Side Effects of COVID-19 Vaccine: Should We Worry?

To achieve herd immunity, 70% of the population needs to be vaccinated. Malaysia has managed to procure COVID-19 vaccines for 82.8% of the population (26.5 million Malaysians) with an allocation of RM2.05 billion. Brands that will be obtained are: 

 

·       20% from Pfizer-BioNTech;

·       10% from Oxford-AstraZeneca; 

·       10% from the WHO Covax facility;

·       21.9% from Sinovac;

·       10.9% from CanSinoBIO; 

·       10% from Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.

Based on the prices for the EU and the US, the Pfizer vaccine would cost the government between US$188.93 million to US$249.60 million, and the AstraZeneca vaccine between US$14.02 million and US$25.60 million. Based on the ceiling price, the COVAX vaccine would cost a maximum of US$67.52 million. The cost then to vaccinate 40% of the population would be between US$270.47 and US$342.72 million (Dr.Milton Lum, CodeBlue).

REUTERS

Many are now concerned about the side effects of getting the COVID-19 vaccine, especially after 29 deaths were reported in Norway recently. They were among some 40,000 people injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in mid-January. Those who died were all in the "75 years+" and included terminally ill patients anticipated to have only weeks or months to live.

All vaccines have possible side effects with mild to moderate severity. Typical vaccine side effects include local pain, swelling, redness and sometimes bruising at the injection site, as well as fever and tiredness. Some people may experience chills, fatigue or minor headaches after vaccine inoculation.

Why do vaccines cause side effects?

Side effects like fever, chills and fatigue after a vaccination indicate that your immune system is responding to the vaccine, Dr Thomas Duszynski, director of epidemiology education at Indiana University says. "Even if you don't experience these (side effects), it does not mean that your immune system isn't working; it is just working a little more quietly," he says.

Bruising, swelling and sensitivity at the injection site are common response similarly after a needle punctures our skin for any other purpose. These side effects can occur after any vaccination, as well as when people get blood drawn or receive steroid shots or vitamin injections.

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lists a couple of additional side effects for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine specifically, including muscle pain, joint pain, nausea and swollen lymph nodes (PDF). The FDA notes that most people experience these side effects after the second dose of the vaccine.

Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

In the clinical trial results published in The Lancet, mild to moderate side effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine were similar to mild side effects from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine

Sinovac too has no major side-effects seen during its trials. The common adverse effects were fever, mild pain and slight fatigue.

It is important that when we read news of adverse reactions caused by COVID-19 vaccines, we should read not just the headline, but the details.  We should learn to differentiate those people who are medically suited to take the vaccines or not. Media may report one case of anaphylaxis, but we should look at the remaining thousand people that got vaccinated without anaphylaxis too. In the end, it is the comfort level one has from the brand or the independent research findings.

 

Reference:

1.     Joycelyn Tan, The COVID-19 Vaccine Is Free & Voluntary For M’sians, Plus 6 Other Facts To Know About It, https://vulcanpost.com/

2.     Amanda Capritto, COVID-19 vaccine side effects: What we know so far www.cnet.com/

3.     COVID-19 vaccine allergies, deaths: What we know, 18 Jan 2021, Bloomberg

4.     Worried about anaphylactic reactions and side effects? Experts answer FAQs on COVID-19 vaccination, 7 Jan 2021, CNA