{"id":238624,"date":"2021-04-29T20:11:24","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T17:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/covid-vaccine-side-effects-why-some-people-experience-them-and-others-dont\/"},"modified":"2021-04-29T20:11:24","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T17:11:24","slug":"covid-vaccine-side-effects-why-some-people-experience-them-and-others-dont","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/covid-vaccine-side-effects-why-some-people-experience-them-and-others-dont\/","title":{"rendered":"#COVID vaccine side effects: Why some people experience them and others don’t"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#COVID vaccine side effects: Why some people experience them and others don’t<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n Vaxx Populi: Some research has found more side effects after one dose of AstraZeneca than of Pfizer. But there\u2019s no evidence that a stronger reaction means stronger immunity.\n <\/div>\n
\n On April 23, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie, got their AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine shots at a pharmacy in Ottawa. Four days later, the PM reported, \u201c<\/span>We\u2019re feeling great.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But some people are feeling downright rotten after getting a shot. My<\/span> colleague Shannon Proudfoot <\/span>spoke for many when she noted<\/span><\/a>, \u201cJust to offer encouragement to anyone else experiencing the AstraZeneca hangover, I felt like absolute garbage\u2014fever, chills, headache, muscle aches\u2014until about 27 hours after my shot, then things improved rapidly. So it\u2019s brutal but brief, courage!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Health Canada<\/span><\/a>, common vaccine reactions fall into two main categories: local side effects, such as redness, pain and swelling at the injection site; and systemic side effects, such as headache, chills, fatigue, nausea, fever and muscle aches. They usually last anywhere from a few hours to a few days after getting vaccinated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0What new COVID vaccine modelling says about when Canada might lift restrictions<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI try to reassure people that these are expected reactions,\u201d <\/span>Dr. Karina Top<\/span>, an infectious diseases physician and vaccine expert at the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology in Halifax<\/span>Top says. \u201cIt\u2019s a sign that the immune system is getting revved up, responding to the vaccine and triggering a response so that they will be immune to the virus that causes COVID when and if they are exposed in the future.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the largest vaccination program we\u2019ve ever run in Canada, and by far the largest adult vaccination program,\u201d Top says. \u201cMany, many people are probably getting vaccinated who haven\u2019t had a vaccine at all in a long time\u2026and people are probably monitoring their own symptoms a lot more closely than they would be, say, if they were getting their annual flu vaccine.\u201d She also thinks that people who are having more severe reactions may be \u201cmore likely to talk about it than people who didn\u2019t have any reaction.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, she points out that temporary side effects from the COVID vaccines are more common than what experts see with the flu vaccine every year. \u201cIt\u2019s important for people to be prepared,\u201d Top says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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So many people were taking to social media<\/a> in recent days to talk about their own side effects, that Dr. Darren Markland, an ICU physician in Edmonton, conducted Twitter surveys of the <\/span>AstraZeneca<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Pfizer vaccines<\/span><\/a>. Those anecdotal results showed that while <\/span>less than seven per cent of participants experienced \u201cbad flu symptoms\u201d<\/span><\/a> after getting a Pfizer shot, up to 20 per cent of those <\/span>who got the AstraZeneca vaccine<\/span><\/a> experienced such symptoms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Clinical trials for the vaccines, as well as surveys of current mass vaccination efforts, do show a difference between side effects after getting AstraZeneca, which is a viral vector vaccine, versus the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines, says Top. In particular, there tend to be more side effects after the first dose of AstraZeneca while, with the mRNA vaccines, reactions are a bit worse after the second dose.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In an observational study published in <\/span>The Lancet <\/span><\/i>on April 27, researchers tracked self-reported side effects within eight days of vaccination for people in Britain using a special app<\/a>. For those who got Pfizer shots, 13.5 per cent reported at least one systematic side effect (the top symptom was fatigue, experienced by 8.4 per cent) after a first dose, while 71.9 percent reported a local side effect (57.2 per cent had tenderness at the injection site.) For those who had a second Pfizer dose, 22 per cent had systemic side effects (including 13.2 per cent reporting a headache), while 68.5 per cent had a local symptom (34.3 per cent had pain on the arm).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The number of people reporting systemic side effects after a first dose of the AstraZeneca was 33.7 per cent, including 22.8 per cent reporting<\/span> a headache, while 58.7 per cent had at least one local side effect (led by 49.3 per cent having tenderness at the injection site). There is no data in the<\/span> Lancet <\/span><\/i>study about second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine because Britain has adopted a \u201cfirst dose first\u201d strategy, like Canada\u2019s, and is currently<\/span> in the midst of giving out second doses, <\/span>as well as continuing with first shots to those still unvaccinated.<\/p>\n

Still, there is no way to be sure who will experience side effects and who won\u2019t. \u201cWe don\u2019t fully know why some people have more of a reaction than other people,\u201d Top acknowledges. \u201cWe do see that, in general<\/a> with vaccines, women tend to be more likely to have a reaction.\u00a0 And with the clinical trial for the COVID vaccines, people who were younger\u2014under 55 or 60\u2014had slightly higher rates of those types of reactions at the injection site and what we call systemic reactions, than people who were older.\u201d Top has<\/span> had two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and, aside from a mildly sore arm, didn\u2019t have any reaction to either shot. \u201cI was lucky,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

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For those who worry about what a lack of reaction after getting a shot may mean, Top has good news<\/a>: There\u2019s no scientific evidence that a stronger reaction means a stronger immune response to the virus. \u201c<\/span>The clinical trials showed nearly everybody after two doses had virtually 100 per cent protection against severe COVID, hospitalization and death from COVID, regardless of what vaccine you got and the side effects you had,\u201d she says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t worry if you didn\u2019t have any of those symptoms; I wouldn\u2019t be worried if you did.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As Canada rolls out the country\u2019s most complex vaccination project to date, <\/i>Maclean\u2019s presents <\/i>Vaxx Populi, an ongoing series<\/a> in which Patricia Treble tackles the most pressing questions related to the new COVID-19 vaccines. Send us a question you\u2019d like answered at vaccines@macleans.ca. If you have specific questions about your own health, we recommend consulting a family doctor or the local public health authority in your area.<\/i>
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