Understanding 'COVID arm' or a swollen skin rash around the vaccine injected area - Getting 'COVID arm' - Economic Times

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09 Mar 2021, 12:19 PM IST

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Getting 'COVID arm'

According to a report by TOI, some rare side-effects that have come along with the different COVID-19 vaccines have raised quite a lot of doubt in the public. That said, one of the most prominent and talked about vaccine reactions is the 'COVID arm'. If you have got the COVID vaccine and have noticed a swollen skin rash around the injected area, then chances are that you have developed a 'COVID arm'.

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A rash of sorts

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a "Covid arm" is an arm with rash that may appear after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. In medical terms, the condition has also been called delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity, which essentially means a delayed reaction on the skin.

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Common signs

While COVID arm is associated with the vaccine jab, it is most likely that the signs of side-effects appear after you've received the dose. As per experts some of the known and common signs of COVID arms are redness, swelling, and skin tenderness near the vaccinated area that develops eight or more days after getting the vaccine.

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Known to be harmless

While the condition sounds and appears severe, according to researchers, COVID arm is not as serious and is harmless. Researchers studying the phase 3 clinical trial data for the Moderna mRNA claim that the reaction goes away within four or five days. "COVID arm" is said to be a harmless response to the vaccine. As per experts, it is a "known phenomenon" and may be a response from the immune system to the COVID vaccine.

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Research still on

According to a New England Journal of Medicine report, 12 patients who had got the Moderna Covid-19 vaccines had developed signs of 'COVID arm' including rashes. It is believed that these rashes appeared 4 to 11 days following the first doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. The authors claimed that delayed-injection site reactions were reported in 244 participants after the first dose and in 68 participants after the second dose. Comparatively, in people who received the Pfizer vaccine, such cases have been relatively low.

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