Do Not Do This Neither Before Nor After Vaccination

In the midst of the vaccination campaign, experts are issuing a warning to all citizens to avoid surprises. There are many who insist on remembering something crucial for the correct functioning of the immune system once the vaccine against coronavirus has been received.

In fact, the recommendation even refers to before being inoculated with the drug, not only once the injection has been received.

What not to do before and after vaccination

You can't put your health at risk. This has deeply touched people who perhaps before the pandemic did not value so much the fact of being healthy. It is vital to protect oneself, now more than ever, when many countries are already moving towards immunization, which will prevent deaths and difficulties for many people.

We are in a decisive phase, facing a fourth wave, but also with a powerful tool in hand to face the virus that has kept the whole world in suspense for more than a year. 

It is, therefore, necessary to take care now, in the midst of vaccination. And there is something that many experts in immunology have referred to. Something that represents a risk and should be avoided by all means. According to the experts, it is vital not to consume alcohol, either before or after vaccination. Although it may seem obvious, it is not and it is important to remember it.

There are many scientific studies that show that alcohol consumption affects the functioning of the immune system. It is therefore recommended not to consume it once the drug has been administered, but not beforehand either. 

One of the professionals who have insisted on this is Dr. Ronx Ikharia, a specialist in emergency medicine, in the BBC documentary 'The Truth About Boosting Your Immune System'. And, interestingly, the doctor has experimented on herself how alcohol reduces immunity. What did she do? She extracted some blood before and after drinking three glasses of wine.

Alcohol reduces immunity

Dr. Ronx Ikharia discovered with her experiment that the wine she had consumed had halved her levels of white lymphocytes in her blood, cells that are responsible for fighting viruses that sneak into our bodies. "The evidence is clear: drink too much alcohol and your immune system will suffer," she says. 

But she is not the only expert, as we pointed out, who defends it and remembers it, now more than ever. Sheena Cruickshank, an immunologist at the University of Manchester, affirms that "for there to be a good response to the vaccine, you need your immune system to be working at its best, so if you drink the night before or shortly after, that's not going to help," she says also in the BBC documentary.

Precisely along these lines, one of the most prominent health authorities in Russia, Anna Popova, suggested that people should avoid alcohol even two weeks before receiving their dose of the vaccine and that, furthermore, after receiving it, it was good to wait about 42 more days before drinking again. Later, Alexander Gintsburg, creator of the Sputnik vaccine, wanted to intervene following this statement to clarify that we would talk about abstaining from alcohol three days before and three days after receiving the two doses.

The timing, therefore, is not entirely clear, as Dr. Tony Rao, an expert in alcohol and dementia at King's College London, explained to HuffPost: "The safest option is not to drink any alcoholic beverages the days before and after the vaccine, although we need more research to know exactly how long we are talking about".

It is clear then, although specifications and more studies are needed to specify exact times, that alcohol affects our immune system, the one we must take care of with the vaccine and following the recommendations of the experts to achieve the desired result.

[This is a translation of the original article "Lo que no debes hacer bajo ningún concepto ni antes ni después de vacunarte" published in espanadiario.net]