Can I drink alcohol before or after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine?

The high rate of arrival of vaccines has made it possible to begin vaccination of the largest population groups, such as Thus, many have wondered whether alcohol consumption is contraindicated after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine. A question to which science answers as follows: alcohol weakens the immune system but it has not been shown to intervene in the vaccination process.

Can I drink alcohol before or after receiving the vaccine?

Anna Popova, head of Russia’s consumer health regulator, was one of the first authorities to say people should stop drinking alcohol for at least two weeks after receiving the first of two Sputnik V injections. She also recommended that they should continue to abstain from drinking for another 42 days. Some statements that set off alarms, especially in a country with a high alcohol consumption.

For vaccines licensed in Europe, such as Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, the developers haven’t made any specific recommendations because trial participants didn’t account for alcohol consumption, and the findings didn’t mention that people had problems after drinking . “There is no evidence that alcohol reduces antibody formation,” , infectious disease physician and professor of internal medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University.

However, Sheena Cruickshank, a professor and immunologist at the University of Manchester, explained to HuffPost that when alcohol is drunk the night before or a few days later, the immune system does not fully function, which could harm the ultimate goal of vaccination. . A conclusion also reached by Ronx Ikharia, a specialist in emergency medicine, in the BBC documentary entitled The truth about strengthening your immune system.

The Spanish Society of Immunology, for its part, recalls that the consumption of distilled alcohol and drugs has an immunosuppressive effect, with mechanisms very similar to those that occur in situations of depression or stress. “Until recently it was indicated that the moderate intake of wine or beer could be ‘immuno-healthy’. We must here deny it and distinguish that a pleasure during a meal should not be identified as healthy: that it does not negatively affect the immune system is not synonymous with health (there are many very harmful side effects),” explains the organization.

Thus, the conclusion is that alcohol is a substance that, consumed in excess, has an impact on the immune system, which is in charge of generating defenses against the Covid-19 virus. However, moderate consumption, for example, a beer to celebrate immunization, has not been shown to be contraindicated.