In the United States of America, 74.5% of people have got a minimum of one dose of vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. The number is around 250 million people.
76% Of Side Effects Are Caused Due To Nocebo Effect, Not The Vaccine
After so many vaccinations are completed, recent studies say that the side effect caused after getting vaccinated is caused due to a phenomenon known as the “nocebo effect” and not the vaccine itself.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the side effects of the vaccine are:-
- Pain on the hand where you took the vaccine shot would be accompanied by redness and swelling of that area.
- People have also said that they have had fever with chills.
- Tiredness.
- Some also reported headaches and muscle pain.
- Common occurrence of Nausea also occurs.
- There is a very slim chance of getting any complex allergic reaction to any vaccine, but if someone sees such side effects, they should not get the second dose of that exact brand’s second dose.
These side effects are common when new antibodies are introduced to our bodies. Our White Blood Cells take some time to understand it and return to a normal healthy condition.
Now that we know about the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, the next question will arise: What Does the ‘Nocebo Effect’ Mean?
Nocebo Effect happens when a patient expects specific side effects of treatment, and even without the treatment causing the side effect, they, however, do occur. This particular effect is subjected to a psychological mindset of a particular patient and the patient’s brain already accepts that the side effect is unstoppable and is mandatory aftermath of the treatment. This unknown and unintentional determination puts the body in such a condition, which causes side effects.
Some common Nocebo Effects are:-
(i)Nausea
(ii)Itching
(iii)Depression
(iv) Sexual Dysfunction
(v) Loss of appetite
The Medical Study At Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC)
The study was conducted by securing information based on 12 medical trials on Covid vaccines. So in the test regarding the 1st dose, the people who got vaccine doses showed more experience in both systematic and local side effects than those who got a dose of saline shots to maintain the placebo. Tests were also done. 76% of the first and 52% of the second doses’ side effects were reportedly occurring due to the Nocebo Effect.
What If We Don’t Tell People About The Side Effects Of The Vaccination?
Many people put their thoughts forward and said that this Nocebo Effect could be stopped if the people were not told about the vaccination’s side effects in the first place. The Nocebo Effect mainly occurs because our brain sends signals to our body that specific side effects will happen even if they don’t happen in reality at that very time due to that very vaccination.
The probability of this method working is still somewhat unknown and based on assumptions, so keeping people in the dark away from the truth they deserve to know does not sound ethical at all. So as human beings, we should not take away the right of knowing things away from people. It might even create unrest among ordinary people in cases of exceptions.
We can utilize this opportunity to unite people and fight the cause of vaccination-related fear among people. We should tell people about this research very confidently. This would help to end people’s fear about the side effects as they would understand that most of the side effects were actually due to the Nocebo effect and not the vaccine.
