Moderna vaccine yields ‘COVID arm’ side effect in few patients

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Few patients have experienced a side effect known as “COVID arm,” after getting a dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
• Having a “red splotch” on the arm is not an uncommon side effect for people who take the vaccine, experts claimed.
• Doctors urged people who experienced minor side effects to still get the second dose of the vaccine.

According to experts, the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna has yielded a side effect to a few patients, dubbed as “COVID arm,” which can be seen a week after getting the shot.

Speaking with USA Today, Massachusetts General Hospital director of global health dermatology Dr. Esther Freeman said: “We want to reassure people that [Covid arm] is a known phenomenon.”

“Having a big red splotch on your arm for a couple of days may not be fun but the reality is there’s no need to panic and no reason not to get your second shot,” she added.

One patient named Amelia Brown of Visalia, California shared her vaccine journey when she was inoculated with the Moderna dose last January 11. 

She told FoxTV that shortly after getting a dose, she experienced dizziness and got a minor allergic reaction. A week after, Brown claimed that her arm became “just red and angry and had hives.”

The following morning, she woke up with a lump. “It had just grown overnight from like, a dollar size to like, a baseball size,” she said. “And it was very swollen, hot to the touch, sore, even if I wore my coat that day, the pressure of the coat was painful.”

Brown emphasized that her experience made her decide not to take the second dose.

Officials, though, advised people that experiencing some minor side effects, like a light skin rash or sore arm, would still be “worth it” given the protection that the vaccine will provide against an illness. In typical cases, such reaction is a testament that the body has responded accordingly to the drug.

According to Californian Immunologist Dr. Praveen Buddiga, the reaction is attributed to an individual’s immune system response, which in some cases, can be very hyper or aggressive. 

“’Covid arm’ is basically a delayed type of hypersensitivity or an allergic reaction that occurs about probably seven to ten days afterward,” he noted.

He said that he personally observed such cases at around two to nine percent of vaccinated patients, though the Food and Drug Administration has recorded a significantly lower rate based on clinical trials.

Albeit the side effect, doctors still urged the patients to get their second dose to protect themselves against the virus by 95 percent.

Similar to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Moderna’s vaccine uses mRNA technology. Both vaccines have been largely distributed in the US, though only Pfizer has penetrated the UK.

Moderna’s vaccine is scheduled to be rolled out within the next couple of months.

Source: TheSun.com