No evidence drinking alcohol reduces the effectiveness of Covid jabs

There is no evidence that drinking alcohol reduces the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines, the medical regulator has said.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) was responding to advice being circulated on social media, which suggested that people should consider cutting out alcohol for up to two weeks after a jab.

The guidance, issued earlier this year, came from advisers to the alcohol education charity Drinkaware, which is funded by the alcohol industry.

In it, they urged the public to “consider not drinking for two days before, and up to two weeks after you've been vaccinated, to try to ensure your immune system is at its best”.

The advice said that “while there is no published data about the specific effects of alcohol on the human body's response to the Covid-19 vaccination, there is some evidence that drinking alcohol, especially regular heavy drinking, could interfere with your body’s ability to build immunity in response to some vaccines.”

However, there is nothing in the patient information leaflets from the NHS or the vaccine manufacturers to suggest such a link.

A spokeswoman for the MHRA said on Tuesday: "There is currently no evidence that drinking alcohol interferes with the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines.

"We would advise anyone concerned about this to talk to their healthcare professional."

The comments on Drinkaware’s website were made by Dr Fiona Sim in her capacity as chair of the advisory panel. She is also a senior clinical adviser at NHS England, and a visiting professor at the University of Bedfordshire.

She said: “Chronic heavy drinking reduces immune protection, and specifically for respiratory infections, which includes Covid-19.

“For greatest benefit from the vaccine, it is prudent for you not to drink any alcohol for a few days before, and for at least two weeks after, you've been vaccinated.”

But other experts have since said this is not necessary. “It wouldn’t affect the immune response to be honest,” Dr Gillies O'Bryan-Tear, of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, said.

“People who drink heavily are somewhat immunosuppressed… (but) it’s certainly not advice around vaccinations I am aware of.”

“We would not deny the vaccination to alcoholics,” he said. “It'll still work, they still need to be protected.”

Prof Gary McLean, of the School of Human Sciences at London Metropolitan University, and a visiting professor at Imperial College London, said getting “hammered” directly after taking the vaccine wouldn’t be advised.

Binge drinking can impact your immune system from working at its best for a period, but coronavirus vaccines have been designed to release an immune response “slowly over time… it’s not going to be all at once,” Prof McLean said.

Earlier this year, Dr Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation, Public Health England, said: “Drinking a small amount of alcohol, in line with the CMOs low risk guidelines, has not been shown to impair the immune system.

“There is no published scientific evidence of the effect of alcohol before and after (the) vaccine on the immune response to Covid-19 vaccination, but it is advisable not to drink heavily before being vaccinated.”

Dr Sim said her advice was offered "as a precaution".

"We continue to stress that it is crucial that anybody who is offered a Covid-19 vaccine should go and have it, regardless of whether they drink any alcohol," she said.

"We also want to reassure that anybody who has already been vaccinated and has had an occasional drink since should not be unduly concerned by this advice.”