Side effects are possible after receiving the Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines currently being administered in the US, but how do the potential symptoms differ between the three vaccines?
Experiencing side effects is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it is a sign that your body is reacting.
“The good news for us is that a quick response equals an effective response,” said Dr. Mark Loafman, chair of family and community medicine for Cook County Health in Illinois, told NBC 5. “It tells us that the vaccine works. Our body produces a robust immune response and we feel that it is a positive thing. So we tend to see that the vaccines with a higher efficacy rate also have more so-called side effects or have symptoms because it works so well. ‘
Does one vaccine report more side effects than the other?
According to Pfizer, approximately 3.8% of their participants in clinical trials experienced fatigue as a side effect and 2% experienced headaches.
Moderna says 9.7% of their participants felt tired and 4.5% had headaches.
Like the COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, the main side effects of the J&J shot are injection site pain and flu-like fever, fatigue and headaches.
But the Chicago Department of Public Health, dr. Allison Arwady, said participants in the Johnson & Johnson trial reported fewer side effects.
“One thing I have recommended is that if there are people who are very, very worried about side effects, the Johnson & Johnson in the trials had a little less side effects,” she said. “And that is, you know, the single dose, you know there can be one thing.”
In addition, people with the two-stroke vaccines are more likely to report side effects after their second dose, Arwady said, reflecting reports from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
According to the CDC, side effects after your second survey may be “more intense than those you experienced after your first survey.”
“These side effects are normal signs that your body is building up protection and should disappear within a few days,” says the CDC.
In trials of both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, more people experienced side effects after the second dose.
But that does not mean you should not get the second chance when you get to your first side effects, experts say.
“When people receive the second dose, they receive the second enhancer to achieve maximum efficacy,” said Dr. Edward Cachay, a specialist in infectious diseases at UCSD, said.
The CDC also noted that both shots were needed.
“The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and Modern COVID-19 vaccine both need 2 shots to get the most protection,” says the CDC. “You should get the second shot, even if you have side effects after the first shot, unless a vaccination provider or your doctor tells you not to get it.”
There are also factors that make you more likely to experience side effects.
Chicago’s top doctor said Thursday that younger people are more likely to experience side effects “because younger people have a more robust immune system.”
According to Loafman, the body’s immune system creates the symptoms.
“It’s just a reflection of the immune response, just like we have when we get sick,” he said.
Arwady also noted that women are more likely to report side effects than men.
“Some of this is because women may just be better reporters … but there’s probably something real about it too, because something else that’s interesting to those who may not know as much about immunity is that autoimmune diseases? Many, many more probably in women, too, ‘Arwady said. “And even the, like, more serious like the allergic reactions, the more serious allergic reactions? More likely in women. ”
Why is this?
Arwady said that estrogen can increase immune responses, while testosterone can decrease it. At the same time, she noted that ‘many of your immunomodulatory genes’ can live on an ‘x’ chromosome, of which women have two, while men have one.
“So there are all these reasons that immunity in general goes a little differently in women than in men,” she said. “And so we see women, a little more likely to report some side effects.”
Data from the CDC also reported that women experience more side effects than men, according to monitoring from the first month of vaccinations.
From December 14 to January 13, more than 79 percent of the side effects were reported by women, the data showed. Meanwhile, women received about 61.2 percent of the doses administered during the same time period.
Side effects can also vary depending on whether you have had coronavirus or not.
“We’re more likely to see people report some side effects because it works a bit like an increased dose for your immune system,” Arwady said. “Your immune system has learned all of the lessons on how to protect itself, not in such a long way so protective.”
“It’s probably also the booster effect,” Arwady said.
Loafman agrees.
“If you had COVID a while ago or already have some immunity, it’s more like an enhancer,” he said. “And boosters for some people are completely asymptomatic, boosters for other people cause their immune response to it, so they have inflammation with it.”
But it is not negative to get side effects, say health experts.
“If you do not get side effects, it does not mean that you are not protected,” Arwady said. “I really want to be clear about that.”
According to Loafman, this simply means’ your body has not reacted with so much inflammatory response.
“You’re still making antibodies,” he said.
According to Loafman, each person’s response is unique.
“It’s really just a reflection of how unique each of our systems is, what other immunities we have,” he said. ‘You know, a lot of the antibodies cross-react and we have cross-reactivity, so it’s really a mosaic. Each of our immune systems is a mosaic composition of everything we’ve been through and everything we’ve had and everything we’ve had recently. Our individual response varies. Everyone gets the right immune response. ‘
What are the possible side effects?
The CDC reports that the most common side effects on all three authorized vaccines are at the injection site. These include:
Common side effects in the body include:
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Muscle aches
- Cold Fever
- Fever
- Nausea
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises people to keep 15 minutes after vaccination, and those with a history of other allergies for 30 minutes so that they can be monitored and treated immediately if they respond.
What can you do if you experience side effects?
The CDC recommends that people talk to their doctors about over-the-counter medications, such as ibuprofen, paracetamol, aspirin or antihistamines, for any pain and discomfort after being vaccinated.
“You can use this medicine to relieve side effects after vaccination if you have no other medical reasons that prevent you from taking this medicine normally,” says the CDC. “It is not recommended that you use this medicine before vaccination to try to prevent the side effects.”
The CDC recommends that you seek medical help if you experience the following:
- If the redness or softness worsens after 24 hours
- If your side effects worry you, it does not seem to go away after a few days
- If you receive a COVID-19 vaccine and you think you may have a severe allergic reaction after leaving the vaccination site, call your healthcare provider immediately by calling 911.