Women Report Covid-19 Vaccine Side Effects More: Israel Study

Women report pain in their arms or headaches after the first and second Pfizer shot more frequently than men.

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 – The rate of women reporting side effects from Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine is almost twice higher than men, a new study from Israel found.

The Times of Israel reported last February 11 that the study by the School of Public Health at the University of Haifa, which was published in medical journal Vaccines, found that, compared to men, women were 1.89 times more likely to report side effects after the first vaccine dose and 1.82 times more likely after the second.

The study looked at reports to Israel’s Health Ministry by people who experienced side effects after taking Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine between December 2019 and June 2021. The research also included three more surveys from June and September last year.

“We don’t know what mechanism is involved, but it may be related to differences between the sexes in the immune system or in the perception of the side effects. 

“One possibility is that the immune system in women responds more strongly than in men to foreign antigens,” Manfred Green, the study’s principal investigator, was quoted saying by Israeli tech site NoCamels.

The Israeli study found that women reported pain in their arms after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine at a rate seven times higher than men following the first dose, as well as 4.13 times higher after the second dose.

The proportion of women reporting headaches after receiving the Pfizer shot was 9.15 times higher than men after the first dose and 3.28 times higher following the second dose.

Israel’s Health Ministry reportedly found that mild side effects were significantly less after the third coronavirus vaccine dose compared to the first and second jabs.

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