(071) Just Another Vaccine – VAERS Analysis Compares Genitourinary Symptoms of the COVID-19 Vaccine and Other Commonly Administered Vaccines

Abstract

Abstract Introduction There has been a concern in mainstream media about adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccine including those on the genitourinary system. Objective Our objective was to evaluate the rate of patient-reported genitourinary symptoms after the COVID-19 vaccine. We hypothesized rates of genitourinary side effects was not different compared to other commonly used vaccines. Methods We queried the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) database for all genitourinary symptoms reported after receiving the COVID-19, influenza, shingles, and pneumonia vaccines. Symptoms were placed into one of five categories – lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), sexual side effects, infectious, hematuria, or other disorders of the penis/scrotum/testis. Rates of genitourinary symptoms were compared between the vaccines. Data collection occurred 7-8/2022. Results Out of 13,568,650 symptoms reported after the COVID-19 vaccine, 9,022 were genitourinary (0.066%). Genitourinary symptoms included LUTS (39.71%), infectious (32.38%), hematuria (17.42%), disorders of the penis/scrotum/testis (5.99%), and sexual side effects (4.50%). Rates of genitourinary symptoms after the COVID-19 vaccine was significantly lower than the influenza (0.128%) (Table 1) but higher than the shingles (0.030%) and pneumonia (0.037%) vaccines (Table 2). There was no significant differences in the penis/scrotum/testis symptoms category. Rates of sexual side effects were overall low after the COVID vaccine (0.0030%) and not significantly different to rates of sexual side effects after the influenza vaccine (0.0036%) but were higher than after the pneumonia and shingles vaccines. Conclusions Genitourinary symptoms from the COVID-19 vaccine are rare. The rate of side effects is lower than the influenza vaccine, and while sexual and overall side effects are higher than the pneumonia and shingles vaccines, these rates are overall very low and unlikely to be clinically significant. Disclosure No.