• Lisa Brichko, Lila Van Breugel, Andrew Underhill, Huyen Tran, Biswadev Mitra, Peter A Cameron, SmitDe VilliersV0000-0001-9627-779XThe Alfred Emergency and Trauma Centre, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.National Trauma Research Institut, Michelle L Giles, David McCreary, Andrew Paton, and Gerard M O'Reilly.
• The Alfred Emergency and Trauma Centre, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
• Emerg Med Australas. 2022 Dec 1; 34 (6): 913919913-919.

ObjectiveThe aim of the present study was to describe the burden of patients presenting to the ED with symptoms occurring after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination.MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study performed over a 4-month period across two EDs. Participants were eligible for inclusion if it was documented in the ED triage record that their ED attendance was associated with the receipt of a COVID-19 vaccination. Data regarding the type of vaccine (Comirnaty or ChAdOx1) were subsequently extracted from their electronic medical record. Primary outcome was ED length of stay (LOS) and secondary outcomes included requests for imaging and ED disposition destination.ResultsDuring the study period of 22 February 2021 to 21 June 2021, 632 patients were identified for inclusion in the present study, of which 543 (85.9%) had received the ChAdOx1 vaccination. The highest proportion of COVID-19 vaccine-related attendances occurred in June 2021 and accounted for 21 (8%) of 262 total daily ED attendances. Patients who had an ED presentation related to ChAdOx1 had a longer median ED LOS (253 vs 180 min, P < 0.001) compared to Comirnaty and a higher proportion had haematology tests and imaging requested in the ED. Most patients (n = 588, 88.8%) were discharged home from the ED.ConclusionThere was a notable proportion of ED attendances related to recent COVID-19 vaccination administration, many of which were associated with lengthy ED stays and had multiple investigations. In the majority of cases, the patients were able to be discharged home from the ED.© 2022 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

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