CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An FDA advisory committee plans to meet Thursday and Friday to discuss the emergency request authorization from Pfizer for its COVID-19 vaccine for kids who are younger than 12, as well as possible approval of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters.
With so many questions about vaccines and boosters, many people are wondering if there could be long-term effects they need to worry about, particularly in children who receive boosters.
THE QUESTION
Do people get side effects from vaccines months or years after getting the shot?
SOURCES
- Dr. Daniel Donner, a pediatrician with Novant Health Pediatrics SouthPark in Charlotte
- The CDC
THE ANSWER
No, people do not get side effects months or years after taking a vaccine.
Donner says there is a chance for side effects to show up with any vaccine, but typically those are seen within the first few weeks.
"For no vaccine ever made has there been a long-term side effect after six weeks," Donner said.
WHAT WE FOUND
Donner said this has been the case for decades for vaccines.
"With the Rotavirus vaccine, an older one that was introduced in the 1960s and '70s, you could have stomach issues, and this was very rare in the hundreds of thousands of people," Donner said.
The CDC's website also states that the most damage side effects have taken place within a six-week window. For example, in 1976, rare cases of a nerve disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome emerged two-to-three weeks after people received a vaccine against swine flu. It affected one to two people in every 1 million who were vaccinated.
Contact Meghan Bragg at mbragg@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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