What Will It Be Like to Get Vaccinated Against COVID?
Each vaccine has its own side effects, but most are mild and / or rare. If you have ever had a pain in your arm after a flu shot , or even had a mild headache or fever, you have experienced this. The upcoming coronavirus vaccines will also have side effects, and they could be a little more serious. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing.
The COVID vaccine has yet to be approved in the US, but we’re getting closer. One of the best candidates, the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, has just been cleared for emergency use in the UK and may receive a similar clearance in the US next week. Another, from Moderna, is also being reviewed by the FDA and may also be approved this month. (In both cases, the FDA will review the safety and efficacy data and make a decision. There is no guarantee that the vaccine will be approved at all, but the information available gives us hope.)
Fever and body aches are common.
The creators of both major vaccine candidates have stated that the side effects of the vaccine are mild to moderate, which means (if this is a complete and accurate statement) that they do not pose a significant safety risk. But mild to moderate side effects can be uncomfortable.
According to Pfizer’s UK vaccine label , the following side effects are very common, each affecting more than 10% of people receiving the vaccine: injection site pain, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, chills and fever. (Note that it is not necessary to have all of these; it is just that each is shared separately.)
Up to 1 in 10 people may have redness and swelling at the injection site or experience nausea. And even less often people report swollen lymph nodes and “feeling unwell,” whatever that means.
As an example of what this looks like, we can take a look at several reports from volunteers who participated in the trials. One person involved in a vaccine trial – who doesn’t know for sure if she got the real vaccine or a placebo – told MarketWatch that her arm hurt after the injection, which made her think she probably got the real vaccine. “The day after I got the injection, I felt lethargic and tired, with aches all over my body,” she said. “About three weeks later, I had a second injection. And again my arm hurt, looked red at the injection site, and I had body aches and fatigue. “
At a recent CDC advisory committee meeting, panellists discussed the importance of people understanding that these side effects can occur. For example, you can take a day off from work if you feel unwell. Hospitals and important businesses may need to take this into account and, for example, may not need to vaccinate all intensive care personnel at the same time.
Side Effects Mean It Works
While these symptoms can be annoying, they are not a sign of a problem. Vaccines work by stimulating our immune system to respond to an artificial invader. Fever, fatigue, and muscle aches are part of our body’s response to infection, and a mini version of this reaction often accompanies a vaccine.
COVID is serious enough that the irritation caused by these symptoms justifies for most of us the potential benefit of protecting against severe infection. But if the vaccine is approved and you decide to get it, it’s important to be aware of the potential consequences.
Public health experts fear that people who have a fever or fatigue after the first dose may not want to come back for a second. This is important because most vaccine candidates require two doses for complete protection. Pfizer’s UK vaccine label states that you should only consider yourself protected seven days after the second vaccine. Since the two doses are given at least three weeks apart, this means your defense will not start until more than a month after the first.
We will probably find out more about vaccines and their side effects during their respective FDA meetings – December. 10 for Pfizer and December 17 for Moderna. Be aware of.