Effects of COVID-19 Vaccination among School Children Aged 12-15 years - A Pilot Survey Study

Abstract

Background Vaccination is a simple safe and effective way of protecting humans against harmful diseases. It uses the bodys natural defenses to build resistance to specific infections boosting the immune system. Government has a long history of implementing highly useful disease-specific vaccines and it seemed imperative to develop one for COVID-19. The vaccine plays an important role in maintaining health and hence government made it compulsory. It was done with an intention to build resistance against COVID-19 especially as the time was constrained.Aim To assess the status of COVID-19 vaccination among children aged 12 to 15 years at a rural school.Methods An observational survey study including 70 subjects of both sexes satisfying the inclusion and exclusion criteria was carried out at a rural school in Belagavi district. A self-structured questionnaire related to symptoms of COVID-19 vaccination was administered among the subjects.Results This observational survey study revealed that among the 40 male children 19 children marked lsquoyesrsquo to the question while 21 marked lsquonorsquo regarding experiencing vaccination related symptoms. Out of 30 female students 25 students marked lsquoyesrsquo to the question while five marked lsquonorsquo. Therefore as per the study results out of 70 students 44 subjects responded lsquoyesrsquo while 26 marked lsquonorsquo.Conclusion This research contributes to understanding the effects of COVID-19 vaccination among children. Most prevalent side effect were fever pain at the injection site headache and fatigue. In this study in terms of effects of COVID-19 vaccination among children aged group 12 -15 years it appears that female children were more affected compared to male children. Further studies involving larger populations are necessary to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 vaccination.