[Coronavirus] Covid Vaccine Side Effects

I recently received the Moderna covid vaccine at my hospital that I work at as a medical student. 

I received my first shot on Feb 8th, 2021 and received my second shot on March 8th, 2021 (the recommended 4 week interval). My medical school friends were able to receive theirs earlier than mine in December and January (some received Moderna while others got Pfizer's vaccine). 

 

First shot side effects: I got the shot in the morning (10am) on my left arm. The shot itself was pretty painful and the injection area was kind of sore after a couple of minutes. Our hospital has a policy where we wait and sit for 15 minutes after the shot in case of any serious side effects. After the 15 minutes, I went about my work day and went home around 2pm. 

 

Once I came home, I felt very fatigued and took a nap for an hour and a half. But during this nap, I had chills and was sweating a lot. My husband said I felt very hot, so I assume I also had a fever (but did not check with a thermometer). I woke up, changed out of my wet clothes and had dinner. After eating, I felt 90% back to myself and felt a little bit warmer than usual and my left arm at and around the injection site was super duper sore (covid arm). 

The soreness of my left arm was really bad where I wasn't able to lay on it to sleep and even just touching it slightly would make me wince. It was swollen, slightly red, and very very tender. I could not really lift my arm past 90 degrees without pain. This soreness lasted for a couple of days, finally getting better after day 3 of receiving my shot.

 

I thought I was done with the side effects, but THEN a week later after the shot, I felt a bump under my left armpit. I'm 26 years old, so I didn't have too much concern for breast cancer (and also have no history of breast cancer in my family). The lump I assumed was a swollen lymph node, and looking it up online, a lot of other people who received the shot also felt it too. It was round, mobile, and slightly tender to touch. I felt it move when I lifted my arm and was more tender to touch after exercising. 

 

The lump was there for a couple of weeks, and I had a doctor's appointment coming up soon so I asked my PCP (primary care physician) and she said it is most likely due to the vaccine. But if it doesn't go away or continues to grow after a month or so, I would need an ultrasound of it. I also touched it a lot, so she warned me that if I continue to play or touch with it everyday, it's going to grow regardless so only feel it to see if the size changed every two weeks or so.

 

Currently, the lump under my left armpit is gone (never had any symptoms on my right arm) and have no other symptoms. My medical student friends also had similar symptoms to mine (both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines) where they had a fever and sore arm for a day or two.

 

Second shot side effects: I was dreading this second shot because I heard it is way worse and you feel very sick for a couple of days. I received it on my right arm this time because I was still a little bit concerned about the lump under my left armpit, in case it comes back after this vaccine. Again, waited the 15 minutes after receiving it but this time, my arm was starting to get really sore after a couple of minutes of receiving the shot. Other than that, I had no side effects right away.

 

Went home and bought some ibuprofen in case I start feeling really bad. I was told by my PCP that it is okay to take it after the shot after 4-6 hours of getting the it if needed and to take a slow day the next day. I was fortunate that I was done with my hospital rotations (Waiting for match day now!) for the block. 

 

I started feeling pretty tired after a couple of hours of receiving the shot, so I took another nap and again, had fever (did not measure temperature but felt very warm) and chills while sleeping. After waking up, I just had no appetite and felt very very tired. I was fatigued to the point where I didn't have any energy to exercise or even read a book let alone have an appetite to eat. I took one ibuprofen and complained to my husband about feeling tired. He said I looked pretty bad. Tried to eat a little bit of Korean porridge (죽) and slept for the rest of the night. My right arm was swollen, super tender, and slightly red again where I couldn't touch or lay on it to sleep. Just having my husband graze my right arm/shoulder area would hurt.

 

Next day, I still felt pretty tired but no fever and had no chills throughout the night. My right arm was still super duper tender and sore, but I was feeling much better overall and ate a lot more food. Didn't take any more ibuprofen because I felt I didn't need it. Still took the day pretty easy and relaxed most of the time.

 

After a couple of days, my right arm was back to normal (felt it recovered much faster than my left arm the first time), no lump under my right armpit (yet) and feeling super excited to be able to do more pre-covid activities now that I received both shots!

 

First shot: would recommend easy day the day of vaccine but can go to work the next day feeling back to normal except for sore arm

Second shot: would recommend taking an easy day the day of vaccine and next day, but should be back to normal except for sore arm after that

 

Would I get these shots again? 100%. I believe vaccines, masking, and following all these safety protocols is the only way to have our lives back to how it was before covid hit.