3. Covid Vaccine Shows Side Effects Similar to 2nd Vaccine, CDC Findings


Americans who received a third dose of coronavirus vaccine in recent weeks reported side effects at roughly the same rates as after their second vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday, a reassuring sign about the safety of supplemental doses.

During the CDC study, which ran from mid-August to mid-September, only additional doses of vaccine were allowed. For people with compromised immune systems who have had two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine. But last week, federal regulators allowed Pfizer booster shots for large segments of the general population, making the safety of supplemental doses a topic of intense concern for paramedics, doctors, and ordinary Americans.

The CDC analyzed how often people reported side effects after a third dose, compared with one second among the 12,600 recipients who filled out surveys as part of their voluntary safety monitoring system.

Reactions such as pain or swelling at the injection site were reported by 79.4 percent of recipients after a third dose of vaccine, compared to 77.6 percent after a second dose. Slightly fewer people experienced systemic reactions such as fever or headache: 74.1 percent of people reported these side effects after the third dose, compared to 76.5 percent after the second dose.

“Most local and systemic reactions reported were mild to moderate, transient, and were most commonly reported the day after vaccination,” said the study’s authors.

The study focused on people who received the third dose of the vaccine they originally received from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. To study these side effects, the CDC said very few people reported receiving an additional dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine or an additional dose from a different vaccine manufacturer.

The results reinforced the findings from a small clinical trial of the third shots of the Pfizer vaccine, which the company’s scientists outlined to federal medical advisers last week. This trial, too, found that adverse reactions after a third dose were similar to those after one second.

The study’s authors wrote that although the CDC study only covered a period when people with immune problems were eligible for supplemental doses, the data likely included people who did not have such conditions and who still received a third shot. In total, the study said about 2.2 million people had taken additional doses by September 19, the end of the CDC study period.



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