The side effects of COVID-19 vaccines and messages from volunteers

No one vaccine can be side-effect free. Most vaccines deliver 'reactogenic' side-effects, which are usual in nature.

Moderna is not only the first Pharma company who will be rolling out a vaccine on such a large scale, but their vaccine reportedly also carries a whopping 94.5% efficacy rate, leaving fellow competitors like Oxford-Astrazeneca, Pfizer, Sputnik V behind.

While there is no vaccine which does not deliver side-effects, it's important to be aware of them, nonetheless. According to reports, Pfizer, which comes backed with a 90% safety rate induced 'hangover' like symptoms in patients post inoculation. Similar ones were also observed in volunteers part of the Oxford study and the ones who have been injected with the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V.

One side-effect which can be expected post vaccination can be a low-grade fever. However, it's not an alarming sign. Fever happens when the biochemical compounds activate the immune cells, which then makes certain inflammatory markers to rise up. This leads to a rise in fever, redness or swelling at times. Most of these go away on its own after 2-3 days post inoculation and do not require any special treatment.

A fever can also be an indicator of your body starting to produce antibodies.

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Nurse researcher Kristen Choi, PhD, RN, experienced first-hand a "worst-case scenario" of potential side effects after receiving an experimental COVID-19 vaccine in a phase 3 trial. She says clinicians should be prepared to reassure patients if reports of similar experiences spread when vaccine rollouts begin.

"This was the highest fever I can ever remember having, and it scared me," said Choi, with the School of Nursing at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Choi volunteered to participate in Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine trial in August. When she came back for the second dose in September she began to experience distressing symptoms.

The symptoms, started with immediate pain at the injection site. By nightfall, she felt "felt light-headed, chilled, nauseous, and had a splitting headache" and went to bed.

She woke up at midnight and the symptoms had intensified and she could hardly move her arm from injection-site pain. Choi slept fitfully and when she woke up at 5:30 AM her thermometer read 104.9 °F (40.5 °C).

By the next morning all symptoms had disappeared except for a sore bump at the injection site.

She said that her reason for writing the article was to let anyone who will be administering a COVID-19 vaccine know that when a rollout begins some patients may experience the same side effects. Disclosure forms are not enough to make sure people understand that what they may experience is normal, she said.

After all, even Choi, who administers vaccines and whose career centers on research, began to fear something was wrong when symptoms flared even though she was thoroughly briefed on potential side effects. She says rational thought for her went out the window when her fever spiked.

Two vaccine experts said that Choi's symptoms were the extreme case and the vast majority of people will not experience her level of discomfort.

But they both agree Choi's message is an important reminder that healthcare professionals need to be prepared to answer questions when the rollouts begin.

Her story may also point out the need for creating a hotline for 24/7 access so that if patients do experience severe symptoms they can get answers right away, they said.

In some ways, these mild to moderate reactions are “a good thing,” because “it's a sign that the immune system is responding to the vaccine.” Nevertheless, they shouldn't be downplayed.

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The side effects of COVID-19 vaccines and messages from volunteers