Millions of Americans are vaccinated on average against covid-19 every day now, and while many people have proudly shared their vaccination status on social networks, others will describe them Mild side effects, but certainly immediately visible, as a badge of honor, such as an arm pain or flu-like fatigue. But not all post-vaccination symptoms will necessarily be due to the vaccine – some may actually be caused by the bad twin of the placebo effect.
Just to clarify in advance, there is nothing wrong if you have side effects after vaccination, for whatever reason. If anything, these side effects are often an indication of the body’s immune system hitting the equipment, as it learns to recognize what the coronavirus looks like after it has obtained a plan of its appearance from the vaccine uses it to infect cells). This immune response is what tends to explain symptoms such as fever, fatigue and general pain for a day or two after receiving a vaccine. Usually, but not always.
Let’s take a look back at data from clinical trials for the two-dose mRNA vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, the first to reach the US public in December last year. The data, based on more than 30,000 volunteers, shows that it is a safe and effective vaccine, but not one without side effects. Approximately 84% had injection site reactions, such as pain or itching, within a week of a dose; 63% experienced fatigue; 55% had headaches.
Looking at these figures alone, it is logical that most people who receive the vaccine will feel something. But amazingly, in the same process, a significant portion of people who received the placebo shot also experienced some of these symptoms. After the first placebo shot, about a third of people reported getting tired and about a third had headaches.. Almost 12% of those treated with placebo also had diarrhea after the first shot, more than the vaccinated group did after both doses. As a reminder, the people on who were given placebo were given only a saline solution, ie salt and water.
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Now, some of these people who received the placebo vaccine may have experienced fatigue, headaches, or diarrhea that day, no matter what, even if it wasn’t in the process – a topic that Gizmodo has covered recently before. Unfortunately, these are very common ailments, caused by a lot of different things. But some may have experienced them only because of what we call the “nocebo effect.” Just as our positive expectations can make us feel better after taking a potential new treatment, at least for a while, our negative expectations can do the opposite and make us feel unpleasant. On Twitter, some even have accepted to feeling worse after taking the placebo than they felt after taking the real one later.
There is a tendency to reject the placebo / nocebo effect as simply a product of the mind. But every sensation we experience it’s finally processed in the mind, so that doesn’t say much at all. Sometimes this sensation can be traced back to a strictly physical cause – a hot stove touched – and sometimes it is more complicated. The stress that a person may feel to get a newly developed vaccine or even to get a vaccine in general, if he hates needles, could certainly be enough to trigger a headache or wear them to fatigue.
None of this is unusual in the smallest, it is just human nature. And, although it should be self-evident, the origin of a person’s pain, nocebo or not, does not diminish the need to recognize that pain and try to remedy it, if possible. But the placebo / nocebo effect is one of the many reasons why we need carefully planned research, such as controlled clinical trials, to better understand the world around us. This is especially important in trying to find out the potential benefits and risks of any new medicine or vaccine. Fortunately, with Pfizer / BioNTech and the like, their benefits in keeping us safe from severe disease and death are becoming clearer every day, especially in countries where vaccination is high.
So go ahead and get vaccinated as soon as possible. Please note that your post-shot error may not be either of the most obvious cause.