mRNA COVID-19 vaccine safety in adults from the Canadian national vaccine safety network
Vaccine·
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.vaccine.2026.128630
- PMID
- 42092317
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- —
- Study type
- Cohort study
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
The findings provide Canadian adult vaccine-safety evidence on short-term health events following two-dose mRNA vaccination and include comparison with an unvaccinated group. The abstract describes symptom frequency and healthcare-utilization outcomes but does not establish longer-term effects or causality.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
The study assessed health events after first and second doses of BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccines in Canadian adults, comparing vaccinated participants with an unvaccinated control group.
Study design
This was a cohort study using active vaccine safety surveillance. Participants completed emailed surveys one week after vaccination or at registration for the unvaccinated control group, and multivariable regression was used to examine vaccine-associated health events.
Population and setting
The study included Canadian adults from 7 provinces and territories. Survey responses were available from 567,781 participants after dose one, 301,717 after dose two, and 14,984 unvaccinated controls.
Main findings
Health events affecting work or school or requiring medical consultation were more frequent during the week after vaccination than among controls, with the highest reported frequency after a second mRNA-1273 dose. Fatigue or malaise, headache, fever, and joint pain were common and generally self-limited. Emergency department visits or hospitalizations were increased after first or second mRNA-1273 doses compared with controls; the abstract reports no corresponding difference for BNT162b2.
Public-health relevance
The findings provide Canadian adult vaccine-safety evidence on short-term health events following two-dose mRNA vaccination and include comparison with an unvaccinated group. The abstract describes symptom frequency and healthcare-utilization outcomes but does not establish longer-term effects or causality.
Important limitations
The supplied abstract does not state explicit study limitations. This summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata; the original paper is required for decision-grade assessment of measurement methods, follow-up, potential bias, confounding, and generalizability.
GIDS interpretation
The article is discoverable in the supplied metadata as Canadian COVID-19 vaccine-safety surveillance research involving vaccination and SARS/COVID-19 topics. It provides article-level context only and does not confirm or characterize any live surveillance signal.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 12 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.