COVID-19 vaccination-related attendance at a pediatric emergency department in Singapore among 12- to 18-year old adolescents

• Published in: Pediatrics and neonatology 2022-11, Vol.63 (6), p.633-641
• Main Authors: Ng, Nicholas Beng Hui, Appleby, Gayle Fleur, Thong, Xin Yi, Ong, Sze Kiat Alan, Hii, Stephanie Zhen Wan, Tan, Ian Kai Zhi, Mohite, Sharad, Kao, Pao Tang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: BNT162b2 vaccine; COVID-19 vaccine; Original; Pfizer-BioNTech; post-vaccination phenomenon
• ISSN: 1875-9572; 2212-1692
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pedneo.2022.05.010

Singapore was one of the first countries to begin COVID-19 vaccination with the BNT162b2 vaccine for adolescents aged 12–18 years. This study evaluates the incidence of COVID-19 vaccine related attendances to a Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) to understand post-vaccination health behaviors among adolescents. This was a retrospective review of electronic medical records over a 4 month period, from the start of the adolescent vaccination drive to when more than 85% of this group had been fully vaccinated. The incidence of COVID-19 vaccination-related presentations to our PED was 3.1% over 4 months (291 of 9387 PED attendances), with a peak daily incidence of 15.4% (14 of 91 attendances). Presentations were characterized by severity into: severe (3.4%), moderate (7.9%) or mild (88.7%) based on predefined criteria. The most common presenting complaints were chest pain (58.8%), dyspnea (28.2%) and palpitations (22.6%). Hospitalization was required in only 6.2% of attendances. Patients with moderate-severe presentations were 0.7 years older (p = 0.030), more likely to have underlying drug allergies (p = 0.048) and had higher rates of hospitalization (p