Jamie Bone prepares a Moderna COVID-19 vaccination at the Legacy Center Indoor Arena in Farmington, Utah.
Jamie Bone, a Davis County Health Department registered nurse, prepares a Moderna COVID-19 vaccination at the Legacy Center Indoor Arena in Farmington on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

The VAERS database, a self-report system for vaccine side effects, has revealed common side effects from the vaccine

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:

  1. Headache (1,729 reports).
  2. Fever (1,712 reports).
  3. Fatigue (1,567 reports).
  4. Pain (1,484 reports).
  5. 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.



What are the most common COVID-19 booster shot side effects?
Source: Gabriella Pinoys