The symptoms of the “Covid arm” sometimes only appear days after the vaccination with Biontech or Moderna: Pain at the injection site is not the only vaccination reaction.
As with all vaccinations, vaccination reactions can also occur with corona vaccinations. Pain at the injection site is most likely, as the approval study for Biontech has already shown. According to the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), 80 percent of those vaccinated with Biontech and even 90 percent of those vaccinated with Moderna reported this vaccination reaction. But the pain is short-lived. As the PEI writes: “These reactions usually occur within two days of the vaccination and rarely last longer than one or two days.”
Independently of this, US researchers describe a symptom in a study that can also cause pain at the injection site, but must be distinguished from the typical vaccination reaction: the “Covid arm”. Typical of this complication is that it does not appear until days after vaccination; in many patients in the study, only after eight days. In contrast to the typical pain at the puncture site, the “Covid arm” is primarily characterized by a large, clearly visible swelling on the arm.
According to PEI, “Covid arm” after Biontech or Moderna vaccination is harmless
This skin reaction is also known to the PEI. The Federal Institute for Vaccines already described individual reports on the “Covid arm” in its safety report of March 4th, 2021. The swelling would appear about a week after the vaccination and can cause pain as well as itching. In addition, patients may feel that the skin is tight or hard.
According to PEI, more precise data on the “Covid arm” are available for the Moderna vaccine. 0.8 percent of the participants in clinical test phase III would have reported the symptoms after the first vaccination and 0.2 percent after the second. The complaints of the “Covid arm” would last four to five days before they subsided again.
Despite the “Covid arm”, the second vaccination with Biontech or Moderna
According to the PEI, the exact cause has not yet been clarified. The institute suspects a delayed “hypersensitivity reaction in connection with the development of the body’s own immune system”. As the Federal Institute says, the “Covid arm” is not harmful to health and should not prevent people from getting the second vaccination.
| What is known about the Covid arm |
|---|
| In most cases, it does not appear until a week after vaccination. |
| Characterized by reddening and swelling of the skin around the vaccination site. |
| Is accompanied by pain and itching. |
| The skin can also become tight and hardened. |
| Symptoms go away on average after four to five days. |
| The Covid arm rarely occurs: with Moderna after 0.8 percent of the first vaccinations. |
| Anyone who has the symptoms after the first vaccination has a 50 percent chance of getting them after the second. |
In their study, the US researchers also found that some of the patients who developed a “Covid arm” after the first vaccination also experienced the symptoms after the second vaccination. In detail, after the second vaccination dose, half of the patients no longer received a “Covid arm”, a quarter had symptoms that were just as severe as the first time and a quarter had symptoms again, but with a lighter one Symptoms. The US researchers also came to the conclusion that this skin reaction was not a reason not to receive the second vaccination.
Basically, with the second vaccination with Biontech, vaccination reactions occur even more frequently * than after the first vaccination. The only exception: the pain at the injection site, which begins shortly after the vaccination.
* giessener-allgemeine.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA .
