Answer to a nagging question

“Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.”

—Frank Sinatra

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

AS of April 27, some Filipinos who have been inoculated with one dose of COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) in our community in Elmhurst, Queens, NYC continued to debate whether alcoholic drinks can hamper the effectivity of the vaccines in the body before and after the first dose.

Can alcohol interfere with our immune response?

“Puede at least after three days,” remarked Daniel, 58, who got his first dose in Woodhaven on April 15. His final dose will be on May 4.

Daniel, a regular beer drinker, skipped drinking for at least five days after April 15.

In a drinking spree with fellow Filipino-Americans in a birthday bash on April 26, Daniel, an employee at the Laguardia Airport in Queens, gobbled up seven bottles of a Mexican beer.

“Sabi ko sa iyo OK lang yan basta before the vaccination, not after,” hissed Jerome, the birthday celebrant, who didn’t drink after finishing his second dose on April 25.

“Puede ba talagang uminum or talagang bawal?” inquired Ramil, 45, the only person who has not yet taken a single dose.

Ramil, a delivery man in a balikbayan box shop on Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, Queens, said in a jest the reason why he is still adamant to be vaccinated is because “I don’t want to miss drinking (beer).”

He consumes at least two cans of beer before he goes to sleep every night.

One thing that is clear from studies, however, is that heavy alcohol consumption impairs the immune response and increases susceptibility to bacterial and viral infections. 

As Covid-19 vaccines were rolled out across the world, misinformation was reported to be rife across social media platforms. 

In March 2021, a number of social media users claimed that they had seen online posts that claimed drinking in between COVID-19 vaccine doses will impair the efficacy of the immunization.

Health authorities said alcohol prevents immune cells from traveling to sites of infection and carrying out their duties, like destroying viruses, bacteria and infected cells; makes it easier for pathogens to invade your cells, and causes a host of other problems.

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According to a research made by New York Times writer Anahad O’Connor, “there is no evidence that having a drink or two can render any of the current Covid 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,” explained O’Connor.

He asserted that “heavy alcohol consumption, particularly over the long term, can suppress the immune system and potentially interfere with your vaccine response, experts say.”

Since it can take weeks after a Covid shot for the body to generate protective levels of antibodies against the novel coronavirus, anything that interferes with the immune response would reportedly be cause for concern.

“If you are truly a moderate drinker, then there’s no risk of having a drink around the time of your vaccine,” said Ilhem Messaoudi, director of the Center for Virus Research at the University of California, Irvine, who has conducted research on the effects of alcohol on the immune response. 

“But be very cognizant of what moderate drinking really means. It’s dangerous to drink large amounts of alcohol because the effects on all biological systems, including the immune system, are pretty severe and they occur pretty quickly after you get out of that moderate zone.”

O’Connor defines moderate drinking as generally “no more than two drinks a day for men and a maximum of one drink a day for women, whereas heavy drinking is defined as four or more drinks on any day for men and three or more drinks for women.”

Keep in mind that one “standard” drink is considered five ounces of wine, 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, or 12 ounces of beer, he warned.

 

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Some of the first concerns about alcohol and Covid vaccination began circulating after a Russian health official warned in December that people should avoid alcohol for two weeks before getting vaccinated and then abstain for another 42 days afterward. 

According to a Reuters report, the official claimed that alcohol could hamper the body’s ability to develop immunity against the novel coronavirus. 

Her warning sparked a fierce backlash in Russia, which has one of the world’s highest drinking rates.

In the United States, some experts say they have heard similar concerns about whether it is safe to drink around the time of vaccination. “We’ve been getting a lot of questions from our patients about this,” said Dr. Angela Hewlett, an associate professor of infectious diseases who directs the Covid infectious diseases team at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. 

“Understandably, people who are receiving these vaccines want to make sure they’re doing all the right things to maximize their immune response.”

O’Connor said clinical trials of the Covid vaccines that are currently approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration did not specifically look at whether alcohol had any impact on the effectiveness of the vaccines, Dr. Hewlett said. 

“It’s possible that there will be more information on that in the future. But for now, most of what is known comes from previous research, including studies that examined how alcohol affects the immune system in humans and whether it hinders the immune response in animals that received other vaccines,” he stressed.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two dailies in Iloilo)