‘Nocebo effect’: two-thirds of Covid jab reactions not caused by vaccine, study suggests
US researchers show negative version of placebo effect behind many symptoms such as headaches and fatigue
Ian Sample Science editor
@iansample
Tue 18 Jan 2022 11.00 EST
More than two-thirds of the common side-effects people experience after a Covid jab can be attributed to a negative version of the placebo effect rather than the vaccine itself, researchers claim.
Scientists in the US examined data from 12 clinical trials of Covid vaccines and found that the “nocebo effect” accounted for about 76% of all common adverse reactions after the first dose and nearly 52% after the second dose.
The findings suggest that a substantial proportion of milder side-effects [which aren’t at issue, so shut up—MCM], such as headaches, short-term fatigue, and arm pain are not produced by the constituents of the vaccine, but by other factors thought to generate the nocebo response, including anxiety, expectation and misattributing various ailments to having had the jab.