Are you about to receive, or have you already received an inoculation against COVID-19? If the answer is “yes” there’s something you ought to know.
Don’t drink (alcohol) and vaccinate. We know it sounds funny but this is for real.
Alcohol alters the nature of microorganisms in the gut that help defend the body against bacteria and viruses, according to immunologist Professor Sheena Cruickshank of the University of Manchester, who spoke with Metro UK.
Likewise, Emergency medicine expert Dr. Ronx Ikharia found that three glasses of Prosecco reduced the number of white blood cells, including lymphocytes, by up to 50 percent. These are the blood cells that attack viruses with antibodies; they play a key role in determining the immune response to foreign intruders — like the COVID-19 virus and its newly-emerging variants.
But Russian health officials were the first to advise their citizens – those who were receiving the Sputnik vaccine, specifically – to avoid alcohol, and they told them to dry out for two months, explaining that it might dampen the body’s ability to respond to the vaccine. That recommendation has since been reduced somewhat.
“We strongly recommend refraining from alcohol for three days after each injection,” Alexander Gintsburg, head of the Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, told the New Scientist publication. The warning doesn’t just apply to the Sputnik V vaccine, but all COVID-19 vaccines and indeed all other vaccines, the publication noted. “This is quite obvious,” Gintsburg commented.
Drinking alcohol in certain amounts suppresses the immune system, researchers found in a 2012 study in Sweden. “Low to moderate alcohol consumption was related to lower levels of inflammation markers but had no impact on immune response,” the researchers found.
“Excess alcohol is shown to suppress a wide range of immune responses predisposing the host to various infections, and in particular pulmonary ones. On the other hand, moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages may enhance immune response,” the researchers wrote.
It would seem the best advice would be to take the path of moderation, and to abstain from alcohol for a few days on both sides of the inoculation, just for safety’s sake. Nahila Bonfiglio, a writer at Nautilus: Science Connected, suggested in an article published Tuesday, “it seems that a short period of sobriety is advisable. Taking at least three days off from drinking before you receive the first dose of vaccine and at lest the same amount of time on the other end will help the vaccine to more effectively inoculate you against COVID-19.”