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Can I take ibuprofen before vaccination?

Question: I am scheduled to take my 2nd Moderna shot next Wed. Is it contraindicated to start taking ibuprofen 1-2 days in advance? I am concerned I may not feel well after.

Answer: As a reminder, I am not a medical doctor.  Please consult your doctor.  In the meantime, based on what I’ve read (synthesized below), you should *not* take any oral pain relievers (acetaminophen or ibuprofen) before vaccination.  If pain occurs after vaccination, you should first check with your doctor; WHO’s guidelines indicate that you can take oral pain relievers during the days following vaccination.

  1. WHO’s 2015 position paper, “Reducing pain at the time of vaccination“, states “Several of the interventions that were considered are not currently recommended due to lack of evidence of pain-mitigation effectiveness and/or the potential for altering vaccine effectiveness. These include… administration of oral analgesics (e.g. acetaminophen, ibuprofen) before or at the time of vaccination. If pain occurs later, during the days after vaccination, oral analgesics can then be given to mitigate pain and/ or fever linked to delayed reactogenicity.”
  2. Clinical guidelines for vaccine-related pain management developed by an independent, cross-Canada multidisciplinary team state “We suggest against giving ibuprofen before vaccine injections.”
  3. Recent studies related to vaccine effectiveness and acetaminophen/ibuprofen use in infants have found “Prophylactic use of antipyretic/analgesic drugs can reduce immune responses to some infant vaccines, warranting judicious use.”
  4. CDC’s “What to Expect after Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine” recommends that “If you have pain or discomfort [after being vaccinated], talk to your doctor about taking an
    over-the-counter medicine, such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen.”
  5. ABC News recently ran a story on this issue and consulted with leading infectious disease doctors who confirmed that you should not take pain relievers before getting vaccinated.  “We do not recommend premedication with ibuprofen or Tylenol before COVID-19 vaccines due to the lack of data on how it impacts the vaccine-induced antibody responses,” said Dr. Simone Wildes, an infectious disease specialist at South Shore Medical Center and a member of Massachusetts’ COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Group.