Side effects are possible after receiving one or two doses of any of the three coronavirus vaccines currently being administered in the US, but not everyone experiences them.
Experiencing side effects is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it is a signal that your body responds to.
“The good news for us is that a quick response equals an effective response,” Dr. Mark Loafman, president of family and community medicine at Cook County Health in Illinois, told NBC. “It tells us that the vaccine works. Our body is forming a robust immune response and we think that’s positive. So we tend to see that vaccines that have a higher rate of effectiveness also have more of the so-called side effects or the symptoms because they work so well. “
So what makes someone more likely to experience them than others?
Young people are more likely to experience side effects
Chicago Chief Medical Officer Chicago Department of Public Health Dr. Allison Arwady broke it on Thursday and told Facebook Live that young people are more likely to experience side effects “because young people have a stronger immune system. robust in general “.
And, according to Loafman, the body’s immune system is what creates the symptoms.
“This is simply a reflection of the immune response, just as we have when we get sick,” he said.
Women are more likely to report side effects
Arwady noted that women are more likely to experience side effects than men.
“Some of this is because women can be better reporters … but there’s probably something real too because something more interesting for those who may not know as much about immunity are autoimmune diseases? It’s very more likely in women, too, ”Arwady said. “And even the most severe allergic reactions like allergic reactions, the most severe allergic reactions? It’s more likely in women.”
Why that?
Arwady said estrogen can elevate immune responses, while testosterone can lower it. At the same time, he noted that “many of your immunity-modulating genes” can live on an “x” chromosome, which two women have, while men have one.
“So there are all these reasons why the class of immunity generally increases a little differently in women than in men,” she said. “And so we see women, a little more likely to report some of the side effects.”
CDC data also reported that women were more likely to experience side effects than men, according to follow-up from the first month of vaccination.
The data showed that from December 14 to January 13, more than 79% of side effects were reported by women. Meanwhile, women received approximately 61.2 percent of the doses administered during this same time.
Does having side effects mean you have had COVID?
Side effects can also vary depending on whether or not you have had coronavirus.
“We’ve seen people more likely to notice some side effects because that acts a bit like a booster dose to your immune system,” Arwady said. “Your immune system has already learned some of these lessons on how to protect yourself, not so in a not-so-protective way.”
“It’s probably that reinforcing effect, too,” Arwady said.
Loafman agrees.
“If you had COVID a while ago or you already have some immunity, it’s more of a booster,” he said. “And the boosters for some people are completely asymptomatic, the boosters for other people trigger their immune response against it, so they have some inflammation.”
Are side effects more common with the second dose?
People are also more likely to report side effects after their second dose, Arwady said, echoing reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the CDC, side effects after the second shot “may be more intense than those you experienced after the first shot.”
“These side effects are normal signs that your body is protecting itself and that they should go away in a few days,” the CDC states.
In the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine trials, more people experienced side effects after the second dose.
But that doesn’t mean you don’t have to do the second shot if you have side effects after the first, experts say.
“When people receive this second dose, they receive the second booster to try to achieve maximum effectiveness,” said Dr. Edward Cachay, a specialist in infectious diseases at UCSD.
The CDC also noted that both dams are needed.
“The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and the Modern COVID-19 vaccine need two shots to get maximum protection,” the CDC states. “You should get the second vaccine even if you have side effects after the first vaccine, unless a vaccination provider or your doctor tells you not to get it.”
What if you have no side effects?
But not getting side effects is not negative, health experts say.
“If you don’t have side effects, it doesn’t mean you’re not protected,” Arwady said. “I want to be very clear.”
According to Loafman, it simply means that “your body did not react with so much inflammatory response.
“You still make antibodies,” he said.
According to Loafman, each person’s response is unique.
“It’s really a kind of reflection on the uniqueness of each of our systems, of what other immunities we have,” he said. “You know, a lot of antibodies react crosswise and we have cross-reactivity, so it’s really a mosaic. Each of our immune systems is a mosaic made up of everything we’ve experienced and everything we have and everything we’ve done recently. “Everyone gets the right immune response.”
What are the possible side effects?
The CDC reports that the most common side effects of the three authorized vaccines are at the injection site. They include:
The most common side effects on the body include:
- Tired
- Headache
- Muscle pain
- Shivers
- Fever
- Nausea
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises people to stay for 15 minutes after vaccination and those with a history of other allergies for 30 minutes, so they can be monitored and treated immediately if they have some reaction.
Does one vaccine report more side effects than the others?
According to Pfizer, about 3.8% of clinical trial participants experienced fatigue as a side effect and 2% had headaches.
Moderna says 9.7% of its participants felt tired and 4.5% had a headache.
Like Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, the main side effects of the J&J trait are injection site pain and fever, fatigue, and flu-like headaches.
But Arwady noted that participants in the Johnson & Johnson trial reported fewer side effects.
“One thing I’ve recommended is that if there are people who are very, very concerned about side effects, you know, the Johnson & Johnson trials were a little less of a side effect,” he said. “And that’s, you know, that single dose, that you know can be a thing.”
What can you do if you experience side effects?
The CDC recommends that people talk to their doctors about taking over-the-counter medications such as ibuprofen, acetaminophen, aspirin, or antihistamines, to have pain and discomfort after getting vaccinated.
“You can take these medications to relieve post-vaccination side effects if you have no other medical reason that prevents you from taking these medications normally,” the CDC states. “It is not recommended to take these medications before vaccination to try to prevent side effects.”
The CDC recommends that you seek medical attention if you experience any of the following:
- If the redness or tenderness where you got the shot gets worse after 24 hours
- Whether its side effects worry you or not seems to go away after a few days
- If you get a COVID-19 vaccine and think you may have a severe allergic reaction after leaving the vaccination site, seek immediate medical attention by calling 911.