Has anyone here taken AstraZeneca? Any side effects?

My head exploded but I’m ok otherwise.

I'm a 50yo male, with diabetes and mild asthma. Average weight, fit and active, generally healthy apart from that.

I had my first AZ shot three weeks ago. Side effects as follows: First six hours: nothing at all Next twelve hours: mild fever and slightly achy 'flu like symptoms Next three days: Pain at injection site, and more tired than usual.

Apart from that, absolutely nothing else of note. The 'flu-like symptoms were the same reaction I always get to the 'flu jab.

I got my first shot two weeks ago, and had no side effects at all. My sister in law and a coworker got their first shot too, and had flu-like symptoms for about a day.

I took my first shot with no side effects. I am now taking a baby aspirin daily as a precaution.

I'm thirty and so is my sister in law. My coworker is in her forties. We're all in good health.

Why are you taking aspirin, R4?

It’s a blood thinner for against blood clots. Standard.

My fucking boyfriend just to the AZ shot and picked a fight with me on the way home. I am not immunized because here in Canada, they don’t give AZ to my age (49). He, a music major, is mouthing off about how vaccines work, etc. I won’t be immunized for months, probably. I guess he will go to my funeral.

Can he have your stuff?

EMA has concluded that there is a link between the vaccine and the deadly blood clots. They will now include blood clots as a possible side effect.

I got this HUUUUUGE erection -- first in decades!

Yep, had it several weeks ago, slightly swollen arm - not sore - for a few hours, tired for a couple of days, fine since. And I’m not young or thin (unfortunately).

I took the first jab and got a slight headache for the rest of the day. But that was because I had developed a slight headache earlier due to eating a light breakfast. I wasn't expecting to wait the entire morning to get my shot. But that's about it. I have heard the second shot is where people get the strong reactions, so I will see. My second shot is due at the end of this month

EMA report: EU medicine regulator's review of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has concluded that "unusual blood clots with low blood platelets should be listed as very rare side effects".

"The reported combination of blood clots and low blood platelets is very rare, and the overall benefits of the vaccine in preventing Covid-19 outweigh the risks of side effects," the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said.

Most of the cases reported had occurred in women under 60 years of age within two weeks of vaccination.

The regulator said that one plausible explanation for the combination of blood clots and low blood platelets was an "immune response, leading to a condition similar to one seen sometimes in patients treated with heparin (heparin induced thrombocytopenia, HIT)".

And from elsewhere (radio news this afternoon): There is further investigation ongoing in Denmark around the mode of delivery. The vaccine is intended to be delivered intramuscularly. In the UK, nurses are trained to aspirate prior to injection, to determine if the needle has punctured a vein, but this technique is not used in every country. It is possible that the higher incidence of thrombosis in some countries may be linked to inadvertent venipuncture.

Someone should make a new thread about the news and title it AtraZeneca's collapse is complete.

Is the risk of blood clots after the first or both jabs?

From the MHRA (UK) press conference: they said that the vast majority of cases happened within two weeks of the first jab. Or it might have been the EMA (EU) info. Definitely one of them said it, though.

Thanks 17

Had mine (first) Tuesday night. Woah.

So from what I gather there's no middle ground... either mild side effects or you get walloped. It was so bad I thought I had the COVID. Headache (not epic but distinctly uncomfortable), joint pain (like a bad flu), fever that spiked as high as 101.8. It lasted about 24 ours. Temperature still elevated but not even a low fever by measure. I am quite tired still. Read the product monograph... the occurrence of side effects are high for side effects... fever, I think, in 38% of recipients. A doctor friend read it to me and she was like these are high occurrences. It passes but like I say, anecdotally if it isn't mild, you'll get walloped.

I had my AZ vaccine a couple of weeks ago and absolutely no side effects apart from a sore arm. As an expert said on the news this morning, you're more likely to die eating your breakfast, taking a bath or walking down your stairs than to die of an AZ-induced blood clot.

Grow the fuck up.

[quote]'flu

Why the apostrophe? What do you think you're abbreviating?

I had my 1st Astra dose last month - I had a sore arm for a few days and I felt a bit fatigued. Those were my only issues...I am female, thin and in my 40's.

