What COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects Say About Your Immune Response

Chairman of the Department of Inflammation and Immunity at Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, Dr. Thaddeus Stappenbeck, says our immune system response to vaccines is created by two different systems.

According to him, the first response is the innate immune response. “Your innate immune system is the one that locates an infection and attacks it,” he says; noting that the innate immune response is activated when your cells realise you’ve been exposed to a foreign material.

They attack with the goal of eliminating the foreign material. That attack manifests as fever, sore arm, or muscle aches, says Stappenbeck, as reported by Yahoo Lifestyle.

This initial response is usually short-lived, lasting a few hours or days.

The adaptive immune response is the second part of the immune response and is arguably more important because it is responsible for the long-lasting response.

“It activates your body’s T and B cells, which learn to recognise specific foreign materials, like the COVID-19 spike protein.

“The T and B cells are the ones that then identify the foreign material months or years after the initial infection or vaccination and generate the antibodies to attack and eliminate the invader,” he added.

With respect to COVID-19 vaccines, the adaptive immune response takes about two weeks to develop. This is why experts say you don’t have full protection from COVID-19 immediately after receiving your final vaccine dose despite developing side effects within hours or days.

The outstanding question is: what does it mean if you don’t have any side effects? Are you as protected from infection as someone who did have side effects?

The short answer is “Yes, absolutely.” There’s no scientific evidence that more obvious side effects are correlated with better protection.

“People who don’t have a sore arm shouldn’t assume they’re not protected, and those who do have a sore arm shouldn’t assume they’re more protected than others,” experts say.

Trial data confirms this answer, too. The vaccines were 94 percent effective, but only about half of the participants experienced side effects.

The takeaway is that side effects are not proof of immunity or lack thereof.