With more people receiving their COVID-19 vaccines, some might noticed that the vaccines cause very mild side effects. It is a normal sign that your body is building protection.
Dr Chieng Jin Yu, Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology of Pantai Hospital Ampang (PHA) here to answer some questions that might linger in our mind.
1# Why do the COVID-19 vaccines cause side effects?
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Like all medicines, vaccines may cause side effects in some people. Why do the vaccines sometimes cause these unpleasant effects, and should we concern about it? It might be counterintuitive, but side effects are a sign the vaccine is ‘working’.
Everybody is different. Therefore, the exact same vaccine can leave one person feeling sick and another person feeling perfectly fine.
Most side effects are mild and last no more than a couple of days and you will recover without any problems. In the clinical trials, side effects were reported in every 1/10 to 1/100 people. These include:
- pain or swelling or redness at the injection site
- feeling tired
- headache
- muscle pain
- joint pain
- fever
- chills
- nausea
- vomiting
Uncommon side effects were reported in every 1/100 to 1/1,000 people. These include:
- swollen lymph nodes (typically manifests as a lump in your armpit or above your collarbone)
- feeling unwell
- insomnia
- Bell’s palsy or temporary one-sided facial drooping
Serious allergic reactions are very rare (around two to five per million), and they usually show within half an hour after you’ve had your shot. That’s why people are typically monitored for at least 15 minutes after the shot. These include:
- Shortness of breath
- Severe anaphylaxis or angioedema
2# How is the first dose different than the second?
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Side effects can be a sign that our immune system able to detect and destroy the virus. It could be much common or stronger among youngers if compared with the elders.
And, in vaccines that require two shots, side effects could much common or worse after the second dose, because the T-cells remember the previous encounter with the spike protein.
Without hesitation, the recipient’s immune system quickly responds to destroy it. But this also means a better immune response after the second shot.
This could be the same in those who have previous COVID 19 infections.
3# Should I be concerned about long term side effects?
COVID19 vaccines clinical trials only started in middle of year 2020, it’s not yet clear if these vaccines will have long-term side effects. However, vaccines are reported rarely cause long-term side effects according to recent available data.
4# Should I still get vaccinated even though side effects are common?
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First at all, I would like to emphasize that the serious side effects are extreme rare. You are encouraged to go for vaccination. A COVID -19 vaccine can:
- Prevent you from getting COVID19 or from becoming seriously ill or dying due to COVID-19
- Prevent you from spreading the COVID-19 virus to your relatives or friends.
The risk of serious side effects of the vaccine itself especially blood clots is still much lower than the dangers of COVID-19 which can cause blood clots itself. And we know that COVID- 19 can lead to long term complications.
We can have muscle aches after exercise. Are you going to stop exercise?
We can have road traffic accidents if we are driving a car or taking a bus on a road. Are you going to stay at home, and not go to the road forever?
There are just many aspects of our lives where we need to be willing to make the trade-off of some degree of discomfort for a longer-term gain. The risks from the vaccine were much smaller than the risks of COVID-19 infection. Let us take our vaccine and be safe!
Source: This article is written by Dr Chieng Jin Yu, Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology of Pantai Hospital Ampang (PHA)
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