IN PICS! What are the side effects of Covishield vaccine? check out what Lancet study says

Covishield Vaccine side effects: Corona vaccination campaign for people above 18 years of age is starting from May 1 in the country. On the other hand, there is no vaccine available for the third phase of vaccination, but more than 1 crore people have registered for this vaccination.

India has so far given more than 100 million doses of two approved vaccines - Covishield and Covaxin. Of these, serum vaccines are in high demand.

One in four people experience mild, short lived systemic side effects after receiving either the COVID-19 preventive by Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine — known as Covishield in India — with headache, fatigue and tenderness the most common symptoms, according to a study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.

The researchers from King’s College London in the UK also found that most systemic side effects — meaning side effects excluding where the injection took place — peaked within the first 24 hours following vaccination and usually lasted 1-2 days.

The analysis of data from the ZOE COVID Symptom Study app found much fewer side effects in the general population with both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines than reported in trials.

The study also reports a significant decrease of infection rates from 12 to 21 days after the first dose of the Pfizer (58 per cent reduction) and AstraZeneca (39 per cent reduction) vaccines compared to a control group.

The drop in infection at least 21 days after the first dose for Pfizer is 69 per cent and for AstraZeneca 60 per cent, according to the study. Systemic effects included headache, fatigue, chills and shiver, diarrhoea, fever, arthralgia, myalgia, and nausea.

Local side effects — meaning side effects where the injection took place in the arm — included pain at the site of injection, swelling, tenderness, redness, itch, warmth and swollen armpit glands.

The data should reassure many people that in the real world, after effects of the vaccine are usually mild and short-lived, especially in the over 50’s who are most at risk of the infection.

The study also found that side effects were more common among people under 55 years of age and among women.