Wikimedia Commons
American researchers in the article, published v Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, questioned the recommendation to avoid physical activity immediately after vaccination. They compared the levels of antibodies in the blood of people who exercised after the vaccine, and the same levels in those who avoided exercise. Four weeks after vaccination, blood antibody levels were significantly higher in those who exercised on the day of vaccination.
In the period after vaccination, some people experience flu-like reactions with fever and muscle pain, which affects performance. But even if the vaccine did not affect your well-being in any way, Rospotrebnadzor still recommends take better care of your health, in particular, avoid intense physical exertion.
Perhaps this statement is an unnecessary precaution, and scientists from the University of Iowa, led by Marian L. Kohut, have undertaken to refute it. They vaccinated study participants with three different vaccines: 20 people against the H1N1 influenza serotype, 28 people with a trivalent drug against three influenza serotypes, and another 39 people received the coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer.
Then these three groups were divided in half: one half began to exercise (biking or running) for 90 minutes within half an hour after the introduction of the vaccine, and the second was asked to avoid physical exertion. All participants were bled for antibody levels before the start of the experiment, two weeks later, and four weeks after vaccination.
The scientists got an unexpected result: in people who played sports immediately after vaccination, the levels of antibodies turned out to be on average higher than in those who avoided physical activity (p < 0.001). Moreover, such a picture was observed for all three vaccines, and the number of side effects in the groups was comparable, that is, physical activity did not affect the well-being of the study participants.
Antibody levels after vaccination with monovalent influenza vaccine
Hallam et al. / Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2022
Antibody levels after vaccination with trivalent influenza vaccine
Hallam et al. / Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2022
Antibody levels after being vaccinated with a coronavirus vaccine
Hallam et al. / Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2022
The researchers believe that the effect may in part be mediated by the activation of interferon-alpha. In previous studies in mice, antibodies against interferon-alpha significantly reduced the production of IgG antibodies in animals after vaccination. However, the exact mechanisms of its action remain to be understood, and besides, scientists believe that this only partially explains the results. There are likely multiple pathways involved, as physical activity modulates many biochemical reactions as well as brain activity.
We recently talked about the work of British doctors, in which they concluded that the simultaneous vaccination against influenza and covid is quite safe. To this conclusion they came following a follow-up of 679 patients who received the flu vaccine along with drugs from Pfizer and AstraZeneca.
Anastasia Kuznetsova-Fantoni