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. 2021 Jul 1;2(8):965–978.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.medj.2021.06.006

Table 3.

Incidence rates of adverse effects in the 7 days following the date of the first BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 dose

Vaccine Adverse effect Vaccinated incidence rate, cases/person-days [cases per 1,000 person-days] Unvaccinated incidence rate, cases/person-days [cases per 1,000 person-days] IRR (95% CI)
BNT162b2 (51,795 individuals per cohort) anaphylaxis 11/361,515 [0.03] 17/359,538 [0.047] 0.64 (0.27, 1.5)
arthralgia 360/360,052 [1] 261/358,536 [0.73] 1.4 (1.2, 1.6)
chills 67/361,310 [0.19] 96/359,211 [0.27] 0.69 (0.5, 0.96)
CVST 0/361,565 [0] 2/359,600 [0.0056] 0 (0, 5.3)
diarrhea 183/360,859 [0.51] 312/358,329 [0.87] 0.58 (0.48, 0.7)
erythema 273/360,470 [0.76] 283/358,459 [0.79] 0.96 (0.81, 1.1)
facial paralysis 4/361,554 [0.011] 10/359,560 [0.028] 0.4 (0.091, 1.4)
fatigue 470/359,712 [1.3] 638/356,984 [1.8] 0.73 (0.65, 0.82)
fever 128/361,104 [0.35] 181/358,857 [0.5] 0.7 (0.56, 0.89)
headache 522/359,506 [1.5] 571/357,234 [1.6] 0.91 (0.81, 1)
local pain 3/361,553 [0.0083] 1/359,604 [0.0028] 3 (0.24, 160)
local swelling 2/361,560 [0.0055] 0/359,610 [0] inf (0.19, inf)
lymphadenopathy 114/361,137 [0.32] 141/359,015 [0.39] 0.8 (0.62, 1)
myalgia 381/360,002 [1.1] 294/358,405 [0.82] 1.3 (1.1, 1.5)
nausea 332/360,302 [0.92] 495/357,565 [1.4] 0.67 (0.58, 0.77)
soreness 116/361,049 [0.32] 85/359,252 [0.24] 1.4 (1, 1.8)
vomiting 128/361,057 [0.35] 270/358,495 [0.75] 0.47 (0.38, 0.58)
mRNA-1273 (16,471 individuals per cohort) anaphylaxis 2/114,990 [0.017] 8/114,619 [0.07] 0.25 (0.026, 1.2)
arthralgia 188/114,237 [1.6] 107/114,227 [0.94] 1.8 (1.4, 2.2)
chills 29/114,900 [0.25] 28/114,538 [0.24] 1 (0.59, 1.8)
CVST 0/114,994 [0] 1/114,643 [0.0087] 0 (0, 39)
diarrhea 80/114,685 [0.7] 127/114,163 [1.1] 0.63 (0.47, 0.84)
erythema 124/114,467 [1.1] 95/114,251 [0.83] 1.3 (0.99, 1.7)
facial paralysis 1/114,992 [0.0087] 4/114,637 [0.035] 0.25 (0.0051, 2.5)
fatigue 244/114,010 [2.1] 277/113,561 [2.4] 0.88 (0.74, 1)
fever 62/114,781 [0.54] 80/114,328 [0.7] 0.77 (0.54, 1.1)
headache 187/114,286 [1.6] 188/113,908 [1.7] 0.99 (0.81, 1.2)
local pain 2/114,983 [0.017] 0/114,644 [0] inf (0.19, inf)
local swelling 0/114,994 [0] 0/114,644 [0] N/A
lymphadenopathy 80/114,688 [0.7] 60/114,429 [0.52] 1.3 (0.94, 1.9)
myalgia 165/114,290 [1.4] 111/114,241 [0.97] 1.5 (1.2, 1.9)
nausea 155/114,400 [1.4] 188/113,947 [1.6] 0.82 (0.66, 1)
soreness 42/114,845 [0.37] 32/114,524 [0.28] 1.3 (0.81, 2.1)
vomiting 69/114,744 [0.6] 101/114,299 [0.88] 0.68 (0.49, 0.93)

For each adverse effect, incidence rates were calculated for the vaccinated and propensity-matched unvaccinated cohorts as the number of positive cases divided by the total number of at-risk person-days during this time period. Individuals were considered at risk for developing an adverse effect from their actual or assigned date of first vaccination until they experienced the event, died, or reached the end of the 7-day study period or until 4 days prior to a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result. For example, we see that 470 cases of fatigue were recorded in the BNT162b2-vaccinated cohort over a total of 359,712 person-days, corresponding to an incidence rate of 1.3 cases per 1,000 person-days. N/A, not applicable; inf, infinity.