Jun 18, 2021
Anna Wald, MD, MPH, Head of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Division, Professor of Medicine, Laboratory Medicine & Pathology, &
Epidemiology, University of Washington
Topics: COVID Vaccine Side Effects Explained
Wondering what's normal and what's not when it comes to coronavirus
vaccine reactions?
Does a severe reaction predict how you'd react to the actual
virus?
Why do some people have a reaction and others don't?
Experts say side effects are either a physical manifestation of
your body's immune response (which is the case for most people) or
an allergic reaction.
Anna Wald, an infectious diseases physician and researcher in
COVID-19 vaccine trials at the University of Washington's School of
Medicine, can discuss common side effects and how to treat them.
She says it's still unclear whether the severity of side effects
has anything to do with how well your body will fight the virus if
exposed and adds, "Remember, most people had mild or no side
effects in the clinical trials, and yet the vaccine was still found
to have 95% effectiveness at protecting them from illness." Wald
says the bottom line is that the benefits of the vaccines outweigh
the side effects.
Anna Wald, MD, MPH
Head of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Division, Professor of
Medicine, Laboratory Medicine & Pathology, & Epidemiology,
University of Washington