Medical experts warn that anyone wishing to receive the COVID-19 vaccination should avoid drinking alcohol at the time of injection, as alcohol can reduce the body’s immune response to the vaccine.
What are the details?
According to a Monday Mail report from the Daily Mail, emergency medicine specialist Dr. Ronx Ikhaira, who conducted a recent experiment, determined that after three glasses of an alcoholic drink, the lymphocyte cells in the researchers’ bodies decreased by up to 50%.
“Alcohol changes the composition of the trillions of microorganisms that live in the intestine that play an important role in preventing the invasion of bacteria and viruses,” reported the output, noting that “it leads to damage to immune cells in the blood, known as blood cells. whites, including lymphocytes, that send antibodies to attack viruses. “
Professor Sheena Cruickshank, an immunologist at the University of Manchester, said the reduction in lymphocytes “may decrease the effectiveness of the body’s immune response,” the Daily Mail said.
Because of the drop in lymphocytes, Cruickshank advised people who plan to receive immunization to avoid alcohol in the immediate period before – and after – the injection.
“You need to have your immune system working perfectly to have a good response to the vaccine, so if you are drinking the night before or right after that, it will not help,” said Cruickshank.
The agency added: “Lymphocytes are of ‘fundamental importance’ in the immune system because they determine the immune response to infectious microorganisms and other foreign substances, such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a team of scientists in Wuhan, China. ”
What else?
In December, Russian scientists urged citizens in search of a COVID-19 vaccine to avoid alcohol for at least two months.
Russia started launching its own two-dose coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V – which the country claims to be at least 95% effective – in December, and delivered the injection with a warning to citizens who like to drink: No alcohol for two months during the immunization process.
Citizens were also urged not to take any immunosuppressive drugs during treatment.
Anna Popova, head of the national consumer safety surveillance organization, said that those receiving the vaccine should avoid alcohol for at least two weeks before the first injection and for another 42 days after the second injection, which is given 21 days after the first shot.
“It’s pressure on the body,” said Popova. “If we want to stay healthy and have a strong immune response, don’t drink alcohol.”