MU Health Care 12 June 2021 – One of the reasons some people haven’t signed up to receive the COVID-19 vaccine is that they’re worried there might be unknown side effects that will show up months or years later.
Although it’s true there are still a lot of things we’re learning about the vaccines — like how effective they are against variants and how long their protection lasts — there are plenty of things we do know that give experts confidence in the long-term safety of the vaccines.
History tells us that severe side effects are extremely rare, and if they if do occur, they usually happen within the first two months.
The most recent example of this phenomenon is the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine was put on pause when health officials learned that a small number of people who received the vaccine experienced a serious blood clotting problem.
About 7.4 million Americans had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine when regulators paused its administration to investigate a handful of cases in which people had blood clots. All of the cases emerged within two weeks of vaccination.
Upon reviewing information about the cases, federal health officials determined that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risk, and they approved resumed use of the vaccine.
This is how the system is designed to work if unexpected side effects emerge.
History shows this is a common pattern. When new vaccines are released, the unknown side effects, if any, show up within two months of vaccination. This history goes back to at least the 1960s with the oral polio vaccine and examples continue through today.
Because of this, scientists and public health officials continually monitor vaccine data before, during and after a vaccine becomes available to the public.
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