Dont think its really suited to the main forum but stumbled across this and thought Id post it...
After a long year and a lot of anticipation, getting the Covid-19 vaccine can be cause for celebration – which might mean pouring a drink and toasting your new immunity. But can alcohol interfere with your immune response?
The short answer is that it depends on how much you drink. There is no evidence that having a drink or two can render any of the current coronavirus-disease vaccines less effective. Some studies have even found that, over the longer term, small or moderate amounts of alcohol might actually benefit the immune system, by reducing inflammation.
Heavy alcohol consumption, on the other hand, particularly over the long term, can suppress your immune system and potentially interfere with your vaccine response, experts say.
In one study, scientists exposed 391 people to five different respiratory viruses and found that moderate drinkers were less likely to develop colds, but not if they were smokers. In another study, Messaoudi and colleagues provided rhesus monkeys access to alcoholic beverages for seven months and then looked at how their bodies responded to a vaccine against poxvirus. Much like humans, some rhesus monkeys enjoy alcohol and will drink a lot, while others show less interest and will limit themselves to small amounts. The researchers found that the animals that were chronically heavy drinkers had a weak response to the vaccine. “They had almost a nonexistent immune response,” Messaoudi says.
The animals that consumed only moderate amounts of alcohol, however, generated the strongest response to the vaccine, even compared with the teetotallers that consumed no alcohol at all. Studies in rats have found a similar pattern.
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After a long year and a lot of anticipation, getting the Covid-19 vaccine can be cause for celebration – which might mean pouring a drink and toasting your new immunity. But can alcohol interfere with your immune response?
The short answer is that it depends on how much you drink. There is no evidence that having a drink or two can render any of the current coronavirus-disease vaccines less effective. Some studies have even found that, over the longer term, small or moderate amounts of alcohol might actually benefit the immune system, by reducing inflammation.
Heavy alcohol consumption, on the other hand, particularly over the long term, can suppress your immune system and potentially interfere with your vaccine response, experts say.
In one study, scientists exposed 391 people to five different respiratory viruses and found that moderate drinkers were less likely to develop colds, but not if they were smokers. In another study, Messaoudi and colleagues provided rhesus monkeys access to alcoholic beverages for seven months and then looked at how their bodies responded to a vaccine against poxvirus. Much like humans, some rhesus monkeys enjoy alcohol and will drink a lot, while others show less interest and will limit themselves to small amounts. The researchers found that the animals that were chronically heavy drinkers had a weak response to the vaccine. “They had almost a nonexistent immune response,” Messaoudi says.
The animals that consumed only moderate amounts of alcohol, however, generated the strongest response to the vaccine, even compared with the teetotallers that consumed no alcohol at all. Studies in rats have found a similar pattern.
Due your Covid jab? Mind what you drink afterwards
Moderate drinking is unlikely to impair your immune response, but heavy drinking might