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Should you take a painkiller before your COVID-19 vaccine?

Should you take a painkiller before your COVID-19 vaccine?
YOU NEED TO WEAR YOUR MASK AND GET THE VACCINE. ED: MORE PEOPLE ARE GETTING VACCINATED, AND WE KNOW THERE CAN BE SOME SIDE EFFECTS. YOU MENTIONED THE SORE ARM. IS IT OK FOR PEOPLE TO TAKE AN ASPIRIN OR IBUPROFEN BEFORE OR AFTER THE SHOT, OR COULD IT BLOCK THE VACCINE? >> YOU ARE RAISING AN IMPORTANT BUT UNKNOWN QUESTION. I THINK THE BEST THING TO DO RIGHT NOW IS TO NOT TAKE TYLENOL OR THESE IBUPROFENS BEFORE THE VACCINE. IF YOU HAVE SIGNIFICANT SIDE EFFECTS AFTER, ABSOLUTELY. CLOSE TO 50% OF PEOPLE HAD TO TAKE SOMETHING, BUT IF YOU TAKE IT BEFORE, SOME STUDIES WITH OTHER VACCINES HAVE SHOWN A DECREASED IMMUNE RESPONSE. ED: WHAT DO YOU MEAN BEFORE? AN HOUR, A DAY, A WEEK? >> I DON’T THINK YOU NEED TO STOP A WEEK BEFORE, BUT I WOULD SAY A DAY OR TWO BEFORE, I WOULD TRY NOT TO. IF YOU HAVE A SIGNIFICANT AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE AND YOU HAVE TO TAKE THESE TO PREVENT A DISEASE, THAT IS A DIFFERENT STORY. WE AREN’T TELLING PEOPLE TO CHANGE THEIR REGIM
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Should you take a painkiller before your COVID-19 vaccine?
Can someone who is about to receive the coronavirus vaccine take painkillers before or after the vaccine is administered to them?Doctors say it’s best to avoid them unless you routinely take them for a medical condition. Although the evidence is limited, some painkillers might interfere with the very thing the vaccine is trying to do: generate a strong immune system response."It's an important but unknown question," said Dr. Todd Ellerin, chief of infectious diseases at South Shore Health in Massachusetts."I think the best thing to do right now is to not take Tylenol or ibuprofen before the vaccine," Ellerin said. "If you have significant side effects afterward, absolutely."Vaccines work by tricking the body into thinking it has a virus and mounting a defense against it. That may cause arm soreness, fever, headache, muscle aches or other temporary symptoms of inflammation that can be part of that reaction.Ellerin said during the clinical trials for the vaccine, approximately 50% of patients took some sort of pain killer following the vaccine.“These symptoms mean your immune system is revving up and the vaccine is working,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a recent news briefing.Certain painkillers that target inflammation, including ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin and other brands) might curb the immune response. A study on mice in the Journal of Virology found these drugs might lower the production of antibodies — helpful substances that block the virus from infecting cells.If you’re already taking one of those medications for a health condition, you should not stop before you get the vaccine — at least not without asking your doctor, said Jonathan Watanabe, a pharmacist at the University of California, Irvine.People should not take a painkiller as a preventive measure before getting a vaccine unless a doctor has told them to, he said. The same goes for after a shot: “If you don’t need to take it, you shouldn’t,” Watanabe said.If you do need one, acetaminophen (Tylenol) “is safer because it doesn’t alter your immune response,” he added.
BOSTON —

Can someone who is about to receive the coronavirus vaccine take painkillers before or after the vaccine is administered to them?

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Doctors say it’s best to avoid them unless you routinely take them for a medical condition.

Although the evidence is limited, some painkillers might interfere with the very thing the vaccine is trying to do: generate a strong immune system response.

"It's an important but unknown question," said Dr. Todd Ellerin, chief of infectious diseases at South Shore Health in Massachusetts.

"I think the best thing to do right now is to not take Tylenol or ibuprofen before the vaccine," Ellerin said. "If you have significant side effects afterward, absolutely."

Vaccines work by tricking the body into thinking it has a virus and mounting a defense against it. That may cause arm soreness, fever, headache, muscle aches or other temporary symptoms of inflammation that can be part of that reaction.

Ellerin said during the clinical trials for the vaccine, approximately 50% of patients took some sort of pain killer following the vaccine.

“These symptoms mean your immune system is revving up and the vaccine is working,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a recent news briefing.

Certain painkillers that target inflammation, including ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin and other brands) might curb the immune response. A study on mice in the Journal of Virology found these drugs might lower the production of antibodies — helpful substances that block the virus from infecting cells.

If you’re already taking one of those medications for a health condition, you should not stop before you get the vaccine — at least not without asking your doctor, said Jonathan Watanabe, a pharmacist at the University of California, Irvine.

People should not take a painkiller as a preventive measure before getting a vaccine unless a doctor has told them to, he said. The same goes for after a shot: “If you don’t need to take it, you shouldn’t,” Watanabe said.

If you do need one, acetaminophen (Tylenol) “is safer because it doesn’t alter your immune response,” he added.