Woman reports bizarre side effect of Covid jab
After receiving her booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, a Sydney woman has given it credit for an unusual side effect - removing two persistent warts on her hands.
Erin Riley shared her medical discovery on Twitter, two weeks after receiving an mRNA Covid vaccine.
“I have had two warts on my hands for the last 5 years,” she wrote. “Tried wart off- they kept coming back. But in the two weeks since I had my booster shot (my first mRNA vaccine as my first two were AZ), they have disappeared completely.
“As in, you can’t even tell they were there.”
Several people have since commented on Ms Riley’s tweet with their own, similar experiences, including some who noticed effects after receiving just their first dose.
“I just checked and yes a wart I’ve had on my finger for at least 20 yrs is gone. Not even a mark,” one person shared.
“OH MY GOD I just checked and one on my toe is significantly smaller?! It’s been there maybe 15 years,” another wrote.
Others have shared experiences of disappearing corns and moles.
“OK so this is weird but had a mole just above my eyebrow that (has) been developing very slowly, now it’s almost gone … so that’s unexpected. Not a wart but a mole,” they wrote.
Although most warts are harmless, viral warts are generally caused by one of the 150 different strains of the human papillomaviruses (HPV).
A study from the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology has reported on the effect of COVID-19 vaccines and viral warts, though the effect is yet to be well-established.
The researchers cited a potential explanation that could involve activation of a person’s immune response after getting the jab. However, they said more research is needed to confirm the link.
The team also noted that the effect was interesting, as other vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella have also been used to treat viral warts. They added that though warts can disappear “spontaneously”, a similar effect has been seen in some patients who received the HPV vaccine.
Unlike the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine - which uses weakened viral material to trigger an immune response - mRNA vaccines such as Moderna and Pfizer use messenger RNA (mRNA) to trigger the response.
The mRNAin the vaccine teaches your immune system how to make the S protein found in the COVID-19 virus, allowing your body to create antibodies specifically to fight the virus which can protect you from future infection.
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