COVID  VACCINATION – FEARS and OBJECTIONS

It is a common fear more than an actual complaint that people  suffer common side effects of COVID-19 vaccinations like fever, experience fatigue (tiredness) and headache, feel nauseous, in addition to pain or swelling in the arm where the shot was administered. But statistically, in trials, most people didn’t have side effects. A little over 50% didn’t experience any side effects as monitored by hospitals after the vaccination drive began all over the world. I am 74, and I didn’t have any side effects after the first or the second dose. The nurse who administered the vaccine injection asked everyone to rotate their arms after the shots. I too did it, and the next morning did some digging in the garden without feeling any discomfort.

There are people who feel that the side effects mean the vaccine is doing its job. When the vaccine enters the muscles, the cells start making a spike protein, which makes our body think our muscle cells are infected with the coronavirus, and it tries to fight off the simulated infection in the cells, causing some inflammation that people experience.

The cells that have replicated the COVID-19 spike protein (RNA) generate antibodies specific for SARS-CoV2 When our innate immune system locates an infection and attacks it. That’s what can cause sore arms, fevers or muscle aches. These symptoms reveal that your immune system has been activated! Data from each clinical trial show younger patients tend to have more systemic reactions than older patients do. That is because, as a person ages, the ability of his/her immune system to recognize and quickly create antibodies and aggressively attack the intruder (infection), starts to get weaker. But those who are vaccinated are protected whether or not they have developed side effects. That is, you don’t have to feel terrible to prove that you’re protected from COVID-19!

In Johnson & Johnson’s clinical trial, more than 60% of younger patients had systemic reactions compared to about 45% of patients over age 60. Pfizer and Moderna’s studies show similar numbers, but not as large of a difference. The number of reactions increases with the second shot. Data also shows more women having a reaction to the shot than men. Details regarding COVISHIELD and Covaxin are not available at the moment.

Fear and anxiety about the vaccines can also create a reaction by making our body release adrenaline. Some might confuse that feeling with vaccine response. Adrenaline rush may increase the heart rate, and lead to a feeling of the heart racing, and redirect blood toward the muscles and a change in temperature as a result of the blood redirection, sweating as a reaction to stress, and feeling lightheaded due to changes in blood and oxygen supply. No harm in any or all these, it may be noted!

WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER IS THAT THE REACTIONS ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO ACTUALLY GETTING SICK WITH COVID!