Quantity of workdays lost due to side effects among health care workers vaccinated with BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1

Background SARS-CoV-2 vaccines serve to protect and maintain health and are mostly well tolerated. However, there are only limited data on the extent to which vaccine side effects cause lost workdays, particularly among the critical group of health care workers. Methods Quantity of workdays lost and characteristics of side effects were assessed in previously unvaccinated health care workers without a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection at a tertiary German medical centre. Participants received either prime and boost with BNT162b2 or prime with ChAdOx1 and boost with BNT162b2. Results BNT162b2 for prime and boost were generally and to a large extent well tolerated. After the second dose of BNT162b2 more side effects were reported than after the prime (p < 0.001). Prime with ChAdOx1 was tolerated worse compared to prime and boost with BNT162b2 (p < 0.001). In total, 32.2 workdays lost per 100 vaccinations occurred in the homologous vaccinated group and 93.8 days per 100 vaccinations in the heterologous vaccinated group. Conclusions In this study, SARS-CoV-2 vaccination caused significant workdays lost among health care workers at a tertiary medical centre. Potential workdays lost after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination should be considered and anticipated when scheduling simultaneous or annually repeated vaccinations, especially among essential groups of employees.