Wait eight hours before taking pain relief meds after your Covid jab

Your Covid jab may not have worked as well as it might if you used pain relief drugs to ward off fever or aches and pains. Here’s why.

Commonly used pain medications could stop your Covid vaccine from working properly, shocking new Australian research has found.

Taking paracetamol (Panadol) or ibuprofen (Nurofen) before or immediately after your Covid vaccine, or any vaccine, could reduce the body’s immune response to the jab by up to 30 per cent.

University of Sydney researcher Dr Christina Abdel-Shaheed said people who experienced mild headaches or fever should try to weather the side effects rather than reach for these pain medications, in order to get a better immune response.

If the side effects are more severe, recipients should wait for at least 6-8 hours before seeking pain relief, the research suggests.

“There is some sort of blunting to the immune response and individual studies have put an estimate of around, in some cases, over 30 per cent reduction in levels of antibodies,” she said.

Health worker Jamie Butler talks to a man before he is vaccinated. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

The clinical review of more than 170 studies, conducted by Dr Abdel-Shaheed, found ibuprofen and morphine can also mess with your immune system, making you more likely to get an infection.

Using ibuprofen if you have chickenpox can increase the risk of secondary bacterial skin infections, the research published in the British Journal of Pharmacology found.

Morphine and other opioids used after surgery or in critical care can suppress key immune cells, infectious disease specialist at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital Dr Justin Beardsley said.

It can also increase the risk of infection, particularly in cancer patients.

Dr Abdel-Shaheed said the findings were unexpected and the academics “were amazed by what we found”.

“In 14 years of studying pain, this is the most important research I have been involved in,” she said.

“Our review shows some of the common pain and fever medications may work with the immune system to fight infection, whereas others work against it and increase the risk of contracting or responding badly to infectious diseases.”

The federal Department of Health website recommends against taking paracetamol or ibuprofen before receiving a Covid-19 vaccine.

However, it advises “pain relievers such as antipyretics and analgesics can be taken after vaccination if needed to manage vaccine-related side effects, such as fever and myalgia (muscle pain)”.

This advice is contrary to the new findings.

“Taking paracetamol or ibuprofen before or immediately after vaccination – for example for Covid-19 – to try to prevent mild fever or headache is not recommended, because this could reduce the body’s desirable immune response to the vaccine,” Dr Abdel-Shaheed said.

Panadol may blunt the immune response to Covid vaccines. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

On the positive side, the researchers found aspirin could be a cheap therapeutic option for tuberculosis and the anti-inflammatory medicine indomethacin (brand names Indocid, Indocin) may reduce viral replication in Covid-19.

“With the urgent need for new treatments for Covid-19 and the declining efficacy of some antimicrobial agents due to resistance, now more than ever we need medicines which can maintain or enhance the efficacy of anti-infective drug treatments,” Dean of Pharmacy at the University of Sydney Professor Andrew McLachlan said.

“The results of this review suggest that commonly used medicines for pain and fever should be further explored as inexpensive and effective adjunctive treatments which influence immune and inflammation pathways for people undergoing treatment for infection.”