The side effects of the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine may be more impactful than the first, confirmed local health leaders on Friday.
This only happens to about 20% of patients, they said, and it is not a reason to avoid vaccination, but it is important to know what to expect when you get the vaccine.
“We need to be honest and to the point,” said O’Dell Owens, a longtime physician who now heads the Cincinnati health advocacy group, Interact for Health. “The second dose is a little more difficult for you than the first for some people.”
The reported side effects of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, both given in two doses weeks apart, include pain, chills, fever and fatigue. A patient may experience any of these side effects on the first injection, but they appear to be stronger after the second.
Because? Here is the short version.
The COVID-19 vaccine is an mRNA vaccine that teaches recipient cells to make a harmless piece of the “peak protein” found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19. The vaccine cannot cause a recipient to develop COVID-19, but the presence of the foreign protein still triggers an immune system response.
The body produces antibodies that can fight the virus, and the patient is protected from disease without ever having to catch the new coronavirus.
The demanding internal process of strengthening the immune system and producing these antibodies is what causes most of the vaccine’s side effects, not the virus.
What is mRNA?
Good question – it’s been a few years since we were in high school biology too. mRNA is “messenger RNA”, a type of molecule that contains genetic instructions for building a specific type of protein. These instructions are “read” by other cells, which create the protein in question. The RNA part means “ribonucleic acid”, a basic building block of life. All living things need mRNA to survive.
READ MORE about mRNA vaccines through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum, from UC Health, compared the immune system to a boxer. Good fighters protect themselves more fiercely after being punched – so are bodies that receive more than one dose of the vaccine, even when a two-dose system is needed.
“The response is usually a little more powerful, more vigorous and faster,” he said. “That’s why, when people get the second vaccine, they often feel a little worse than when they got the first vaccine.”
Dr. Phillip Hartman, a doctor in St. Elizabeth who received his second dose on Wednesday, said he had not experienced any noticeable side effects.
The rate of patients who do this is around 20%, and in some cases, they may not feel well enough to work for a day or two. Hartman said this is expected.
“It is really a minimal inconvenience to where you are going, especially when you consider that I treat patients who have had COVID six months ago and are still not breathing properly,” he said.
Owens said he hopes that telling people what to expect will keep them calm and informed about the process, making them less vulnerable to fear tactics or conspiracy theories.
“I am so afraid that some people will say, ‘Oh, look what happened to me’, and you will not get those people back in time for the second attempt, and that is important,” he said.