Since Sept. 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has legally had an updated COVID-19 vaccine in an effort to prevent a backlog of cases this fall and winter.
Moderna and Pfizer have new bivalent vaccines that target the original strain of the coronavirus and omicron subvariants (including the highly contagious BA. 4 and BA. 5), which have spread around the world in recent months.
At this point, everyone over the age of 12 is eligible for Pfizer’s updated booster, and those over the age of 18 are eligible for the upgraded modern booster.
As with the last booster and the original vaccines, some effects are to be expected (and prove that the booster works!).
Here’s what you want to know about the side effects of those new bivalent vaccines.
“The expected side effects are precisely what I would expect after previous vaccines,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine in the Department of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
These come with headaches, fatigue, and pain or redness at the injection site, Schaffner explained. The CDC also notes that fever is a common side effect after booster injections. Chills, muscle aches and joint pain have also been reported, according to Food and Drug Administration.
It’s vital not to forget that those aspect effects are a smart thing.
Yvonne Maldonado, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Stanford University, previously told HuffPost that “most vaccines will have some degree of minor side effects. This is the body’s immune and inflammatory reaction to the vaccine. “
This immune reaction can come in the form of redness at the injection site, headaches or fever, Maldonado said.
Swollen lymph nodes may also be expected, especially in the armpit of the arm where you were vaccinated, according to Medical News Today. Available for the first time, some other people reported that this problem interfered with their mammograms: swollen lymph nodes could be seen as a sign of breast cancer in this form of screening.
The 2021 official rules stated that you had to wait to schedule a mammogram after receiving a COVID vaccine, but now the updated rules state that “patients do not delay their screening mammograms because they were recently vaccinated,” according to a study published in The Journal of North America’s Radiological Society.
If you have a mammogram scheduled some time after your COVID booster, simply let your doctor know that you have recently been vaccinated so that he or she is aware of any possible imaging-related issues.
Schaffner noted that if you experience any of those unpleasant symptoms, you can take a painkiller like Tylenol to fight them. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatories help you feel better and allow you to continue with your daily activities, she noted.
He added that if your pain or discomfort gets worse enough, see your health care provider.
In addition, most serious reactions occur within 15 minutes of receiving the vaccine, so you will be asked to wait 15 or 30 minutes after your booster so that the doctor can monitor you.
If you suffer from fatigue, fever or headaches after you’ve been vaccinated, or if you’re just feeling worried about possible side effects, plan to get vaccinated when you don’t have much to do the next day, Schaffner says.
In other words, if you’re nervous about side effects, you shouldn’t get vaccinated the day before a big occasion in case you end up feeling bad.
The latest COVID subvariants are more contagious than ever and are only expected to be more transmissible as the virus continues to mutate.
Dr. Gregory Poland, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the Mayo Clinic, told HuffPost in the past that the goal of a virus is to infect more and more people. Therefore, it will mutate to more and more contagious: this is what we want. see with SUBvariants BA. 4 and BA. 5.
The most productive way to protect yourself from omicron, which is the existing dominant strain, and from all long-term subvariances is to get this bivalent withdrawal updated.
Experts are still learning about COVID-19. La information from this story is what was known or was available at the time of publication, but the recommendation could be replaced as scientists learn more about the virus. See the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the latest recommendations.