4414 Print ISSN: 3060-8562, Published by AccScience Publishing
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