R22 No-one is ever going to believe there's a thin woman posting on DL.

Hahaha...r23...very true. I am waiting for my 2nd dose, but who knows if and when they'll administer the 2nd doses. I live in the EU/Spain.

From The Times ([italic]The[/italic] Times):

Why AstraZeneca vaccine risk is nothing much to worry about

Tom Whipple, Science Editor Thursday April 08 2021, 5.00pm BST, The Times

For those seeking reassurance before an AstraZeneca vaccine appointment, it is not quite correct to say that the drive to the clinic will be the most dangerous thing they do — but it’s not far off. Especially if they go by motorcycle.

Assuming that the vaccine really is linked to the clots, then using UK figures there is a 1 in a million chance of it causing death. Using German figures it seems to be about twice that. These will vary by age and gender, but are a rough guide.

In terms of driving risk, that’s just slightly worse than a round trip from London to Barnard Castle — assuming good eyesight. In a motorcycle taking the same journey, by the time you get on the M1 you would have easily exceeded the risk.

Humans are very bad at judging small risks. Little in our evolution prioritised brains that could perform pragmatic cost-benefit assessments of adenovirus vector vaccines (even when those vaccines use chimpanzee viruses). So even though we know intellectually that the chance of a fatal clot is extremely rare, emotionally we feel very differently.

Here are some ways of understanding a 1 in a million risk. It is equivalent to the chance of dying on a skiing holiday or to your chances of getting struck by lightning over the course of two years (and even then you will probably survive — one American park keeper, known as “lightning Rod”, was struck seven times).

Maybe seven people in the UK have had fatal clots potentially linked to the vaccine. Last year in the UK, 23 drowned in a bath, 30 were killed by something falling on their head, and seven died after being bitten by a mammal. Once again, despite the dogged insistence of the statistics agency in keeping the category open, there were no UK deaths caused by alligators, “venomous arthropods” or “prolonged stay in weightless environment”.

These comparisons are useful, but they can also be a little crass. First, because vaccines also protect — unlike falling projectiles and venomous arthropods — they are not just negatives.

Second, vaccine side effects are also, unlike lightning strikes, not random. Knowing how they occur and to whom will help to mitigate and treat the risks.

But the comparisons do make the point that each day we take on risks without ever stopping to calculate the dangers. The clearest example of this is in common medication. Each year, for each million women aged 15 to 44, about 50 will develop a clot. If they take the pill, that rises fivefold to about 250.

These are less serious clots than those linked to the vaccine, but it is estimated that as many as 1 in 50 will still be fatal. That’s four in a million, or four times the mortality risk of a jab for each year a woman is on the pill.

Yet, highlighting just how complex this all is, the paradox is that women on the pill appear to have a lower death rate. Possibly, in part, because like the vaccine it has benefits too — pregnancy is itself dangerous.

R21 influenza.

I Just received my second Pfizer shot.

Who wants my stuff?

Getting AZ first shot tomorrow in Canada, which has fucked up the vaccination process to a genuinely historic and deeply embarrassing degree. I am sure that Canada will keep fucking up in the future. When I get my second shot in four months (yep), what if we only have Pfizer or Moderna? Can you mix and match?

R28, you should avoid mixing and matching. Would you drop dead if you did it? Very likely not. But no studies have shown how effective mixing and matching is.

I am perhaps allergic to PEG, which you take to prepare bowel for colonoscopy. Every time I take it, I immediately throw it all up, so I have never had a colonoscopy.

If I am allergic to PREP, can I still take AZ? It is mentioned on an AZ form I have to fill out.

R28... studies are underway about mixing and matching. France is just doing it. The UK expects to publish something by summer's end, which will involve Az. I work in public health and I asked the doctors... the general feeling is there would be no harm from it, but no one is certain yet what the benefit would be, either.

Should you take AZ if you’re prone to allergies?

The 12 week wait for my second will be up on May 13th. Had no reaction to the first bar a mild ache where I was injected. Oddly, still get that occasionally but no other symptoms.

I got my second jab. No side effects for this one either.

I had my first jab on March 20. Very mild reactions of tiredness and very slightly sore arm. I was 100% fine 36 hours after the jab. I am looking forward to getting my second one.