By, Padma Shri Dr K K Aggarwal
(President CMAAO, HCFI)
1458: Women are reporting more severe side effects after receiving COVID-19 vaccines
1. Side effects tend to differ for men and women across a broad variety of vaccines, often due to hormones, genes and the vaccine doses.
2. The sex difference in covid 19 is completely consistent with past reports of other vaccines
3. CDC: Report on safety data from the first 13.7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the U.S. Among the 7,000 people who reported side effects, about 79% were women, although about 61% of the vaccines were given to women.
4. CDC researchers found that all 19 people who had anaphylaxis after the Moderna shot were female. With the Pfizer vaccine, 44 of the 47 people who had anaphylaxis were women.
5. CDC studies found that four times as many women had allergic reactions after the 2009 pandemic flu vaccine
6. Between 1990-2016, women reported 80% of the anaphylactic reactions to vaccines.
7. Overall, women tend to have more reactions to vaccines for the flu and hepatitis B, as well as the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.
8. Women tend to have a more robust immune system that can produce more antibodies in response to vaccines, which may be related to reproductive hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.
9. Estrogen, can cause immune cells to produce more antibodies, and testosterone can suppress the production of immune chemicals in the body.
10. Immune-related genes are on the X chromosome, which women have two copies of; men have one. Scientists believe that partially explains why more women have autoimmune diseases.
11. Women have greater immunity, whether it’s to ourselves, whether it’s to a vaccine antigen, whether it’s to a virus
12. Women and men absorb drugs differently, and women often need lower doses for the same response.
13. COVID-19 vaccines, which provide the same dosage to everyone, could create different responses and side effects in people. COVID-19 vaccine side effects reported by women tend to be mild and short.
Sources:
New York Times, “Women Report Worse Side Effects After a Covid Vaccine.”
CDC, “First Month of COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Monitoring — United States, December 14, 2020–January 13, 2021.”
CDC, “Reports of Anaphylaxis After Receipt of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines in the US—December 14, 2020-January 18, 2021.”
