The Most Common Side Effects Of The New COVID Booster Jabs: The most recent COVID subvariants are more contagious than ever and are only expected to grow more transmissible as the virus continues to mutate.
Dr. Gregory Poland, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at the Mayo Clinic says “ that the goal of a virus is to infect more and more people. So, it will mutate to become more and more contagious — which is what we’re seeing with the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.”
Moderna and Pfizer have both produced new bivalent vaccines that target the original strain of coronavirus and Omicron subvariants (including the highly contagious BA.4 and BA.5), which have been rapidly spreading throughout the world for the last few months. Both these vaccine have been approved for use by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization for the autumn booster rollout program.
Those include headache, fatigue and soreness or redness at the injection site, Schaffner explained. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also notes that a fever is a common side effect after booster jabs.
Chills, muscle pain and joint pain were also reported, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.
It’s important to remember that these side effects are actually a good thing
Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatric infectious disease professor at Stanford University syas that “most vaccines will have some degree of minor side effects. It is, in fact, the body’s immune and inflammatory response to the vaccine.” This immune response can present itself as redness at the injection site, headache or fever, Maldonado said.
“The anticipated side effects are really exactly what would be expected to occur after the previous vaccinations,” says Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine in the department of health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
If you’re experiencing any of these unpleasant symptoms, you can take a pain reliever to combat them. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs should make you feel better and allow you to go through your daily activities
Ask your medical or pharmaceutical professional what might be the best solution for you if you decide to get both shots at the same time.
Until Next Time: Stay Safe, Stay Healthy and be careful out there
James A Vito, D.M.D