3. COVID-19 vaccine experience in the first 6 months
Goepfert said that when Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines were approved for emergency use in the United States in December 2020, the experts already knew about the short-term side effects that were possible.
All of the vaccines used (including Johnson & Johnson and Novavax) were tested by more than 30,000 individuals. So, the short-term side effects were expected in some cases and didn’t represent a reason to worry about them.
According to Goepfert, the side effects observed in the studies were also the ones that occurred in the nationwide rollouts. These were considered “tolerability issues”. Headaches, tiredness, and arm pain were the most common symptoms after the shots. They appeared 1 or 2 days after the vaccination and lasted for a maximum of 7 days.
The COVID vaccination tracker managed by The New York Times revealed in June 2021 that approximately 2.33 billion doses of the vaccine had been given globally.
