Post Vaccine Symptom Check: Adult Survey results

The Post Vaccine Symptom Check (PVSC) survey is an additional way to report suspected reactions to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty).

The information from the Post Vaccine Symptom Check survey supports ongoing safety monitoring of Comirnaty, the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine used in New Zealand. Find out more about how we are monitoring COVID-19 vaccine safety.

The first PVSC campaign took place from 27 August to 5 October 2021 and surveyed people who had received dose 1 or dose 2 of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. On 29 November 2021, a booster dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine became available to those aged 18 years and over. On 2 July 2022, a second booster became available for eligible individuals. From 14 December 2021 to 31 October 2022, the Ministry of Health sent text messages to random samples of people who had received a booster dose.

Text messages asked eligible participants if they had experienced an adverse event/reaction after their vaccination. Participants who answered YES were asked to complete a survey to provide more information about the event. This publication includes the PVSC survey results from dose 1, dose 2, booster dose 1 and booster dose 2 of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

The information on this page shows the number of reports from a sampled population as part of the PVSC campaign. It does not represent the total number of people who experience an adverse event after their vaccination. Not everyone will report a reaction to the vaccine, and some might submit a CARM report themselves. This report to CARM then forms part of the Medsafe Safety reports.

The number of vaccine adverse event reports in the PVSC can be influenced by the number of participants, the nature of the symptoms (eg, how painful the vaccination was), and other factors (eg, concurrent viral infection or other medications taken), which vary over time.

The information presented below is limited by the responses to the survey for dose 1, 2, booster 1 and booster 2 in those aged 18 years and over. Further surveys may be run to coincide with the requirements of the COVID-19 vaccine programme. The results below will be updated to reflect any further surveys.

In the surveys, 319,136 responses were received (Table 1). Of those who responded to the survey:

• 56% were female and 44% were male
• 14% of respondents were Māori, and 6.2% were Pacific peoples.

Of the responses received for all campaigns (Table 2):

• 100,996 (32%) reported that they experienced at least one adverse event/reaction to the vaccine

• 218,140 (68%) reported that they did not experience an adverse event.

Of those that reported an adverse event, the proportion was highest after dose 2 (42%) and lowest after booster 2 (25%) (Table 2).

After each dose, the proportion of people who reported an adverse event was similar for each ethnic group (Figure 1 and Table 3).

The most frequently reported adverse events were injection site reaction, headache, muscle and body aches, joint pain, chills, fatigue and tiredness (Figure 2 and Table 4). These are common adverse reactions linked to the immune response following immunisation.

Ten percent of people who participated in the booster 1 campaign and 4% who participated in the booster 2 campaign reported missing work or other daily activities. Of these, the majority were reported to have missed one day or less. Less than 1% of people visited a doctor after any dose (Figure 3).

The profile of reported events to PVSC for the Pfizer (Comirnaty) COVID-19 vaccine is similar to that reported in clinical trials and from post-marketing surveillance in New Zealand and overseas. 

Based on this data, we have not identified any new safety concerns.