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(CNN) – As the United States moves ever closer to licensing a COVID-19 vaccine, many people may begin to wonder how it will feel to receive it.
Will it be like the flu shot? Will it be more painful? What about the side effects?
The two pioneers who applied for an emergency use authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna, use new mRNA technology.
No vaccine licensed in the United States has used this technology, although researchers have been studying it for decades, against infections such as influenza, rabies and Zika, and even for some cancers.
The way these mRNA vaccines work is that they give our body instructions, in the form of messenger RNA, to make a small part of this particular coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), specifically the spike protein. When our body receives these instructions, it starts producing the protein spike. This, in turn, activates our immune system, which recognizes the spike protein as “foreign”, to make antibodies against it. So when we get infected with the real virus, our body is ready to fight it.
These vaccines require two doses: one to prime the body and then, a few weeks later, a second injection to stimulate the response. The results of the study show that Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are nearly 95% effective.
But because the technology is so new to a vaccine, it has raised many questions and some concerns among those for whom it is intended.
A participant in the Moderna trial said getting vaccinated “is definitely not a walk in the park,” but he would definitely do it again.
Yasir Batalvi, a 24-year-old recent college graduate living in the Boston area, said he initially signed up for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website to participate in a trial in early July because he was transferred to do something to help during the pandemic.
I felt so helpless. I mean, this pandemic has really affected everyone’s life in such a significant way. And it’s not just about lives, they’re livelihoods, “Batalvi told CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.” So I signed up because I wanted to do what I could. And I didn’t think they would necessarily choose me. But I finally got a call in September, and then, in mid-October, I was signed up.
He was a little nervous when he was rolling up his sleeves, especially when he was given a 22-page consent form to sign. But he said he felt like he was doing public service.
“I think just because the coronavirus was such a significant upheaval in our lives, I decided that was what I had to do. It felt like a civic duty,” he said. “Because I think large-scale vaccination is really the only realistic way out of the pandemic we are in.”
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So how does it feel?
“At first, the actual injection looked like a flu shot, which is basically a little pinch on the side of the arm,” Batalvi said. “Once he got out of the hospital that night, the stiffness got a little worse. It was definitely manageable, but you don’t feel like moving your arm too much over your shoulder. But the side effects are quite localized. I mean, it’s just your arm muscle. And this is all. It doesn’t actually affect anything else and you feel good.
This was after the first dose. But the second dose was different.
“I actually had some pretty bad symptoms after taking the second dose. Once I took the second dose, I was fine while I was in the hospital. But that night was difficult. I mean, I developed a low fever, fatigue and chills, “Batalvi said. He said he was bad that day and night, but that” he felt good again the next morning. “
He said he called the study doctors to inform them of his symptoms. They were not alarmed and told him he shouldn’t have been either.
Feeling bad does not mean that you have contracted Covid-19 from the vaccine. In fact, experts say that having this type of reaction shows your body is responding as it should and that shouldn’t deter anyone from getting the vaccine or coming back for the second dose.
“This means your immune response is working for you. You should feel good about it,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “And there should be no difficulty in returning for that second injection, knowing that you are now in a much better position to fight this terrible virus, which has killed more than 250,000 people and can have many long-term effects.”
On Monday, infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said the same thing to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
“What the body tells you with that response is that it is reacting well to the injection,” he said.
“When you get a shot of the vaccine, you induce a response. Some people feel nothing, “he said.” Others feel pain in their arm. Some may experience arm pain and a kind of cold feeling, almost as if they have a flu-like syndrome, and a minority of people have a fever.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that “almost all of this disappears in 24 or 48 hours at the most”. And he added that it’s important to be honest with people about the side effects they might experience.
Lead science advisor for Operation Warp Speed, Moncef Slaoui, said on Monday that about 10-15 percent of immunized individuals will develop “fairly obvious side effects.”
‘Most people will have much less noticeable side effects. Frankly, compared to 95% protection against an infection that can be deadly or significantly debilitating, I think it’s the right balance, “he said.
Side effects such as those experienced by Batalvi are not to be confused with safety concerns. Any vaccine manufacturer seeking FDA approval or clearance must show safety data for two months after administering the second dose, because that is when the most serious safety concerns occurred in previous studies. On this front, the situation is very good for the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. But only time will tell if there are any serious security events in the coming years.
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“Although we know that the predictable 90.95% of the side effects that occurred within two months of vaccination are actually good for the two vaccines that have now been introduced, the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, we don’t have the experience for a year or so. two and we will learn as we go, “Slaoui said.
Batalvi is not sure if he received the active vaccine or a placebo. But based on his experience, he said you can guess.
‘You know it’s a randomized, double-blind study. Therefore, neither I, nor the doctors in the study nor Moderna know if I was vaccinated or not. But, based on the side effects, I hope they really put it on, “he said.
Batalvi said he hopes this pandemic will end so that his family can meet his sister’s new twins, a boy and a girl, born earlier in the week.
“I hope that once this vaccine comes out, people will feel safe taking it. I mean, here I am: I took the vaccine, it was fine. I think we can overcome this problem, “he said.
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