When I saw that title on an article, I thought how silly... then I read the text in the journal eBioMedicine [part of The Lancet].
Both ipsilateral and contralateral vaccination induce a strong immune response, but secondary boosting is more pronounced when choosing vaccine administration-routes that allows for drainage by the same lymph nodes used for priming. Higher neutralizing antibody activity and higher levels of spike-specific CD8 T-cells may have implications for protection from infection and severe disease and support general preference for ipsilateral vaccination... The observed differences in immunogenicity may result from the fact that priming and secondary boosting of the immune response after ipsilateral vaccination occurs in the same draining axillary lymph nodes with limited involvement of the contralateral side. Conceptually, this is supported by 18F-FDG PET/CT studies among BNT162b2-vaccine recipients demonstrating that the ipsilateral lymph nodes on the side where the vaccine had been applied were significantly larger in size and showed higher metabolic activity compared to the contralateral lymph nodes...
Makes sense. Now if I can only remember in which arm I got my primary vaccines.
I know mine was in my left arm, as it was done at a drive-up event and everyone had to remain in our vehicles. I was driving.
ReplyDeleteThis are minute details. Please don't let them overshadow the need to get a booster at all. Get it sooner rather than later. In your foot if you have to.
ReplyDeleteMost people get shots in their non-dominant arm, because shots tend to hurt a little, and that's better in your non-dominant arm. That's the SOP recommendation from doctors.
I always get shots in my right arm because I'm left-handed. It's just a habit but I'm glad to know it actually has an advantage.
ReplyDeleteI got my arm in my dominant arm (right arm) because there was a fad where everyone was swinging their arms to reduce the pain that could come from the vaccination. Instead of swinging my arm, I just used it normally to help reduce the swelling.
ReplyDeleteWow. this reminds me of all the people that believe in one of the gods purported to exist in actual reality.
ReplyDeleteWhen social media ... the only channel open to everyday people without total censorship ... is awash with valid arguments, questions and also of course, some extensive rabbit warrens .... one perhaps should assume there could be another side to the story.
In my country the government health sites tell of the causes of death per annum.
In 2020, 2021 and 2022 the number of people that died from influenza or pneumonia was 5% of the average number that died from those maladies in the previous years.
The corona virus I.D 19 should be hailed as a miracle for near wiping out the twin killers of pneumonia and influenza.
Sadly, it itself seems to have killed off the exact same numbers it had just saved.
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Also, 'In which arm should you get OUR covid booster ?'
Can someone translate the medical jargon? Is it saying that getting all your shots on the same side of the body is good for you, or is it bad for you because it leaves your lymph nodes unbalanced?
ReplyDeleteGetting a booster for a previously-administered vaccine is best done in the same arm because the lymph nodes there are primed and ready to go. Unrelated vaccines can be administered whereever.
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