The majority of reactions suffered by patients who have just had a vaccination against Covid-19 are not caused by the vaccination, but are the result of anxiety or a mistaken belief that a symptom with another cause could be attributed to the jab, a new study in the US has concluded.
Researchers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre (BIDMC) in Boston studied 22,000 reports of adverse reactions after a real Covid jab, compared with a similar number who had the placebo.
It found that 35 per cent of placebo jab recipients reported headaches, fever and swelling around the injection point, only 11 per cent less than those getting the real jab. After a second dose, 32 per cent from the placebo group reported these side-effects, against 61 per cent among those with a real Covid vaccine dose.
The researchers concluded that many people had simply associated apparent adverse effects with the vaccine when in fact this was not possible, something they termed the ‘nocebo effect’.
In conclusion, they calculated that the nocebo effect accounted for 76 per cent of first dose side-effects and 52 per cent in the second case, which means that two thirds of symptoms were imagined.
Such news may be particularly encouraging for those working in the area of vaccine development, both for Covid-19 and other diseases, as it demonstrates that concerns about the potential side-effects of vaccination – a key argument of the anti-vax movement – are significantly exaggerated.
Director of the Program in Placebo Studies and the Therapeutic Encounter at BIDMC Professor Ted Katchuk noted: “Nonspecific symptoms like headache and fatigue are listed among the most common adverse reactions following Covid-19 vaccination in many information leaflets.”
He added that information of this kind “may cause people to misattribute common daily background sensations as arising from the vaccine or cause anxiety and worry that make people hyper alert to bodily feelings about adverse events”.
Professor Katchuk said warning the public of the potential for the nocebo effect to make patients believe they are suffering from side-affects should be made publicly known, arguing that it will help reduce vaccine hesitancy.
While issues of vaccine hesitancy continue to be a much larger problem in countries like the US and eastern European nations than in the UK, the benefits of this knowledge may extend everywhere.
Further vaccine developments may include a new treatment that can provide enhanced immunity against both Covid and flu, a project that Moderna is now working on.
Moderna CEO Stephane Banchel told the Monday Panel of the World Economic Forum it is possible such a combined jab could be in place by 2023. This would enable patients to receive protection from both diseases simultaneously, providing greater public protection in a world with two endemic respiratory conditions that pose a greater risk in the winter months.
It would also be more convenient, as it would mean patients would only need one appointment and the process of vaccination would not take up as much time or labour.
Mr Banchel also confirmed that the company is working on an Omicron-specific jab and it hopes to be ready to seek regulatory approval for it in March.
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