United States: App launched to report side effects experienced after receiving COVID-19 vaccine

V-safe is the name of a smartphone tool that allows people who have received their COVID 19 vaccine share your experience with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). If the laboratories that developed the vaccines (the three authorized in the United States are Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson) have tested their product on thousands of people, nothing compares to the reaction in millions of people when the vaccine is already on the market to understand what is going on with this drug.

Anyone who has received the vaccine in the United States in the past six weeks can register. You’ll need to take a quiz, receive text messages for days on end to keep track of your symptoms – if you have any – and even get a call from the CDC if there’s something about you that catches your eye. The tool will also remind the patient when a second dose of the vaccine is due.

As of last Monday, the app has been available in English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese. It should be translated into even more languages ​​in the coming days. It should be noted that although the language of use in the United States is English, unlike in other countries, this country does not have an official language established in its constitution. This is why it is common to see the medical tools developed by the State available in several languages.

CDC calls on the public to get involved since the larger the sample to be analyzed, the more effective the results will be. But on his website, he clarifies the limitations of this app.

“Thanks to V-Safe, you cannot make an appointment for the vaccine, not even a second appointment (…) If you need to cancel or change the date of a vaccination appointment, contact the location who gave you the appointment in the first place, or with a local authority, ”the statement said to avoid misunderstandings.

From what we know so far, The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines (which are very similar) have the most common side effects: headache, fatigue, dizziness, arm pain at the puncture site, muscle pain, fever, joint pain and nausea. In the case of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, reported side effects are similar but less frequent than with other vaccines. In all cases, no side effects were reported for more than 48 hours. Another curiosity reported so far, which could change with a larger sample, is that young women tend to have more side effects from vaccination.

So far, according to the CDC, 22 percent of the general population have received at least one dose of the vaccine and over 39 million people have already been fully immunized, equivalent to 12 percent of the general population.

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