Impact of expectations, prior experiences on adverse effect reports after COVID-19 vaccinations

Editor's Note

This German study finds that expectations and prior experiences were associated with increased adverse effect reports in individuals receiving their second COVID-19 vaccinations.

Researchers collected data from 1,678 individuals receiving Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines.

Severe adverse effect reports were higher in those:

• expecting a lower benefit of vaccination
• expecting higher adverse effects of vaccination
• having experienced more adverse effects after the first vaccination
• scoring higher on the Somatosensory Amplification Scale—a scale that measures the tendency to perceive normal sensations as intense or disturbing
• receiving the Moderna vaccine.

Clinician-patient interactions and vaccine campaigns may benefit from these findings by optimizing and contextualizing information provided about COVID-19 vaccines, the researchers say.