A Taitung County doctor yesterday advised older people receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to avoid engaging in strenuous activity for a few days following vaccination.
They should particularly avoid over-exerting the arm they were vaccinated in, Huang Yi-chun (黃奕竣) said.
Health workers yesterday began administering the 1.24 million shots of AstraZeneca vaccine received from Japan last week, and those aged 75 or older are included in the categories of eligible people.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
On the day of vaccination, as well as immediately after vaccination, it is advisable to drink plenty of water, Huang said.
It is also advisable for men to sit while urinating at night after being vaccinated to avoid injury from the potential side effect micturition syncope — fainting while urinating due to a severe drop in blood pressure, he said.
Vaccinated people should ensure they have adequate nutrition in their diet, particularly protein, which helps the immune system produce antibodies, Huang said, adding that those with a lack of appetite the day after vaccination could try eating boiled eggs or egg dessert.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Those who take vitamin supplements should take vitamins C and E, and spend 15 minutes in the sun every day to boost vitamin D intake, all of which helps the immune system, he said.
Those who suffer from sarcopenia — progressive muscle loss — should in particular supplement intake of those vitamins, as well as foods with branched-chain amino acids and omega-3 fatty acids, he added.
It is important for older people to maintain pressure on the injection site for a longer time after vaccination, because blood coagulates more slowly in older people, Huang said.
“It is also a good idea to exercise the deltoid muscle [shoulder] before getting vaccinated, because side effects may be less pronounced the thicker the muscle is,” he said.
People should not take painkillers as a preventive measure before vaccination, as one study has shown that doing so could lower the immune response, Huang said, adding that it is better to take painkillers after vaccination and only if necessary.
Some discomfort after vaccination is a normal response in a healthy person, he said.
“If you regularly suffer from inflammation of any body part, that’s really going to flare up after you get vaccinated, so that’s something older people should be aware of,” Huang said.
Family members and caregivers can help older people by massaging their legs during the two days following vaccination to help the blood flow, he said.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
RSS