Time to get another COVID-19 shot. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration both approved COVID-19 vaccine booster shots late last week, encouraging all Americans to get their shots with the holiday weekend approaching.
Questions have popped up about COVID-19 booster side effects, as they did with the original coronavirus vaccine shots. Indeed, there have been reports of vaccine side effects, most of which are similar to the first dose.
- As a quick note, I received my third shot of the Moderna vaccine and I experienced chills for about 24 hours.
What are the most common COVID-19 booster shot side effects?
More than 11,000 people logged their COVID-19 booster side effects into the U.S. government’s VAERS database, a self-report system for post-vaccine side effects.
Here are the most common COVID vaccine booster shot side effects reported:
- Headache (1,729 reports).
- Fever (1,712 reports).
- Fatigue (1,567 reports).
- Pain (1,484 reports).
- Chills (1,471 reports).
In general, those who received the booster shot said their symptoms were milder than their earlier shots, according to Insider.
- “The most common complaint, no matter which vaccine people got, was pain at the injection site,” per Insider.
- People with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster shot were more likely miss school or work due to the vaccine’s higher dosage.
What are other COVID booster side effects?
The FDA said the COVID-19 booster shots can present side effects similar to the initial dosage, per Fortune. Those symptoms include:
- Muscle aches.
- Joint aches.
- Pain at the injection site.
- Fatigue.
- Headaches.
- Chills.
- Fever.
- Swollen lymph nodes.
The U.K.’s National Health Services confirmed most of these symptoms, too.