Your After Vaccine Toolkit
July 9, 2021
By: Jody Moss
Email: jody.moss@dshs.wa.gov
COVID19 Vaccines are here for those of us in the 65 plus range. Praise Science! Praise Operation Warp Speed! Praise the research done years ago on SARS 2 Vaccines!
So here is my take on all the vaccine events I have seen, learned about and the one I attended. (And for my work I have explored all 4 counties’ vaccine efforts). We feel cranky and frustrated if we have tried one or more times and failed to access the scheduling system or gotten in line for a vaccine and missed out. I get it. I felt that way. And we are amazed to see how well the vaccine systems are working once we get in for an appointment. Huge kudos to organizers and volunteers.
So my advice is don’t get mad, get patient. And keep trying. We will get there.
Sometimes with vaccines there is the possibility of side effects – mind you not enough of a reason to deter you from getting a vaccine that will prevent a life threatening disease during a pandemic.
So what wouldn’t you do to get out of this Ground Hog Day like life we now lead! Would you put up with side effects?
Wikipedia defines side effects in medicine as “an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequences of the use of a drug. Developing drugs is a complicated process, because no two people are exactly the same, so even drugs that have virtually no side effects, might be difficult for some people.”
According to an online article from AARP, side effects from vaccines are not uncommon. We get sore arms and a little achy from the flu vaccine, and the shingles vaccine may come with shivering, muscle pain and an upset stomach.
But if you have ever had influenza (and not just a bad cold) or shingles – a short course of sore arms, achiness, shivering, muscle pain and an upset stomach is nothing compared to how sick you get with the flu and how much pain you may feel with shingles.
In some ways, these mild to moderate side effects are “a good thing,” William Moss, M.D., executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says, because “it’s a sign that the immune system is responding to the vaccine.” Nevertheless, they shouldn’t be downplayed. For some people, a sore arm “is a big deal,” Wilbur Chen, M.D., a professor of medicine and chief of adult clinical studies at the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health at the University of Maryland, points out. Reactions from the coronavirus vaccine may even cause recipients to miss a day or two of work. Dr. Chen says these reactions are “temporary,” and they “self-resolve” within a few days.
The key, experts say, is to weigh the temporary discomfort against the long-term benefits: a potentially high level of protection from a disease that has uprooted everyday life for many of us and has killed more than 2 million people globally.
I would definitely rather be achy than dead.
“We are willing to tolerate discomfort in other aspects of our life — many people exercise and have muscle aches afterward, and don’t say, ‘I’m never going to exercise again,’” Moss points out. “There are just many aspects of our lives where we need to be willing to make the trade-off for some degree of discomfort for a longer-term gain.”
Older adults could experience fewer side effects
An interesting finding from the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna clinical trials is that while the vaccines seem to be just as effective in older adult participants, people 65 and older experienced fewer side effects than younger volunteers.
Researchers are still studying why this is the case, but it could have something to do with the declining immune response that comes with age. Because the coronavirus vaccine can provoke “a little bit of an inflammatory response,” Chen says, it may be that older adults react less to the medicine if they have “a blunted immune response already.”
An online Healthline article reports that side effects show that the vaccine is teaching your immune system how to recognize and attack SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, if it encounters it.
Although some of the vaccine side effects are similar to the symptoms of COVID-19, the coronavirus vaccines won’t give you COVID-19 and will not make you contagious.
Some people may wish to take an over the counter (OTC) pain reliever like ibuprofen or acetaminophen to address the vaccine side effects.
The Healthline article goes on to say that some wonder if use of OTC pain relievers may impact the efficacy of the vaccine – make it less effective in doing its immunity building work. There have been no specific studies of the impact of COVID19 vaccine, but Cennimo said some earlier research suggests that some drugs may affect the immune response to vaccines.
Parents have been known to give their child a pain reliever before their vaccine injection to head off the discomfort, and there is data in the vaccine literature, long predating COVID-19 that premedication with fever-reducing drugs may decrease the antibody response to the first dose of vaccine.
Cennimo said it’s not known how these medications interfere with vaccines, but the drugs may dampen the inflammatory response — which shows up as fever and aches.
With less inflammation, he said, there may also be a lower immune response to the vaccine.
More recently, a study published this month in the Journal of Virology found that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) — which include ibuprofen — reduced the production of antibodies and other aspects of the immune response to SARS-CoV-2.
Antibodies are proteins made by the immune system to fight viruses like SARS-CoV-2. The COVID-19 vaccines stimulate the body to produce antibodies that specifically target the coronavirus without causing disease.
The authors of this study said that this raises the possibility that NSAIDs might also affect the immune response to coronavirus vaccination. But additional studies would be needed to know for certain.
Some earlier research in the laboratory suggests that fever-reducing pain medications may blunt the antibody response to vaccination, but it’s not clear what this means in the real world.
More research is needed, of course. But COVID-19 vaccine studies that have already been done suggest that taking a pain reliever after injection, if needed, may not cause that much of a problem.
The protocols for the late-stage clinical trials of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna-NIAID coronavirus vaccines didn’t prevent people from taking pain-relieving medications if they felt they needed it.
Even with that, those studies still showed that both vaccines have a high efficacy rate: 95% for Pfizer-BioNTech and 94.1% for Moderna-NIAID.
In spite of the need for more data, Cennimo doesn’t think there’s a problem with taking ibuprofen or acetaminophen after your coronavirus vaccine injection, as long as you don’t exceed the recommended amount.
He had his second dose of the coronavirus vaccine last week and took ibuprofen afterwards for a low-grade fever and some aches.
So here is the plan for your post vaccine tool kit:
According to the Center for Disease Control the most common side effects are:
- Pain in your arm
- Swelling at the site of the injection
- Fever
- Chills
- Tiredness
- Headache
To reduce pain and discomfort where you got the shot:
- Apply a clean, cool, wet washcloth over the area.
- Use or exercise your arm.
To reduce discomfort from fever:
- Drink plenty of fluids.
- Dress lightly.
When to call the doctor: In most cases, discomfort from fever or pain is normal. Contact your doctor or healthcare provider:
- If the redness or tenderness where you got the shot increases after 24 hours
- If your side effects do not seem to be going away after a few days and are causing you to worry more than usual.
And maybe you want to check with your medical provider on their opinion before taking over the counter pain medications.
Or you can just power through those few bad days that a few of us will experience.
Go to bed and sleep if you can. Read a good book. And dream about herd immunity.
Researchers are already seeing a 35% reduction in infections according to a New York Times article this week. When you count the numbers who have had even their first vaccine, the numbers with #2 on board, those who gained a degree of immunity from having gotten and recovered from COVID19, and additional numbers of people willing to wear masks now that the end seems near – well this all points to good news.
You have probably already heard this last part – keep wearing your masks – in fact it is better to wear two of them if you can. Stay away from people and keep 6 feet between you when you need to be around people for more than 15 minutes. Wash your hands and use hand sanitizer when you can’t.
Stay well my friends. It is only a matter of time.
AARP article link: https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2020/coronavirus-vaccine-side-effects.html.
Healthline Article Link: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/should-you-take-pain-relievers-after-covid-19-vaccine
Jody Moss is the Director of Contracts Management & Planning for the Olympic Area Agency on Aging and can be reached at 360-379-5064. For help with senior or adults with disability questions call Information and Assistance at 360-452-3221 in Clallam and 360-385-2552 in Jefferson.