People who have been vaccinated for Covid-19 and go on to contract the virus are reporting some different symptoms to people who are unvaccinated.
The NHS website still lists the three most common Covid-19 symptoms as a new persistent cough, a high temperature, and a loss of taste and smell – although symptoms of the dominant Delta variant often vary from these.
Now, experts warn that symptoms can differ again in vaccinated people. There are four key symptoms that people with a breakthrough case of Covid after vaccination are reporting, according to the Zoe Symptom Tracker app.
Sneezing is one of these. Previously, this wasn’t a common symptom of the virus and was actually a suggested way for people to differentiate between coronavirus and a common cold or allergies.
However, if you’ve had the jab and are sneezing more than usual, it could actually be a sign of Covid rather than hay-fever, so it’s worth taking a test.
“Interestingly, our data shows that people who had been vaccinated and then tested positive for Covid-19 were more likely to report sneezing as a symptom compared with those without a jab,” say researchers who analysed the data.
“This suggests that sneezing a lot with no explanation after you’ve been vaccinated could be a sign of Covid-19.”
Additionally, a headache, runny nose and sore throat are also reported as key symptoms of breakthrough Covid cases in people who have been jabbed.
The latest symptom data comes from 2,278 vaccinated adults who tested positive with Covid and logged their signs into the Zoe Symptom Tracker app.
Researchers looked at the data and compared it to jabbed adults who have tested negative and unvaccinated adults who tested positive. However, they did not reveal whether this data referred to fully-vaccinated Brits or people who have received just one dose.
Sneezing is also a key way that viruses spread, the researchers noted, so if you’ve found yourself sneezing more than usual, as well as getting tested, consider taking extra precautions to protect others.
“Try to cover all coughs and sneezes with tissue or the inside of your elbow to minimise the spread of droplets. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth until you wash your hands,” they said.
In total, there are 20 possible symptoms of Covid, so people should stay alert and if you think you have Covid, always get tested and self-isolate. “Whether you’ve had both Covid jabs or not, we all still need to be careful to follow the advice on ‘hands, face, space, fresh air’ to protect your own health as well as those around you in your family, workplace, and community,” researchers said.