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At first installation Last week, we discussed whether Covid-19 vaccines were effective and what that meant.
In this segment, we will discuss the safety of Covid-19 vaccines. However, we must first understand how the safety of drugs and vaccines is evaluated and measured.
The safety of a drug or vaccine is measured by two methods: i) short-term safety; and ii) long-term security. In this installment, we will cover short-term security.
What does short term security mean? It means that when you are taking the drug or receiving the vaccine, you do not get an effect that is not part of the intended effects of the drug or the vaccine. For example, taking a Covid-19 vaccine is intended to prevent you from contracting symptomatic or serious illnesses. That is the intended effect of the vaccine.
However, certain people can experience unwanted effects from receiving a vaccine. These effects can be divided into two: i) adverse events; and ii) side effects. Many people often get these terms mixed up, so it’s worth explaining what these terms mean in more detail, as they mean quite different things.
An adverse event is an unwanted effect that occurs when you receive a medicine or a vaccine in the correct dose. These adverse events can be a type A reaction or a type B reaction.
Type A reactions are predictable and generally depend on the dose of drug administered; being their reactions mild, moderate or severe. Stopping the medicine will usually end these problems. Type B reactions, however, are completely unpredictable and are generally influenced by patient factors, such as allergies or drug intolerance.
Much concern has been raised regarding people with allergies when it comes to Covid-19 vaccines, as concerns abound about whether they will have a type B reaction to the vaccine.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is tracking this data; And so far only 2-5 people per million (that’s about 0.000002%) are showing severe allergic reactions (or anaphylaxis) when given the Covid-19 vaccine. Detailed information is available here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html
On the other hand, a side effect is an unwanted effect that occurs when a drug or vaccine is administered to an individual regardless of the dose of the drug that is administered. An example of this is taking 20 adult paracetamol tablets or Panadol. You are not supposed to take this drug in such doses and when taken it has side effects of acute poisoning with liver damage.
Side effects are effects that are already known (from the time the drug or vaccine is tested in clinical trials) and then the patient is told to know about them while taking medication or after receiving a vaccine. Side effects usually resolve on their own over time.
Interestingly, some medications are even used for their side effects. An example of this is the drug mirtazapine, which is used to treat depression and some related disorders. The drug has the side effect of causing weight gain. Hence, it is actually used to treat anorexic patients for this beneficial side effect alone.
Other common medications that are being studied for their beneficial side effects include aspirin, which is used as a “blood thinner” and is prescribed to many people to prevent heart attacks. Ongoing studies are now looking to see if it has another beneficial side effect in which an aspirin-activated protein can restrict cancer cell growth for certain cancers.
Another common drug that many of us take is metformin, prescribed for many of us to control blood sugar and a mainstay of diabetes treatment. Ongoing studies now seek to study a beneficial side effect of metformin that can be used to reduce the risk of breast cancer.
Many people ask this question: if we already know that a drug or vaccine has these kinds of side effects, why do we approve it for use by patients? The answer for this is simple, and it really comes down to the potential benefits that far outweigh the potential side effect issues.
Simply put, taking the vaccine may cause some temporary side effects, but it does give you the protection of not getting a severe form of Covid-19 that has a much higher chance of killing you or causing long-term effects that can last a lifetime. Should we even be thinking about that?
Next: Long-Term Safety Profiles of Covid-19 Vaccines and How We’re Tracking It Globally
INFOVAX is a community awareness and education series on Covid-19 vaccines presented by the Public Health Society of the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA PHS). Feel free to ask questions and clarify your doubts about Covid-19 vaccines by sending them to us at [email protected]. Your questions and answers will be collected and answered in the following sessions.
