Side effects of COVID vaccine include high fever, body aches and bad headache, experts say

As the world draws closer to the availability of effective COVID-19 vaccines, public health experts warn people should be prepared for the possibility that they may experience serious, but ultimately harmless, side effects after receiving vaccines.

Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines, both given in two doses about a month apart, may soon be approved for public use after published data from clinical trials showed they may be effective until to 95% to provide immunity against the virus. Although neither vaccine appears to cause life-threatening side effects, experts warn those who receive the vaccines should be prepared for nasty but temporary reactions.

“We really need to educate patients that this won’t be a walk in the park,” said Dr. Sandra Fryhofer of the American Medical Association at a recent meeting of a panel of experts advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC) on vaccines, according to a report released Monday by CNBC.

“They will know they had a vaccine,” Fryhofer added. “They’re probably not going to feel good. But they have to come back for that second dose.”

In Moderna vaccine trials, the only common “severe” side effect observed after the first dose was pain at the injection site, occurring in 2.7% of patients. After the second dose, the most common severe side effect was fatigue, which was observed in 9.7% of participants. Muscle aches or pains were felt by 8.9 percent, while 5.2 had joint pain. 4.5% had headache and 4.1% injection site pain.

Luke Hutchison, a 43-year-old computer biologist who participated in the Moderna trials, said Science magazine that he endured an “unbearable” fever of 102 degrees after receiving an injection of what he assumed was the vaccine, although he could not be certain because participants did not know if they received a placebo instead.

“I started to shake. I was having cold and hot rushes… I was sitting by the phone all night thinking, ‘Should I call 911? “” Hutchison said of his symptoms, which went away after about 12 hours. “No one prepared me for the gravity of this.”

All vaccines come with a list of possible side effects, including rare but serious side effects. However, experts have long pointed out that with modern vaccines, it is not possible to contract the pathogen against which one is vaccinated by taking the vaccine itself, while the side effects that occur are almost always. short-lived and much less severe than the disease. it offers protection against even if they are nasty.

Detailed safety data from advanced-stage trials of Pfizer’s vaccine, developed in collaboration with German company BioNTech, have not yet been released, but the companies said the vaccine had “no serious safety concerns.” Initial data showed fatigue and headaches to be the most common side effects, both occurring in less than 4% of trial participants after the second dose.

Since both vaccines can cause serious but temporary side effects, perhaps more often than other common vaccines such as flu shots, some experts have urged doctors and public health officials to notify the public that effects such as a temporary but high fever are possible, while taking care to counter those who would use the harmless side effects to promote anti-vaccination conspiracy theories.

“Public health professionals will need to have a story that comes out before [stories like Hutchison’s]”That responds to the way people are going to try to make this story a story of vaccine injuries,” said Bernice Hausman, a vaccine controversy specialist at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. Science.

Newsweek contacted CDC for comment.