Can I take painkillers before or after a COVID-19 vaccine?

Can I take painkillers before or after a COVID-19 vaccine? It's best to avoid m, unless you routinely take m for a medical condition. Although evidence is limited, some painkillers might interfere with very thing vaccine is trying to do: generate a strong immune system response.

Vaccines work by tricking body into thinking it has a virus and mounting a defense against it. That may cause arm soreness, fever, heache, muscle aches or or temporary symptoms of inflammation that can be part of that reaction.

“se symptoms mean your immune system is revving up and vaccine is working,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a recent news briefing.

Certain painkillers that target inflammation, including ibuprofen (vil, Motrin and or brands) might curb immune response. A study on mice in Journal of Virology found se drugs might lower production of antibodies — helpful substances that block virus from infecting cells.

If you're alrey taking one of those medications for a health condition, you should t stop before you get vaccine — at least t without asking your doctor, said Jonathan Watanabe, a pharmacist at University of California, Irvine.

People should t take a painkiller as a preventive measure before getting a vaccine unless a doctor has told m to, he said. same goes for after a shot: “If you don’t need to take it, you shouldn’t,” Watanabe said.

If you do need one, acetamiphen (Tylel) “is safer because it doesn’t alter your immune response,” he ded.

CDC offers or tips, such as holding a cool, wet washcloth over area of shot and exercising that arm. For fever, drink lots of fluids and dress lightly. Call your doctor if redness or tenderness in arm increases after a day or if side effects don’t go away after a few days, CDC says.

Im: AP