Can I take painkillers before or after a COVID-19 vaccine? It's best to avoid them, unless you routinely take them for a medical condition.
Although the evidence is limited, some painkillers might interfere with the very thing the vaccine is trying to do: generate a strong immune system response.
Vaccines work by tricking the body into thinking it has a virus and mounting a defense against it. That may cause arm soreness, fever, headache, muscle aches or other temporary symptoms of inflammation that can be part of that reaction. “These symptoms mean your immune system is revving up and the vaccine is working,” Dr.