Background: Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca are recently introduced vaccines to combat COVID-19 pandemic. During clinical trials, mild to moderate side effects have been associated with these vaccines. Thus, we aimed to evaluate short-term post-vaccination side effects. Methods: Cross-sectional, retrospective study using an online questionnaire was conducted among COVID-19 vaccines recipients in Saudi Arabia. General and demographic data were collected, and vaccine-associated side effects after receiving at least one dose of each vaccine were evaluated. Results: Our final sample consisted of 515 participants with a median age of 26 years. Most of the study participants were female (57%). Nearly 13% of the study subjects have reported previous infections with SARS-CoV-2. Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have been received by 75% and 25% of the study participants, respectively. Side effects associated with COVID-19 vaccines have been reported by 60% of the study subjects, and most of them reported fatigue (90%), pain at the site of the injections (85%). Conclusion: Side effects that are reported post Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines among our study participants are not different from those that were reported in the clinical trials, indicating safe profiles for both vaccines. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the current vaccines in protection against SARS-CoV-2 reinfections.

Natural products are rich therapeutic sources, yet their translation into effective medicines remains challenging. Bee venom (BV) contains a diverse repertoire of bioactive molecules, but gentle, scalable methods to enhance its functionality are limited. This study, therefore, investigates a novel, solvent-free, post-extraction infrared (IR) conditioning step to fine-tune BV's composition and bioactivity. BV was irradiated (230 V, 50 Hz, 150 W) and compared to native extract using GC–MS and bioactivity assays. GC–MS revealed selective compositional tuning, with significant enrichment ( p ≤ 0.05) of 4H-1-benzopyran-4-one, 2-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-3,5-dihydroxy-7-methoxy. IR-treated BV exhibited enhanced antimicrobial activity, with increased zones of inhibition for Staphylococcus aureus (15 ± 0.1 vs. 11 ± 0.4 mm), Bacillus subtilis (24 ± 0.2 vs. 22 ± 0.6 mm), Candida albicans (26 ± 0.1 vs. 22 ± 0.5 mm), Klebsiella pneumoniae (24 ± 0.4 vs. 15 ± 0.3 mm), and Salmonella typhi (27 ± 0.8 vs. 20 ± 0.7 mm). MICs decreased for S. aureus , B. subtilis , and K. pneumoniae . The treated BV also showed stronger antibiofilm activity at 25% MBC concentrations for K. pneumoniae and S. typhi ( p ≤ 0.05) and significantly reduced hemolysis at 25% MIC for S. aureus and B. subtilis ( p ≤ 0.05). Antioxidant capacity increased (DPPH IC ₅₀ : 16.47 ± 1.1 vs. 27.65 ± 0.8 µg/mL), as did anti-inflammatory activity (COX-2 IC ₅₀ : 48.84 ± 0.2 vs. 50.99 ± 0.9 µg/mL; COX-1 IC ₅₀ : 24.7 ± 0.2 vs. 41.74 ± 0.2 µg/mL). Cytotoxicity against PC-3 and SKOV-3 cells was maintained (IC ₅₀ : 19.73 ± 0.9 and 19.76 ± 0.11 µg/mL, respectively, vs. native BV's 11.48 ± 0.3 and 17.46 ± 0.27 µg/mL). These findings establish brief IR irradiation as a practical, scalable post-processing strategy to selectively enhance the therapeutic potential of BV for biomedical applications. Graphical abstract