I’m trying to motivate myself to get the vaccine but I’ve got cold feet after reading so many posts about long-lasting and debilitating side-effects of the AZ vaccine on this forum
My French GP rang me up on Monday to offer me the Astra Zeneca vaccine for the next day. Take it or leave it, he didn't know when he would next be doing a vaccination clinic. Although this was unhoped for here in France, where it's impossible to even get onto a list for the Pfizer – or any other – vaccine, I chickened out after spending many hours on this forum! The Pfizer one seems to cause fewer side-effects. I haven't been able to find any studies on this, no statistics. It did occur to me that maybe only the sufferers actually bothered to post about it here. I was wondering if any of you people who have had the AZ vaccine have NOT had these long after-effects. And what about the Pfizer?
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JoParis
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The AZ vaccination is perfectly safe. Like the Pfizer vaccination and seasonal flu vaccination it can have side effects, as do all medications. The side effects of both pfizer and AZ vaccinations are usually mild, a sore arm, feeling a bit headachy and achy being among the more common ones.The US trial, published a few days ago reported the AZ vaccine 100% successful in preventing serious illness from Covid.
Even if you do have some side effects - which not everyone does by any means - it is a short term inconvenience. The vaccine is a longer term solution to a) being protected from the virus and b) enabling society to return to some kind of normality.
I suspect that there are many people who’ve had no or only very minor side effects - but they don’t post about that because there’s not much to say. Whereas people who’ve had issues are posting more, so it seems disproportionate!
The side effects of Covid far outweigh that of the AZ vaccine. Millions of doses have been administered already. I was given Pfizer but would have been pleased to have AZ. Mum, nephew, brother, sister in law and a number of friends have had AZ. Only two have reported side effects beyond a sore arm; one ran a low grade fever for a couple of hours, the other was a bit shivery for a night. Covid kills thousands every day.
Any side effects are likely to be very short lived and not everyone gets them anyway!The side effects of getting COVID are far more serious and long lasting.
I’m looking forward to getting my second AZ jab this Saturday.
I personally had very mild side effects after AZ. They lasted just a couple of days for me. My Husband was roughly the same. I am very happy to have had it.
I thoroughly recommend you get a vaccine - ANY vaccine as soon as you can, x
I am in France and was vaccinated on mid January, with second dose mid-Feb. There was a bad period of no vaccines end Feb/early March but since 15th March stocks have been flowing. OH got a Pfizer on Monday (he was supposed to be getting AZ!). Round here if you stand still long enough you get a needle in your arm.
I had Moderna and had quite impressive side effects, but very short lived. Others in my family have had Astra Zeneca with no effects at all. Of something like 5 million doses given the number of people who get even mild side effects is tiny.
Just because your doctor is only doing vaccination clinics weekly (they get 10 doses a week) you can also get AZ at pharmacies with a prescription.
I personally would get it done as soon as. There is absolutely no way of telling whether you will react less to another vaccine. So given the way the numbers are rising again in France any vaccine is worth having.
Thanks helixhelix, this is helpful. I didn't know that you could get AZ at pharmacies with a prescription. Since when? My doc says next slot will be in two weeks but I need that time anyway to get urgent things done which I won't be able to do if I'm laid low!
I'm amazed at what you say about the plethora of vaccines available in France. I don't know where you are but here (in the suburbs of Paris) I've tried to get on lists for the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and you can't even get your name on a list for next month. They say, more or less: sorry, we don't have any vaccines, try again later! The AZ vaccine is different because the powers that be have decided (if I've understood rightly) that no-one under 65 without co-morbidities should be given it, and those over 75 get the Pfizer. It's a bit of a circus and keeps changing. From the stories I've read on here of AZ side effects and flares I'd go for the Pfizer if I had the choice. Heigh ho...
Pharmacies started doing AZ jabs on 15th March. And AZ is now for 50-75 year olds - preferably with comorbidities but I know plenty of people who have nothing,
But having RA entitles you to get the Pfizer of Moderna jab here as well as AZ.
Les publics prioritaires éligibles à la vaccination sont définis par les autorités sanitaires :
Les personnes vulnérables à très haut risque de formes graves telles que mentionnées par le conseil d’orientation de la stratégie vaccinale ( 0,8 million de personnes) ;
Les personnes âgées de 50 à 74 ans qui présentent des comorbidités ( 5,1 millions de personnes) :
I also found this://sfr.larhumatologie.fr/actualites/vaccination-anti-covid-position-sfr-23-mars-2021-1 which tells me I can have any vaccine – I just don't think they're available where I live!
