Risks
For all age groups, vaccination should only be carried out when the patient is in complete health, otherwise there is a risk of the disease worsening. In brain-damaged patients or patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapy, the vaccination must be carefully weighed up. Examples of this are condition after transplantation, HIV infection and chemotherapy.
In individual cases, however, your family doctor can give you precise information as to whether the risk of an TBE vaccination is currently too high. Every vaccination also carries the risk of an allergic reaction. Although this occurs extremely rarely, it can be potentially life-threatening. However, staff and doctors are trained and prepared for these exceptional cases, so that the risk remains very low.
Side effects
As with any other vaccination, very rare cases of TBE vaccination can also cause side effects. These are usually very harmless and only of short duration. Especially young patients, such as babies and small children, may develop a fever after the first TBE vaccination.
Since the purpose of a vaccination is, among other things, to get the immune system “out of reserve” and to make it familiar with the virus, symptoms of illness can occur after the vaccination if the immune status is weak. These include general malaise and flu-like symptoms up to outbreaks of sweating and fever in the range around 38 degrees. Especially after the first vaccination, when the body has not yet become accustomed to the virus, this is more common.
However, a reaction to the vaccination dose can also be completely absent. In about one third of all vaccinated persons there are small changes around the injection site. These include a slight redness and swelling caused by the injection of the vaccine into the tissue.
This reaction can be very unpleasant, especially for children. However, it usually disappears by the next day. Occasionally, pain may also occur in this context.
However, these are usually only mild. In some vaccinated persons, the area where the vaccination was administered is somewhat hardened for a few days and reacts to pressure with slight pain. All these local side effects usually last a few days and are very harmless.
Occasionally, the TBE vaccination can also cause more general side effects such as fatigue, tiredness and headaches. Occasionally, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever and chills also occur. These too are usually short-lived and not very pronounced.
Serious side effects such as an allergic or even anaphylactic reaction are very rare. The TBE vaccination can lead to various side effects, which manifest themselves as so-called “general symptoms”, i.e. affecting the whole body. These include fever, among other things.Some vaccinated persons may experience a slight increase in body temperature for a few days because the body reacts to the foreign substance and has to process it.
If there is a sharp rise in temperature, heavy sweating at night or even a febrile convulsion, a doctor should be consulted. One of the possible, though very rare, side effects is diarrhea. This, like nausea or fatigue, is one of the general symptoms that affect the whole body.
Due to the TBE vaccination, the body is temporarily a little weakened and has to process the vaccine. This can also manifest itself through diarrhoea. Usually, however, this is only of short duration and not very pronounced.
If there is an increase in severe diarrhoea over several days, a doctor should be contacted. In rare cases, nausea can occur after an TBE vaccination. This usually occurs only in phases, for example for 1-2 hours, and is not very pronounced.
The phases of nausea usually occur until a few days after the TBE vaccination. They are signs of the natural weakening of the body caused by the vaccination and do not require any special treatment. If, however, the nausea persists for several days and becomes more severe over the course of the vaccination, medical supervision is also necessary.
The duration of the side effects depends on the type of symptoms, the immune system and the general physical condition of the vaccinated person. Minor reactions in the immediate vicinity of the injection site are usually over after a few days. Depending on the person who has been vaccinated, the duration may be only one day, but occasionally these side effects may last for 2-3 days. More general symptoms, such as nausea or fever, are usually of similar duration, but can also last 4-5 days.
