Side Effects of Covid-19 Vaccine
Is anyone ready to sign up for getting fatigue, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever, joint pain, or pain in the muscles of your arm? Want to know why it’s a good idea to do just that?
Both the websites of AARP and Cleveland Clinic have easy-toread descriptions of the side effects of the Covid-19 vaccine, which are now being given to high-priority groups in Barnes County and will within a few months be available to everyone.
We have all been aware since we could read that we have an immune system which protects us from the harmful effect of thousands of “germs”, or microscopic living organisms in our environment, or viruses which are even smaller, not even enough to be considered living. We know that once you’ve had the measles virus you don’t get it again, and once you’ve had the measles vaccine you don’t get it all, so we require everyone to get the measles vaccine.
Most people were not aware until 40 years ago, however, about how much we depend on our immune system, and how it’s working for us every minute of every day. Forty years ago was the discovery of HIV-AIDS, and it was discovered when people started dying from organisms that are around us every day, that we otherwise don’t even need to think about. It was soon discovered that HIV was a virus that caused its damage by first destroying the immune system.
Most of the time that our immune system is at work we’re not aware of it, but when it has to fight a particularly severe disease such as influenza, which is more severe than the other 200 respiratory viruses we can encounter during the year, we become aware of it.
It’s impossible to tell when what we’re feeling is from the virus itself and when it’s from our immune system’s reaction to the battle. Our body releases chemicals called cytokines, especially interferon which help our cells defend themselves, but in the meantime, can really make our muscles ache.
These mild side effects should indeed be mild and shouldn’t last more than a day or two. If someone has symptoms worse than that or lasts longer than that, it is important to be checked to see if it might actually be from the Covid-19 disease itself. It is impossible for the vaccine to cause the infection, because it does not introduce the entire virus into our body, just a piece of the “spike protein”, which we can all now recognize, and when our immune system recognizes it comes in to destroy the entire invading virus.
However, it is possible, since Covid-19 is so common now, that someone might be in the process of coming down with the actual infection when they get the shot, and that their symptoms are a sign of the infection. This must be checked out by a health care professional or a Covid-19 test.
We are gaining experience every day with the vaccines. It appears that a severe reaction (not death, just a severe allergic reaction) occurs in just a little over 1 in every 100,000 people who get the vaccine. Compare that with the nearly 1 in 100 risk of actually dying if you contract the infection, and the odds are clear. Really, really clear.
For more information on COVID-19 go to www.health.nd.gov and click on coronavirus (more information) or call their hotline at 1-866-207-2880 or contact City County Health District about any concerns or needs that you may have (845-8518). If you or your family would need a cloth mask, they can be obtained at City County Health District.