![]() Viruses infect our cells by fitting like a key into a lock-in this case, a receptor on cells’ surface. That process ultimately leads to the formation of memory B cells and T cells, which can live in the body for many months to years. The response activates the adaptive immune system, which takes a slower but more tactical approach: activating and training B cells, which make antibodies, and T cells, which help coordinate future attacks. First, the innate arm of the immune system-its blunt force tool-rapidly attacks the foreign protein introduced by the vaccine, which can cause effects ranging from inflammation at the injection site to body-wide symptoms such as fatigue, pain or fever. To better understand a vaccine’s side effects, consider what happens when we get vaccinated. Each one of us makes a different kind of immune response.” Age, sex, genetics, preexisting conditions, environment and even our diet influences how our immune systems might react, she says. “But at the same time, just because a person didn’t feel anything doesn’t mean the immune response wasn’t vigorous. “If you really feel it, you’re mounting a really vigorous immune response,” says Sujan Shresta, a viral immunologist at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. But ultimately, the experience probably reflects the quirks of each person’s immune system more than it does the vaccine’s effectiveness. So why do some people get side effects and others do not? “It’s a great question, and we don’t know the answer,” Wherry says. “The big take-home message is that not having side effects, or not as severe side effects, is no reason to worry,” says John Wherry, an immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania. Yet only about half of trial subjects experienced the sort of systemic reactions that Duehmig did. The latter indicated that the vaccine was generally 90 to 100 percent effective against COVID-19 in people regardless of their sex, age, race, ethnicity or preexisting conditions. So was Griesar’s vaccine any less effective at protecting him from severe COVID-19?Ībsolutely not, according to experts and data from clinical trials of the Pfizer vaccine. ![]() “I do like to think that it means it’s working, that it’s kicking my system into gear,” Duehmig says. “I really didn’t want to do anything but sleep that day, which is about all I did.” with the chills and some body aches and just not feeling well by the morning,” Duehmig says. But for Duehmig, the effects were more pronounced. After the jab, Griesar felt nothing more than a sore arm. ![]() Last month Robert Duehmig and Bill Griesar-a married couple in their 50s who live in Astoria, Ore., and Portland, Ore.-were each relieved to get their second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for COVID-19.
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