대한약국학회

Objective: The first and second dose vaccination against COVID-19 was conducted to local community pharmacists and staff for one week starting on April 26, 2021, and for one week starting on July 12, 2021, respectively. The Incheon Medicine and Food Safety Center conducted a study to observe and review the adverse events of pharmacists and staff at pharmacies in Incheon after the COVID-19 vaccination and how they resolved the adverse events. Methods: Online Naver Form links containing the survey were sent by text message to Incheon Pharmaceutical Association members, from May 21 to 31, 2021 and September 7 to 14, 2021. Results: A total of 239 out of 283 respondents (84.5%) indicated that they had mild symptoms such as fever, chills, and tenderness at the injection site. Overall, 88.4% of the respondents who received the first vaccination and 85% of the subjects who received the second vaccination responded that the symptoms have disappeared within a week. There were also a few reported cases of severe adverse events. A total of 69.9% of the first survey and 69.7% of the second survey respondents reported that they have taken acetaminophen when adverse events occurred, while 22.2% of the first survey and 30.2% of the second survey respondents reported that they have endured the symptoms without any medications. Some of the respondents took herbal medicines or health functional foods to relieve the symptoms. Conclusion: Most of the adverse events after COVID-19 vaccinations were mild, but severe adverse events requiring outpatient treatment also occurred, so it seems necessary to provide a service that guides the general public’s appropriate countermeasures against adverse events after vaccination. Taking acetaminophen was generally effective to resolve adverse events, but careful medication guidance is needed to prevent misuse of acetaminophen by the public. Furthermore, it is considered necessary to investigate in detail what self-treatment methods pharmacists chose to resolve the adverse events of COVID-19 vaccination and quantify how effective the methods are and share the results with other pharmacists.