Over 70 percent of the UK’s population is fully vaccinated with three doses of either the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, or Jansenn vaccines. The vaccination programme and its rollout have, for the most part, been successful in helping to reduce transmission of the virus, reducing the number of people getting seriously ill and dying from Covid. Just like other vaccines that have gone before it the Covid vaccines are not without their side effects. Depending on who receives the vaccine the side effects can vary from non-existent to several days of discomfort.
For the most part, aside from concerns over the risk of blood clots in young people who had received the AstraZeneca vaccine, there have been few serious concerns about the impact of the vaccines.
Most of the small amount of derision has come from a vocal anti-vaccine minority.
Now though there is concern in the scientific community as some studies suggest that the Covid vaccine could cause the reactivation of shingles, a dangerous though treatable skin infection.
Every year tens of thousands of people in the UK develop shingles, an infection often caused by the chickenpox virus.
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In recent months there have been cases of patients experiencing a reactivation of shingles after receiving the COVID-19 vaccination.
An article published by the Zaans Medical Centre in the Netherlands identified a potential link between vaccination and shingles in immunocompromised adults.
In the Dutch study of two patients who developed shingles they found both had previously had chickenpox.
The study concluded: “In the context of vaccinating older and/or immunocompromised adults, our observations require further evaluation of the possible relationship between COVID-19 and herpes zoster [shingles].”
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Data and comparison with other studies suggests that the reactivation of shingles in the period after vaccination is most common in adults with autoimmune conditions.
As a result of these studies increased vigilance and further research is required in order to conclusively identify a link between the vaccination and the reactivation of shingles.
While the potential reactivation of shingles may sound unnerving it is prudent to remember that the studies are not investigating whether the vaccine gives someone shingles, rather whether it reactivates them.
Furthermore, the cases of reactivation are statistically incredibly low with just a handful of cases globally.
So far it is estimated that over ten billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccines have been administered globally with over half of the world’s population now fully vaccinated.
In the United States there is a growing understanding of another type of vaccine side effect.
Scientists have discovered that more than two thirds of the side effects that people experience after vaccination could be as a result of a version of the placebo effect.
The Nocebo effect is a situation where a negative outcome occurs due to the belief that the intervention, in this case the vaccination, will cause harm.
An examination of data from 12 clinical trials found that the nocebo effect to be causing over two thirds side effects in patients after the first dose of the vaccine and over half of side effects after the second dose.
Subsequently the scientists behind the research believe there should be more publicly available information about the nocebo effect given the potential impact it is having.
Senior author and Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School Professor Ted Kaptchuk postulated: “Telling patients that the intervention they are taking has side-effects…similar to placebo treatments for the condition in randomised controlled trials.”
Similarly, to the potential link between shingles and the Covid vaccine, Kaptchuk stressed that further research into the nocebo effect was required.