Then you must seek help with side effects

TT: What are common and harmless side effects?

The most common of all is a slight pain in the arm after the injection, which can be red and swollen. You can also be tired, have a little fever and headache. These are classic side effects, but the degree to which you develop them varies. It’s harmless, but you can still take sick leave for a few days as it can resemble flu symptoms. When they started vaccinating entire healthcare personnel and wards, they saw that there were a lot more who took sick leave, because the side effects could be similar to the symptoms seen in an infection, says Matti Saalberg, professor of biomedical analysis at the Karolinska Institute.

TT: When should you seek help?

After the Astra vaccine, new or worsening symptoms such as severe headache, abdominal pain, shortness of breath, weakness or pain in the legs, or a change in vision should be monitored within one to two weeks after the vaccination. If you have it, you should seek help, says Sue Aleman, associate professor and chief physician at Karolinska University Hospital.

With all vaccinations, you should be aware of symptoms that persist and do not go away. You should seek medical help and report side effects if they persist for more than two to three days, says Matti Sällberg.

Note: Are there any side effects from other vaccines that you should pay special attention to?

Other vaccines used in Sweden experienced some more serious side effects, such as severe allergic reactions such as swelling of the throat, but they were discovered afterwards when they were noticed a quarter of an hour after the vaccination. A few cases of half-sided facial paralysis and lymph node enlargement have also been reported, says Sue Aleman.

– It is important that if you have something that could be a side effect, you should report where you got the vaccine, and then they report to the Medicinal Products Agency, which creates an overview. Matti Saalberg says it is very important now that we start integrating vaccines.

TT: If you feel sick for a while afterward, can you catch the infection or can you go to the store for example?

It depends on your symptoms, but the general rule is that if you feel sick due to a fever, sore throat, or cough, you should continue to stay home even after the vaccination. It did not reach the maximum protection against Covid-19 until a few weeks after the second dose, and the protection from the vaccine is not 100 percent, so you are likely to infect others with the infection, says Su Aleman.