( Les patients atteints d’une affection de l’appareil locomoteur, y compris les rhumatismes inflammatoires chroniques ou les maladies auto-immunes systémiques, peuvent bénéficier de façon indifférente de l’un des trois vaccins actuellement disponibles (dont l’efficacité et la tolérance sont comparables) en respectant les recommandations de l’HAS :
Les patients de plus de 55 ans peuvent recevoir le vaccin Astrazeneca, Pfizer ou Moderna)
My GP didn't tell me I could get a prescription for any of the vaccines – I think that's because he can only get the AZ. On Doctolib it seems I'm not eligible! (I don't take immunosupressive drugs).
I think I'll just wait till the next spot with my GP and take the AstraZeneca if offered – the discussions on here and a bit more reading have convinced me that it's the luck of the draw: one can be pretty ill with either vaccine - or just have a sore arm. By the way, from a few things my GP let drop it would seem that he has more doses than people who want to be vaccinated. It's all a bit crazy.
My French friend, husband and daughters are in Viry Chatillon about 12 miles south of Paris. Told me she hasn’t a hope of getting the vaccine anytime soon. She’s 53 and no health issues. Told me their GP got 10 Pfizer vaccines on site. They went instantly. A waiting list. Her father in law in the Reims region with diabetes and Alzheimer’s was vaccinated no problem. She is very upset with how things are over there re the vaccine. Just to say I hope you can get yours soon. 🙏🏻
This is also the situation where I live, just outside Paris (and it seems to be the same in Paris and the whole region). People I know here who have been vaccinated are either over 75, on immuno-suppressing drugs or medical staff. I can have the AZ vaccine now because of RA (as long as the doses hold out) but not the others as there's no supply (as far as I can make out)...
Please don’t be put off by anyone’s unpleasant experience (for which I am truly sorry to hear) but it’s not yours. (I didn’t look on here or anywhere a week before my vaccine!) I was one way then the other re which I thought was better but I wasn’t given a choice.
If it helps to add to my post, I’m three weeks on from my vaccination, and no sign of a flare of my RA. I was worried just like you, and would have been whatever vaccine they gave me, but so glad it’s done now.
We are all in the same boat on this forum and I'm sure no one means to be preachy, thing is its alot like our medication and no one can say what its going to be like for you, just got to make your own mind up if you want to wait for the Pfizer.
People have offered accounts of what it was like for them (we all have some form of inflammatory arthritis on this forum) so make of this what you will.
Thanks, LoneEra, from my point of view there was a lot of misundestanding of my original post, but maybe I expressed myself badly. I have had a few reassuring replies and I'm getting braver! (I hope).
Most of us in the UK (unless in the 80+ age range) have been given no choice about what vaccine we have - it's been the AZ or nothing. Perhaps you hit a nerve with some of us because of that, and especially if you've been locked in for a year and are longing to get out! I understand that, due to the shortage of supplies, any doses of Pfizer are being kept back for second doses to those who already had it first time around.
As to side effects, after my first dose of the AZ I had a headache and chills that lasted for 24 hours only so I just went to bed early and took paracetamol. About a week later I felt a bit tired and achy for a couple of days but that soon subsided. I'm overdue for my Rituximab infusion anyway so it's hard to know if the tiredness and achiness were caused by that. However, I understand that reaction and side effects after the second dose of the AZ are far less than the first dose (with the Pfizer it's the other way around). In comparison, I personally had far worse and much longer lasting side effects from taking the DMARDS!
I can only think of one or two members of this forum posting that they had a worse experience than mine and most had just had a sore arm for a day or two.
I disn't say I had a choice of vaccines (I said that it's impossible to even get onto a list for the Pfizer - for now at least) so don't really understand what you mean about hitting a nerve! You in the UK are much better off in many ways because of the availability of AZ, with Covid numbers going down, while here they are skyrocketing and the 'lockdown' won't help much as it is mainly cosmetic, hospitals are full again etc. Of course I want to be vaccinated, it's scary out there and I want to hug my grandchildren! I just wanted an idea of what having the vaccination was like for fellow RA sufferers – and found on here that many people had terrible reactions (I don't think we've been reading the same threads if you can only think of one or two members of this forum that had a worse experience than yours!) But I'm all the more glad to hear from people like you who had mild side-effects, and your post does reassure me.
