With millions of people receiving the COVID vaccine daily, we continue to learn more about the potential side effects of the injection. It turns out that the experience is very different between different people, and health experts are trying to find out why. A recent study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that a certain group of people are having stronger reactions to the vaccine than others. Read on to see if you fit in half of the people who have a more noticeable reaction to the coronavirus vaccine and, for more guidance on vaccines from the CDC, the CDC has just given this new warning about its second COVID injection.
A February 19 study by the CDC found that women tend to have stronger side effects from the COVID vaccine than men. According to the study, 79 percent of reported side effects came from women. Only 61 percent of vaccines were given to women, which means that women are experiencing disproportionately the side effects of the injection.
The most common side effects reported by women were headache (22 percent), fatigue (17 percent) and dizziness (17 percent). The average age of women who reported adverse effects after the injection was 42 years. And for more information about the vaccine’s safety, don’t do it two hours before or after the vaccine, doctors warn.
According to Healthline, experts suspect that women’s estrogen levels are the reason they are experiencing stronger side effects of the vaccine. Estrogen helps to activate the immune response to disease and therefore also to vaccines. On the other hand, men tend to have higher levels of testosterone, which could have the opposite effect, actually dampening or slowing the immune response. “In women, there is an exuberant and stronger response [to many vaccines], ” Larry Schlesinger, MD president and chief executive officer of the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, said Healthline. “In fact, there is a lot of science behind this.”
Essentially, estrogen stimulates the body to produce more T cells, which in turn causes a stronger response, explained Schlesinger. He noted that stronger responses to the vaccine in women have been studied in several vaccines, including yellow fever flu and DTP vaccines.
“I’m not at all surprised”, Sabra Klein, PhD, microbiologist and immunologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said The New York Times. “This gender difference is completely consistent with previous reports of other vaccines.” And for more information on vaccine reactions, if you are over 65, the CDC states that you should expect this after your COVID vaccine.
A February 12 study published by Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that almost all of the rare anaphylactic reactions to the vaccine occurred in women. To date, all 19 anaphylactic reactions to Moderna have been in women, and women accounted for 44 of the 47 people who had these reactions to the Pfizer vaccine.
However, this is also nothing new. A study published by Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in 2019, they found that between 1990 and 2016, women were responsible for 80% of anaphylactic reactions in adults to vaccines. And for the most up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter.
Doctors and scientists are not concerned with the results of these studies because they are consistent with previous vaccines. According to Healthline, experts think that women should not hesitate to get the COVID vaccine, since the potential risk of the disease is much more significant than the risk of the side effects of the vaccine. However, women must be prepared for these side effects, so that they are not caught off guard.
“I think it is important to prepare women so that they can experience more adverse reactions,” said Klein The New York Times. “This is normal and probably reflects the functioning of the immune system.” And for more vaccine advice, Dr. Fauci Just Said Do not take this medicine with the COVID vaccine.