Experts urge covid-19 vaccine receivers to avoid alcohol

If you plan on receiving the jab then you should probably think of abstaining from imbibing for a couple of days, experts suggest. Alcohol is potent enough to alter the make-up of microorganisms in the gut that prevent bacteria and viruses from getting through.

How is alcohol detrimental to the vaccine?

Immunologist and Professor from the University of Manchester, Sheena Cruickshank, says that alcohol can affect the immune system's response to a COVID-19 vaccine:

You need to have your immune system working tip-top to have a good response to the vaccine, so if you’re drinking the night before, or shortly afterwards, that’s not going to help.

Emergency medicine expert Dr Ronx Ikharia found that three glasses of Prosecco was enough to reduce one's white blood cell count. Lymphocytes, which aid in attacking viruses with antibodies, were observed to have been reduced by up to half.

An experiment by Dr. Ikharia which is set to air on the BBC on Wednesday titled The Truth About...Boosting Your Immune System, will show how alcohol affects our immune system's capacity to effectively respond to foreign substances.

The vaccination process so far

About 530,000 doses will be ready to be administered throughout the UK with priority given to those working in healthcare, people living in care homes and the elderly. With the Pfizer vaccine having rolled out for almost a month now, a little over a million people have received their first coronavirus jab.

As of most recent news, the government is aiming to administer around two million jabs each week in an attempt to return to normalcy by Easter.

With more than 60,000 new cases of infection having been reported in the last 24 hours, the vaccine is pivotal in containing the virus.