Thanks for your 'good luck' and good luck to you too for your meds! Hope you are over your side-effects or you have found other meds that suit better.
Had the Pfizer, and with no history of allergies of any kind, had full blown anaphylaxis. Only a tiny minority are experiencing anaphylaxis to it, but in the case of Pfizer, quite a few people have no allergy history, and they can’t currently tell us what we’re allergic to in the vaccine, or whether it was just the whole vaccine in combination that triggered the allergy. I’m PsA, not RA, but other than an achey arm, in terms of side effects I got off scott free (if you ignore the immediate reaction and night spent in hospital receiving treatment).
Initially, it was felt that Pfizer had the higher rate of severe adverse reactions, including anaphylaxis, but it’s now even stevens. Anaphylaxis rate is 0.002% for both, which is roughly one in every 50000 doses of either vaccine given. In terms of yellow card reports, which is the more general record of side effects and adverse reactions in the U.K., this is tracked on a weekly basis by the government, and data to March 14th shows that both Pfizer and AZ have a similar report rate of between 3 and 6 reports of adverse effects made per 1000 vaccine doses, but that AZ does tend to have more side effects reported than Pfizer. This ranges from sore arm and nothing else, through to people reporting significant illness. Of 20 odd million doses given up to March 14th, there have been just shy of 100k yellow card reports for both vaccines, with about 2 thirds of them relating to AZ. The reported side effect rate for any vaccine here is therefore around 1 in every 200 people via the yellow card scheme, but it’s not always possible to confirm that a side effect was a side effect and not just a coincidence, so the data has to be treated with some caution. That said, as there’s been a drive to ensure people do report even minor side effects, it’s reasonable to conclude that there are a lot of sore arms, headaches, and minor bouts of flu-like symptoms within that. What we don’t know is how many people were more ill than that, or had flares of pre-existing conditions that were definitely caused by the jab, as is your concern.
All of the above may not be any use, but I personally always find hard data helpful when trying to make a decision. Even if there were two dozen reports here of severe flares, there are 40k members, many of whom would be eligible for and have likely had a jab at this point. I appreciate not everyone that’s registered posts or replies, or that you can successfully draw direct conclusions about reaction rates based on member numbers and relevant posts, but with 400k RA patients alone in the U.K., I do firmly believe that any widespread incidence of disease flares involving RD would have been identified and flagged by now. The medics will be watching for things like that across all patient groups. Anecdotally, most of my friends and family have had the AZ, and have fed back much as other anecdotal replies you’ve had here: one has RA, and she had 48 hours of flu type symptoms then was fine. All the cardiac cohort in the family were completely fine, not even a bruised arm, yet some of the side effect posts on the BHF forum here would make you think cardiac patients should all be having rampant bouts of chest pain and arrhythmia after the AZ. Two young, healthy, keyworker siblings had nothing, either. My best mate has thyroid problems but is generally healthy, and he was really hanging and bed bound for almost a week.
I’ve been told that I can’t have a second dose of Pfizer, or any other mRNA vaccine such as moderna, but they are looking at whether they could safely offer me the AZ as an alternative, and if offered I will take it. For me it’s a case of lesser evils: if there is any kind of as yet unidentified, increased risk, a severe flare would still be preferable for me personally compared to covid or even long covid - or no second dose at all, given my immune system seems to be a bit naff with the DMARDs - but it has to be an individual pros and cons at the end of the day.
Thank you, Charlie, for your very informative reply. Reading it closely, it doesn't seem that one can be guaranteed a smooth ride with either vaccine. I do wonder (I'm not very strong on figures), when you say that 'there have been just shy of 100k yellow card reports for both vaccines, with about 2 thirds of them relating to AZ', if this is not because the AZ vaccine has been given more widely. Anecdotally, the people I know who have had the Pfizer have not had side effects, but on the other hand, most have only had the first shot (the two people I know who have had both injections are over 80, and I have read that older people have weaker reactions), and one of the two people I know who have had the AZ vaccine had a very strong two-day long reaction - and she also has RA!
So I suppose the answer is, as marionfromhappydays said, that no one can say what its going to be like for you and, as you say, it's down to ' individual pros and cons at the end of the day'. Hope the second dose works out for you!
