Safety and Adverse Events Related to COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines; a Systematic Review

Knowledge of vaccine-related adverse events is crucial as they are among the most important fac-tors that cause hesitation in receiving vaccines. Therefore, we aimed to systematically review the adverse eventsrelated to the mRNA vaccines reported in the literature.

A systematic literature search was carried outin the databases of Scopus, PubMed, Cochrane, and Web of Science. We selected original studies that exploredthe side effects of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines using a two-phase (title/abstract and full-text) screening process.

Cardiac complications were the most commonly reported severe adverse events. It appeared that sys-temic adverse reactions are more common after the second dose of vaccines. The number of adverse effectsreported after the Pfizer vaccine was higher than other vaccines, mostly due to its earlier approval and morewidespread use throughout the world. Cardiac adverse events had a higher prevalence but no significant associ-ation has been found between COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and cardiac adverse events except for myopericarditis.

Vaccines play a crucial role in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and decreasing mortalities andthe results of the present review acknowledge the fact that the benefits outweigh the adverse events of thesevaccines