Sometimes after vaccination, the process of building immunity can cause symptoms, such as fever. These symptoms are normal and are signs that the body is building immunity.
It is normal for these to occur. Common side effects include pain, redness, and swelling in the arm where they received the vaccination, as well as fever, chills, tiredness, headache, nausea, and muscle pain.
When you get a sore arm, fever or fatigue after vaccination, those reactions are your body's way of jumping into action to protect you. These "immune effects" include pain where the needle went in, fever, chills, headache, fatigue and body aches. They can last for a few hours up to a few days.
Side effects after your second shot may be more intense than the ones you experienced after your first shot. These side effects are normal signs that your body is building protection and should go away within a few days.
Side effects can affect your ability to do daily activities, but they should go away in a few days.
One third involved fatigue after one dose, while 56% reported fatigue after a second dose. Headaches were reported by 27% after the dose, compared to 46% after the second. Injection site pain, fatigue or headaches usually occurred within the first week after vaccination.
Possible side effects: Pain, redness, or swelling at the site where the shot was administered, and/or tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever, or nausea throughout the rest of the body. If these side effects occur, they should go away in a few days. A few side effects are serious, but rare.
Commonly reported side effects in the clinical trial included injection site pain (sore arm), redness and swelling, fatigue, headache, muscle and/or joint pain, chills, fever, swollen lymph nodes, nausea and decreased appetite.
The most commonly reported side effects by individuals who received a booster dose of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine after completion of a two-dose primary series were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, as well as fatigue, headache, muscle or joint pain and chills.
If you experienced side effects when you were vaccinated initially, you may wonder if you'll have any noticeable symptoms in response to your booster shot. While you may have some side effects, they should be no worse than what you experienced originally and may well be milder.
If you had COVID-19 before being vaccinated, the first injection may cause more noticeable side effects than for people who have not had the coronavirus. If you have never had COVID-19, you may notice more side effects after the second dose than after the first dose.
Key takeaways: It's important to get both doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to get the most benefit from the two-dose series. Some people may react more strongly to the second shot, but the side effects are temporary and will typically go away within a few days.