Booze can even help! That's great. But wait, the Times has mor | Health Care : News : Helper

Booze can even help! That's great. But wait, the Times has more on this very important topic:

Heavy alcohol consumption, on the other hand, particularly over the long term, can suppress the immune system and potentially interfere with your vaccine response, experts say.

Since it can take weeks after a Covid shot for the body to generate protective levels of antibodies against the novel coronavirus, anything that interferes with the immune response would be cause for concern.

Speaking to the Times, Center for Virus Research at the University of California, Irvine director Ilhem Messaoudi said that for "moderate" drinkers, "there’s no risk of having a drink around the time of your vaccine."

However, Messaoudi said, the thoroughly vaccinated should "be very cognizant of what moderate drinking really means. It’s dangerous to drink large amounts of alcohol because the effects on all biological systems, including the immune system, are pretty severe and they occur pretty quickly after you get out of that moderate zone."

This means that really tying one on, which of course experts say is unsafe to do on a regular basis anyway, can also end up having what amounts to a neutralizing effect on the immune system. The Times goes on to note experiments with rhesus monkeys in which the primates that most enjoyed their hooch had, in Dr. Messaoudi's words, an "almost a nonexistent immune response."

It's about having too much of a good thing, in the end. Multiple studies of moderate alcohol consumption through the years have repeatedly found it reduces signs of inflammation in the bloodstream. Going on benders, however, produces weak immune responses to infections.

So once you've had that second shot, feel free to party, but be vigilant, don't overdo it, and stay hydrated.