Two-thirds of COVID-19 jab reactions caused by placebo effect - study

 https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-693996

More than two-thirds of the common side-effects people experience after a coronavirus shot can be attributed to a negative version of the placebo effect rather than the vaccine itself, new research indicates.

Scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston examined data from 12 clinical trials of COVID vaccines and found that the “nocebo effect” accounted for more than three-fourths (76%) of all common adverse reactions after the first dose and more than half (nearly 52%) after the second dose. A third of clinical trial participants who received no vaccine reported systemic adverse advents like headache and fatigue.

The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, suggest that a large proportion of milder side-effects, such as headaches, short-term fatigue and arm pain are not produced by the the vaccine itself, but by other factors thought to generate the nocebo response, such as anxiety.