In the current Covid scenario many questions arise in the minds of people such as. Are COVID-19 vaccines safe for the elderly? Are there long-term vaccine side effects? Or should we wait and see how the vaccines affect people? Etc…
The main worry, in the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine is the side effects. Generally side effects occur when we take vaccine. And incase of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, it is taken two doses three weeks apart. And the Moderna vaccine is taken two doses at an interval of four weeks. Getting two doses will ensure the strongest immunity to the coronavirus. And from these vaccines, side effects are seen after receiving the second dose. Hence doctors advice people to plan lighter schedule on the second dose day or the day after that. Incase of the shingles vaccine also sometimes side effects occur with the second dose.
Medical experts say that vaccines have proven to be very safe. Studies also show that the side effects of the covid 19 vaccines are generally mild. The side effects have been found to be mild to moderate arm soreness, fatigue, headache which have been proven minimal.
The vaccine’s safety can be assured since a large number of people were included in the coronavirus vaccine studies and majority of them were older adults. The Moderna trials included about 30,000 people, in which 7,000 were 65 or older. And the Pfizer trials involved about 44,000 people, and about 7,500 of them were 65 or older. Reactions to the vaccines were monitored closely for more than two months and still continue to be monitored and absence of serious side effects were seen so far.
A recent study published by the New England Journal of Medicine shows older adults reported fewer side effects after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine than younger people.
Also so far, people with preexisting conditions such as heart disease, asthma, or diabetes have not experienced different or more severe adverse reactions to the vaccine compared with people without other medical conditions.