Joyce: Welcome to “COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Check”. In this episode, we’ll talk about something that many people care about, that is vaccine side effects.
According to a local university survey, a big reason why people won't get vaccinated is because they are worried about side effects. Dr. Tsang, what do you think?
Dr. Tsang: Right, Joyce. Same as explaining drug side effects, we need to explain clearly vaccine side effects, like what we do with flu vaccine or chickenpox vaccine. When people get to know that the benefits of vaccination greatly outweigh the risks, and that the side effects can be expected, managed and avoided, then they feel much more inclined to get the vaccine.
Since COVID-19 vaccine is new, people are worried about unknown side effects and becoming “laboratory rats”, so to speak. How is that?
Any COVID-19 vaccine that is approved for emergency use in Hong Kong must go through an expert advisory panel which is satisfied with its safety before it can be used. While the vaccine hasn’t been around for a long time, right now more than 50 countries have started vaccinating, and already 100 million doses were given. The top countries include the US, Mainland China, the UK, Israel, India and so on. When Hong Kong begins vaccination, a huge number of people around the world would have already got the vaccine. Now we understand the short-term side effects pretty well, though we need to watch out for potential long-term side effects, just like what we do with any new drug.
Joyce: What are the side effects of COVID-19 vaccine?
Dr. Tsang: Based on what we know at present, the more common side effects resemble those of the flu shot, like pain and tenderness at the injection site, fever, tiredness, headache or muscle pain. The frequency of these effects depends on the type of vaccine, and they will go away in a few days.
As for the rarer side effects, the most important to watch out for is anaphylaxis, some kind of serious allergic reaction. For instance, the incidence of anaphylaxis among people receiving the Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine is reported to be about 11 in one million. We can prevent this by screening out people who are allergic to the vaccine. Besides, there have been reports of certain neurological conditions, but since their incidence is extremely low, scientists cannot determine that they are caused by vaccination. All in all, the known side effects of COVID-19 vaccine are not very different from the traditional vaccines.
Joyce: Thank you, Dr. Tsang. Thanks for watching, see you all next time in “COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Check”.
