While the side effects of the COVID vaccine may seem alarming, medical experts have warned that they are typically mild to moderate, last only 48 hours, and are in fact an indication that your injection is working. During a Jan. 28 interview with MSNBC, the White House’s chief COVID adviser Anthony Fauci, MD, recently dropped two side effects in particular that he feels should be taken as a welcome sign that your immune system is responding to your vaccination. Read on to find out which side effects are good news, and for Fauci’s first-hand account of getting the COVID vaccine, check out Dr. Fauci says he had these side effects from his second vaccination dose.
Fauci explained that the two unpleasant side effects in particular are not cause for alarm, but reassurance. “The vaccine, because you put it in the arm, produces a systemic response. You know that because sometimes after the second dose, you feel a little bit sore, a little chilly, which means that the immune system really gets going,” Fauci explained .
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that’s because the two mRNA COVID vaccines currently approved in the US, from Pfizer and Moderna, don’t inject recipients with inactivated virus. Instead, they teach our own cells to mimic certain features of the COVID virus so that our immune system can train to fight it later, if necessary.
Specifically, the COVID vaccines work by instructing our cells to mimic their own version of the “spike protein” found on the outside of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As more cells make these spike proteins, our immune systems “recognize that the protein doesn’t belong there and we begin to build an immune response and make antibodies, like what happens in a natural infection against COVID-19,” says the CDC. . So, if you feel that pain and chills that Fauci mentioned, rest assured, that’s just your immune system kicking in to shut down a perceived threat.
Wondering what other side effects to expect after getting your injection? Read on for the most common COVID vaccine side effects reported by Moderna patients, and for more vital vaccine news, visit If You’re Over 65, You Shouldn’t Get This New Vaccine, Experts Warn.
Joint pain, medically known as arthralgia, is the fourth most common adverse reaction reported by vaccine recipients: Nearly half of those enrolled in the Moderna studies – 46 percent, to be exact – experienced this particular side effect in the hours or days after receiving the shot. And for more information on what not to do before getting your vaccine, see If You’re Taking These OTC Medications, You Must Stop Before Getting the Vaccine.
Headache was reported slightly more often than joint pain, with 64 percent of patients in Moderna studies experiencing this specific side effect. According to the CDC, headaches are more common after the second dose.
While a study published in the Journal of Virology warned that taking over-the-counter painkillers prior to getting the injection could weaken the effectiveness of the vaccines, experts say it’s fine to take them afterward to treat the side effects of the vaccine, including headaches. And for one more possible delayed reaction to admission, check out this COVID vaccine side effect that may appear a week after your admission.
If you experience sudden exhaustion after getting your COVID shot, you’re not alone: About 70 percent of Moderna vaccine recipients reported feeling fatigued after their vaccination, making it the second most common side effect .
For this reason, you may want to schedule your admission when you know that you will have time to rest afterward, if possible, such as on a lighter workday or at the end of your work week. In fact after personally experience side effects from the COVID shot, epidemiologist of infectious diseases Saskia PopescuDr. And for more regular COVID news delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
The most common side effect reported by Moderna recipients was injection site pain: 92 percent of the vaccinees experienced this sensation.
“There are two types of side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine”, Teresa Bartlett, MD, Senior Medical Officer at Medical Claims Company Sedgwick, recently told Bustle. While systemic side effects affect wider body function (fever, chills, and pain are all good examples), “local side effects are more common and include redness, swelling, and perhaps some swelling of the lymph nodes in the vaccinated arm.” And for more information on that last side effect she mentioned, check out The Rare COVID Vaccine Side Effect Doctors Want You to Prepare.