As more and more Tri-Staters receive one of the two COVID-19 vaccines currently available, doctors are learning more about the side effects that can accompany double injection treatments. These side effects were strong enough that a small number of vaccinated health workers needed to stop work in the days following the vaccines.
But health officials anticipated that possibility and came up with a plan.
It is widely accepted that the first doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines result in some sensitivity around the injection site, but not much else. The second injection of the Moderna vaccine, however, developed a reputation for containing a large number of symptoms similar to those of COVID – mainly pain and suffering, fatigue, chills and fever – for a short time after receiving the injection, while the vaccine Pfizer appears to be smoother.
As the WCPO previously reported, local health officials estimate that 20% of those who received Moderna’s second vaccine reported more serious side effects with the second injection than the first.
When northern Kentucky nurse Taylor Poore received her second dose of Moderna on Monday, she said she could feel the expected increase in symptoms, but they only lasted about eight hours.
“I felt like I was having a low temperature, but nothing, you know, wasn’t breaking the earth to the point that I felt like I couldn’t work or, you know, anything like that. [I] I just felt tired and in pain in general. “
She said she felt back to normal the next morning.
But Dr. Meghan Markovich said that even a small minority of vaccinators having to stop work due to its side effects was enough for St. Elizabeth’s Hospitals – where she runs a family clinic and is helping to launch the vaccine – falter when employees would receive their shots.
“We offer different appointment dates for employees, so they are a little confused, knowing that this could potentially happen,” she told WCPO.
In his office, made up of 20 employees, Markovich said that an employee called saying he was ill due to the side effects of the vaccine.
“Fortunately, I think, the number of people who had to stay home without working was very low,” she said.
In southwest Ohio, while most vaccines administered were of the Pfizer variety – which appears to have milder side effects than Modern – there was still a small population of long-term health care workers who cried out for illness after their second dose. , according to Peter Van Runkle, executive director of the Ohio Health Care Association.
“We didn’t hear any feedback from members about really significant reactions,” Van Runkle told WCPO. “What we hear mainly, yes, some people have been canceled, or one or two generally, or none.”
Van Runkle said he saw some national recommendations for healthcare providers to schedule their team’s vaccinations, but his organization – which represents more than 1,000 assisted living centers, hospices and long-term care across the state – suggested centers to get their staff vaccinated as soon as possible.
“Especially for long-term care providers, it’s been the other way around, like trying to get people to do that instead of saying, ‘Wait a minute,'” he said.
Van Runkle worries that the hype about the possible side effects of vaccines may result in fewer people – including healthcare professionals – choosing to receive the vaccine as soon as it is available to them.
“Part of the concern among employees and the things that affect them for not participating has to do with side effects,” he said. “The story you shared about Moderna, which, if it spreads, will create more concerns on the part of people because they are already scared.”