James Gallagher experienced severe side effects from the vaccine first hand. You could say I was on cloud nine when it was my turn to be vaccinated against Covid-19. I had been writing about the pandemic from the beginning, even when the number of infected people was limited to a few dozen residents of Wuhan, telling how different countries were trying to develop their own vaccine. So when it was my turn to roll up my sleeve in the doctor’s office, I felt like a marathon runner who had finally reached the finish line.
But, to be completely honest with you, the vaccine knocked me right out. I will say right away that even if I had known in advance how bad I would feel, I would still have gotten the vaccine. Side effects are better than getting COVID or another year of quarantine. Or, even scarier, the increased chance of infecting someone close to me.
I received my first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine at 9:30 am. By the evening, my condition had deteriorated to the point that I struggled to get out of bed for the next three days. The most unpleasant symptoms were migraines and vomiting, accompanied by pain all over the body, severe chills, and a complete lack of strength. Of course, as a sick person tied to my bed, I asked sadly, “Why me? After I recovered, I wondered: Why does the vaccine go unnoticed by some people, while others, like me, suffer and agonize? And did this suffering mean that my immune system had developed a super-strong defense against the virus? Here’s what I found out.
There are many large and small vaccination centers in the United Kingdom that use a variety of spaces. For example, this center has taken over one of the rugby clubs. We explain quickly, simply, and clearly what happened, why it matters, and what happens next. The number of episodes should remain the same. The end of the story: Promotional Podcasts. Every vaccine, including Covid-19, works by tricking the body into thinking it is fighting the real coronavirus. The fooled body activates the immune system and instructs it to urgently start fighting another infection.
At first, you may experience some discomfort, especially at the injection site: for example, some swelling and not too much pain, which means that your immune system is starting to work. Other effects may already be spreading to other parts of the body, causing flu-like symptoms such as increased temperature, chills, and nausea. Eleanor Riley, a professor of immunology at the University of Edinburgh, told me that all these sensations are caused by a response to inflammation. The vaccine is a kind of biochemical fire alarm that goes through all the pipes and rings all the bells, telling us that something is wrong in the body. “The vaccine mobilizes the immune system, which sends its cells directly to the injection site to find out what is happening there,” says Professor Riley. It is these cells that cause painful symptoms.
Professor Andrew Pollard also received the vaccine. Although the mechanism of vaccine action on the body is always the same, the severity of side effects can vary widely. Some people won’t notice anything at all, some people will get sleepy, but not so much that they can’t work, and some people will have to spend (or rather lie) this thing in bed. “James,” said Professor Andrew Pollard, who led the clinical trials for the AstraZeneca vaccine, “the most important factor in your case is age. The older a person is, the better they tolerate the vaccine. For people over 70, there are virtually no side effects at all.” I am over 30, by the way. Assumed. But why do people of the same age experience different side effects? Professor Riley believes that the wide range of side effects is due to the enormous genetic diversity of our immune systems. This means that someone’s immune system is predisposed to go into overdrive and react much more aggressively to irritants. People like you who experience flu-like side effects are fortunate to have an organism that tends to react quickly and strongly. It is possible that you are one of those people for whom the flu and colds tend to be particularly severe. In addition, the immune system has a good memory, and if it has fought another coronavirus before, it knows what to do and fires all its guns at once.
The vaccination center has become Salisbury Cathedral. I hoped, somewhat selfishly, that my severe side effects would mean a stronger and therefore more beneficial immune response. And yes, there are precedents in the past where such a relationship has been observed. As Professor Pollard noted, “There are such examples. For example, during the 2009 flu epidemic, severe side effects meant a stronger immune response”. But that’s not the case with the Covid vaccine: whether you have side effects or not, everyone gets about the same amount of antibodies. Elderly people, for whom the vaccination is practically painless, receive exactly the same protection as those who are bedridden after the vaccination. This phenomenon can be explained by considering how two parts of the immune system interact. The first is called innate immunity, the body’s ability to neutralize unwanted guests even if it has never encountered them before. The second is acquired immunity, where our bodies first learn how to fight a specific threat and then remember it. The immune system synthesizes special B lymphocytes, which produce antibodies to seek out and destroy viruses, and T lymphocytes, also known as T cells, which attack any part of the body that is infected. Professor Riley explains that the variable factor is innate immunity, which depends on age and varies from person to person. It also determines the severity of side effects. “To activate acquired immunity and get a full set of B and T lymphocytes requires a very minimal intervention in innate immunity, which varies from person to person,” he says.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also been active in promoting the need for vaccination. However, the number of doubters and refusers in Britain is quite small. It is only logical to assume that if my first experience was so unpleasant, a second serving of the same pleasure awaits on the horizon. But I was assured that it would not be so scary. “The second dose will be completely harmless, Professor Pollard assured me. – It is not at all as strong as the first.” But this only applies to the Astra-Zenica vaccine developed by Oxford. Pollard warned that, according to some data, the second dose of Pfizer’s vaccine may cause slightly stronger side effects than the first dose.
As a precaution, UK citizens are asked to wait 15 minutes after vaccination to ensure they feel well enough to travel home safely. The sign says: “A place to recover after vaccination”. The news is full of stories about a very small number of people suggesting that the vaccine developed in the UK may cause blood clotting. Even before the large-scale vaccination program began, I talked about how dangerous it was to jump to the conclusion that the problems that arose after the vaccination were caused by it. The European Medicines Agency has already confirmed that there is no evidence that vaccination causes blood clots. But there are other side effects, and they are real. According to Pollard himself, they should be discussed openly and honestly. “If you are told from the beginning that yes, you can feel terrible like James Gallagher, but it is not dangerous, just not very pleasant, then you just take some paracetamol and hold on for a few days,” says Pollard. “But if those feelings suddenly overwhelm you, worry is guaranteed.