SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Research has shown that alcohol can affect the immune system, but there is a debate among health experts about whether alcohol consumption can affect COVID-19 vaccines.
There are no published studies on whether alcohol decreases the effectiveness or intensifies the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines. The FDA and CDC have not offered any formal guidance for people to avoid drinking before or after injections.
Studies on alcohol and the effectiveness of other vaccines offer mixed results. One study found that long-term heavy drinkers produced less antibodies to the pneumococcal vaccine. But how about just a few drinks before or after the injection?
Many American doctors have suggested that one or two drinks will not significantly affect the immune response. But four or five drinks? This is another story.
Four drinks in a single session is the definition of excessive alcohol consumption for women; five drinks is the limit for men. Only one episode of excessive alcohol consumption can cause short-term effects on the immune system, a 2015 study found.
The study found that the immune system starts to change in minutes, starting with increased inflammation. Within two hours, the authors detected a drop in the number of circulating monocytes, a type of white blood cell that plays a role in innate and adaptive immune responses. The adaptive immune response is that directed by vaccines.
“If [monocytes are] get knocked down by a lot of drinking, so yes, [the vaccine is] it won’t work as well, ”said Dr. Christian Ramers, of the San Diego Family Health Centers. “So I think it is theoretically plausible that alcohol could ultimately impair your ability to respond to the vaccine or any other infection.”
Note the “theoretically plausible”. Dr. Ramers is the first to point out that the evidence in this area is very tenuous. But the National Institutes of Health notes that “alcohol in the body at the time of exposure to a pathogen tends to impair the body’s immediate immune response to the pathogen.”
At some level, vaccination is a way of presenting a false pathogen to the body to stimulate an immune response.
“People have probably been there,” said Ramers. “After drinking a lot, they are more susceptible to infection. And it will not give you a robust and pleasant response to this vaccine. “
In the absence of firm evidence, health experts offered some conservative recommendations. A group in the United Kingdom recommends that people avoid alcohol two days before vaccination and up to two weeks afterwards to ensure the maximum immune response.
Dr. Mark Sawyer, a member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee, was skeptical about the need to abstain entirely from alcohol.
“I think it is plausible that an excessive drink in particular may have a temporary effect, but again, I don’t think it will be of a substantial nature,” he said.
Then there is the issue of side effects. Some viewers at ABC10 News said they drank celebratory drinks after the second dose and experienced intense side effects.
“Undoubtedly, these vaccines have a number of short-term side effects. Some people have headaches, some people have a light head, others hear ringing in their ears. Nausea. All the things that can coincide with the symptoms with alcohol, especially excess alcohol, ”said Dr. Sawyer.
However, he said that the overlap of symptoms is not the same as alcohol triggering some kind of reaction to the vaccine – there is no evidence of that. Second doses of the vaccine tend to produce stronger side effects, a sign that the body’s immune system is activated.
In short: there are no official restrictions on alcohol use and vaccines, but limiting alcohol can help ensure that your immune system is in top shape, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California at San Francisco.
“I think if you do that, do it in moderation,” he said.
This story was originally reported by Derek Staahl on 10News.com