Female healths staff face more side effects of the coronavirus vaccine than their male counterparts, found an in-house study conducted by the Bangalore Baptist Hospital on a cohort of 218 frontline workers who had taken their first dose of Covshield. The majority of the people were women, 172 in total.
The side effects were seen more in 75.5 per cent of women and 45 per cent of men, reports Times of India. The reason behind the women showing them more prominently could be because “women are more likely to report symptoms than men".
The researchers noted that a higher level of anxiety in women could also be a reason for them to show the symptoms faster than men. A female immune system is also more reactive than a man’s, hence a woman’s chances of reporting autoimmune diseases are more than men. In addition to that, hormonal imbalance in a woman’s body could also be a reason behind the entire cause.
The common side effects have been fever, pain and swelling around the injection spot, stiffness in the arm, body ache, vomiting etc. However, no cases of severity have been reported yet following the immunisation.
According to a doctor, vaccine reactogenicity has been seen more in the younger generation than the older owing to their active immune system.
In another statement by Dr Arundhathi Chandrashekar, mission director (Karnataka), National Health Mission, there are more women in the State’s health department that men adding to the outcome of the study. However, a gender-based assessment of the adverse event following immunisation is yet to be conducted.
An earlier study by IMA Kochi has found that the elderly have reacted with fewer symptoms after taking the vaccine against Covid-19 as compared to people in the 20-40 age group.
The study also found that women are more likely than men to develop symptoms. According to a report by The Times of India, the milder-symptoms-foraged theory has been confirmed by a study of 5,396 healthcare workers put together by the Kochi branch of the Indian Medical Association.
The study, based on an online survey conducted between January 29 and February 4, also found that 66% of those vaccinated reported at least one post-inoculation symptom. The most reported symptoms were tiredness, myalgia and fever.
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