So, the usage figures in relation to the data I gave were actually very similar: it was 11.1m first doses of Pfizer, versus 11.7m first doses of AZ. I was really surprised, because I also thought there’d been more AZ given than Pfizer, but up to March 14th, it turns out that wasn’t the case. There’s barely anything in it for anaphylaxis, with 223 (Pfizer)and 234 (AZ) confirmed cases, but there’s no denying that the yellow card reports are much more heavily stacked in relation to AZ. As I said, the difficulty is that we don’t know if 40k of them were a sore arm and a headache, or what. I’m hoping that data will become available in time, because it would be very interesting to see the breakdown, even if it’s retrospectively over the course of the whole vaccination programme rather than as it unfolds.
As with everything in life, but particularly medical stuff, all any of us can do is make the call we personally think is right for us at the time, and then hope for the best! Not exactly reassuring, but reality rarely is. Anyway, whatever you decide to do, good luck.
Thanks, Charlie. Very interesting, it seems that I am misinformed on the vaccine programme, especially concerning the anaphylaxis, which I thought concerned mainly the Pfizer vaccine.
I wonder if the higher number of yellow card reports for AZ may be partly due to the nocebo effect as it has been in the press a lot more because of Europe’s decision to stop using it for a few days and then changing their minds on which groups to give it to.
I had what felt like bruising round the injection site for a couple of weeks but no other side effects at all from the Astra Zeneca jab. I don't know but maybe the needle is longer so goes deeper into the muscle? It's all about technique though is suppose. From my experience I’d recommend you to have it. The option for me isn’t one if you understand me.
I’ll not comment on whether or not I think you should have taken the AZ vaccine but I think it’s very unfortunate if you let anecdotal comments on here put you off having the vaccine. Plus I don’t think Macron’s comments about and general lack of enthusiasm for the AZ vaccine have helped things either.
My husband, brother and 2 close friends had AZ, none had side effects other than a slightly side arm and mild headache for 24 hours. Please be encouraged, this vaccine could save your life. I had Pfizer and had lots more side effects but still do it again for the protection it offers.
I had the AZ vaccine about a month ago and haven't had any long after effects whatsoever. I did have a slight headache the day after the shot, but it might have been a coincidence.
I was told when I first started medication for RA is the side effects as bad as what you are taking them for and I just wanted the pain to stop. I have had both AZ vaccination now and are well pleased no reaction but even if I did they would be better than being more than likely dead.
Hi JoParis, I have ra and have had both jags 3 weeks apart oxford one and had no side effects apart from sore arm the day after, my dentist gave me my second one which was strange ,,, really wanted to open wide 😂😂
Another thing I should maybe have said to explain my cold feet about the AZ vaccine is the bad press it has been getting over here. Even though I read the British press as well as the French to try and get a balanced view, it does get to you...
Good luck. I am totally injection phobic - I’ve never had a flu vaccine and when my rheum was about that give me a steroid shot I asked very quickly if I ciudad have pills instead.
I would have been quite happy to say no to the vaccine and just stay out of everyone’s way but in the end I can honestly say I did it for the NHS and the greater good and I was fine.
I was absolutely stunned to find that I never felt a thing. I’d seen loads of people having injections on TV and saying they didn’t feel it and I used to think ‘yeah, sure’ but to my amazement I didn’t either.
My doctor looked like a young George Clooney and I didn’t even get to sit down, he stood next to me and did it while I was standing up. I’m sure if he had known how nervous I was about injections he would have sat me down. So good luck. The thought of it is worse than the actual event.
LOL George Clooney! No such luck for me, I'm getting mine from my GP. Mind you, as I started with him after the start of Covid I don't actually know what he looks like - he might be very handsome under that mask!
Great to hear from someone else who is injection-phobic. I had my first ever flu jab this year because I thought it might work a teeny bit against Covid. I'm still not convinced I won't have horrible side effects but I'm determined to get it now...
I have had Pfizer, weigh things up this may never go away , a friend of mine got Covid blood clots on lung and in his legs , didn’t have vaccine was waiting for his turn , now I’ll . I had it no problem .
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George Clooney! No such luck for me, I'm getting mine from my GP. Mind you, as I started with him after the start of Covid I don't actually know what he looks like - he might be very handsome under that mask! 
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