Side effects are possible after receiving the Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, or Moderna COVID vaccines currently being administered in the US, but how do the possible symptoms differ between the three vaccines?
Experiencing side effects isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it is a sign that your body is responding.
“The good news for us is that a quick response equates to an effective response,” said Dr. Mark Loafman, president of family and community medicine for Cook County Health in Illinois, NBC 5. “It tells us the vaccine works. Our bodies form a robust immune response and we think that’s a positive thing. So we tend to see that vaccines with higher efficacy also have more of the so-called side effects or symptoms because they work so well. “
Does one vaccine have more side effects than the other?
According to Pfizer, about 3.8% of the participants in the clinical trial experienced fatigue as a side effect and 2% experienced headaches.
Moderna says 9.7% of their participants felt fatigued and 4.5% developed headaches.
Like the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, the main side effects of the J&J injection are injection site pain and flu-like fever, fatigue, and headache.
But Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said participants in the Johnson & Johnson trial reported fewer side effects.
“One thing I recommended is that if there are people who are very, very concerned about side effects, you know, the Johnson & Johnson in the studies had slightly less side effects,” she said. “And that’s, you know, that single dose, you know, there could be one thing there.”
In addition, with the two-shot vaccines, 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, the side effects after your second admission “may be more intense than the side effects you experienced after your first admission.”
“These side effects are normal signs that your body is building up protection and should go away in a few days,” the CDC said.
In studies with both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, more people experienced side effects after the second dose.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get your second injection if you get side effects after your first, experts say.
“When people get that second dose, they get the second booster to try to achieve maximum efficacy,” says Dr. Edward Cachay, infectious disease specialist at UCSD.
The CDC also noted that both recordings are needed.
“The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine both require 2 injections to get the most protection,” the CDC said. “You should get the second injection, even if you have side effects after the first injection, unless a vaccination provider or your doctor tells you not to get it.”
There are also some factors that make you more likely to have side effects.
Chicago’s top doctor said on Thursday that younger people are more likely to have side effects “because younger people generally have more robust immune systems.”
And, according to Loafman, the body’s immune system takes care of the symptoms.
“That’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.
“Part of this is because women may just be better reporters … but there’s probably also something real going on, because autoimmune diseases are something else interesting to those who might not know that much about immunity? Too,” Arwady said. And even the more serious ones, like the allergic reactions, the more severe allergic reactions? More likely in women. ”
Why is that?
Arwady said estrogen can increase the immune response, while testosterone can decrease it. At the same time, she noted that “many of your immune modulating genes” can live on an “x” chromosome, of which women have two, while men have one.
“So there are all these reasons why the type of immunity rises a little differently in women in general than in men,” she said. “And so we see women who are a little bit more likely to report some of the side effects.”
Data from the CDC also reported that women were more likely to have side effects than men, according to monitoring from the first month of vaccinations.
From Dec. 14 to Jan. 13, more than 79 percent of side effects were reported by women, the data showed. Meanwhile, women received about 61.2 percent of the doses administered over the same time.
Side effects can also vary depending on whether or not you’ve had coronavirus.
“We’ve seen more likely that people will report some side effects because that acts a bit like a booster dose for your immune system,” Arwady said. “Your immune system has already learned some of those lessons to protect itself, not as long as not as protective.”
“That’s probably that booster effect, too,” Arwady said.
Loafman agrees.
“If you’ve had COVID a while ago or you already have some immunity, it’s more of a booster,” he said. “And boosters for some people are completely asymptomatic, boosters for other people trigger their immune response against it, so they get some inflammation with it.”
But not getting side effects isn’t negative, health experts say.
“If you don’t get side effects, it doesn’t mean you’re not protected,” Arwady said. “I want to be very clear about that.”
According to Loafman, it simply means “your body didn’t react that strongly to an 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 are cross-reacting and we have cross-reactivity, so it’s really a mosaic. Each of our immune systems is a mosaic composite of everything we’ve been through and everything we’ve had and everything we’ve been through 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 for all three approved vaccines are at the injection site. They contain:
Common side effects in the body are:
- Fatigue
- Headache
- muscle strain
- Chills
- 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 a reaction.
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 for post-vaccination pain and discomfort.
“You can use these drugs to relieve side effects after vaccination if you have no other medical reasons that prevent you from taking these drugs normally,” the CDC said. “It is not recommended to take these drugs before vaccination to avoid side effects.”
The CDC recommends that you seek medical attention if you experience any of the following symptoms:
- If the redness or tenderness where you received the injection gets worse after 24 hours
- If your side effects are worrying or don’t seem to go away after a few days
- If you are receiving a COVID-19 vaccine and you think you are having a severe allergic reaction after leaving the vaccination site, seek immediate medical attention by calling 911.