Boostered? What did you get? Did you mix? How were the side effects?

[auntiejessi]

So I'm planning on getting my Covid booster this weekend. I got the Moderna vaccine in May, and both doses knocked me flat for a few days with side effects.

What has been your experience with the booster? Did you mix? How were the side effects, especially compared to the first two doses?

I'm going to get it anyway, just want to be prepared. Whatever the side effects, it's better than Covid.

[Dolly210833]

All vaccines have the effect we need, none is better or worse. As for reactions, the belief is if one has a reaction that is good actually because it means your body has definitely produced antibodies

[Paxiled]

Well, statistically, this isn't accurate, but it might be if you mean preventing ending up in the ICU.  The Moderna vax has the best results statistically, in that it has the highest level of protection but also seems to last longer.  The BioNTech/Pfizer is next, but doesn't last as long as Moderna.  Novavax has a vax that hasn't ever made it to market that in trials was close to the effectiveness of Moderna and Pfizer, and the Russian Sputnik vax has one study at least published in a prestigious journal showing 90% effectiveness.  Now, the variants have obviously played a part in uncertainty, as none of the vaccines out there were tested in a population riddled with delta or the new omicron.  The J&J, if we're being totally accurate here, showed about 70% effectiveness, and if you watch and listen to vaccine experts who are now media starts they're interviewed so often, it was never a one-shot vax because it didn't work very well.  It's probably going to turn out to be a 3 shot vax at least.  Same with AstraZeneca.  The Chinese vaccines appear to be maybe 60% effective on a really good day.  The Indian vax nobody really knows but not anywhere near the results of the best.  So there are major differences.  Forget about covid.  If I told you one refrigerator was cold 70% of the time and another was cold 95% percent of the time, which fridge would you buy?  Now, when the vaccines came out nobody had a lot of choice.  You got what was available to you.  Pfizer and Moderna are very hard to store and distribute.  If you got J&J you still have significant protection.  But not the same protection.  Peace.

[newsie2000]

I had Pfizer for all 3 with NO side effects at all.   I have heard on the news J&J is  good dose  for any of Pfizer, Moderna or J&J.   I have heard (with my shingles vax booster; I had a very strong reaction to it) that a strong reaction is a very good thing.  I was told it means more antibodies are being produced.

[newsie2000]

Ooops...forgot my "3 key" is not working...meant to say; I have heard J&J is a good dose3 for any ....

[hangman1951]

I got the Moderna booster a few weeks ago after just over six months after receiving the first two Moderna shots.  I know that the TV docs said you could mix but, hey, it's my health so I did not.  I felt "woozy" for a day before it went away.  And the injection made my arm sorer than with the regular injections.

[auntiejessi]

Thanks everyone who has answered so far.

I'm not terribly worried about side effects - I just like to know before going in what to expect. I can handle it, and know everyone is different. :)

[Barb135]

Just know that because some of us had “strange” reactions, doesn’t mean you will and more interestingly, you might have a reaction no one else had…

Wouldn’t it be great if your booster makes you feel awesome and gives you tons of energy?   If that happens, I want what you’re getting!!!  Bahaha

[specialmom]

I'm getting my booster the middle of December.  I wanted to do it through my health network (it records into all my medical records) but they only had a few days in December that you could get an appointment.  They tell you here to get the same as you had for your first two vaccines so I'll be getting Pfizer. I was sick with my first vaccine of Pfizer but heard that is very common if you've had covid (had it last January). Hoping this will be no big deal.  I DID learn you can get the the flu vaccine at the same time without issue.  I'm getting that before at my grocery store Little Clinic. Forgot to get it at the doctors.  That's my story.  :>)

[Paxiled]

I've been lucky.  First shot Moderna, had a pretty sore arm for three days.  Nothing else.  Second shot, sore arm for a day, nothing else.  Third shot, sore arm but not much of one for a couple hours, nothing else.  My wife was a different story, and to me, it doesn't make sense so I don't think anyone should expect this, but it did happen.  First shot, she slept the whole day.  Second shot, she slept the whole day.  Third shot, Moderna, she got really sick, with a bad stomach ache and you know, kind of like a virus.  But the second day she found herself on the floor and thinks she might have briefly blacked out and she cut herself up.  So not fun.  After 3 days, all better.  She will tell you, it's worth it.  We chose initially to get either the Pfizer or Moderna, turned down first chance was the J&J.  Since Moderna has turned out to have the longest lasting protection and the most protection percentage wise, we definitely stuck with it once we started.  I've heard mixed advice about mixing.  Some say it's not a bad idea, as you get a little different immunity effect to go along with what you've got and some say safest to stick with what your body has already been exposed to.  But that advice is, I think, a bit old now, as we didn't know then the vaccines were fading in effectiveness, especially the J&J and the Pfizer.  So I'm not sure there's any advantage to mixing now that we know our immunity is fading, or at least it's suspected to be fading, given that our immune systems are being measured in this regard only by antibodies, not T cell memory.  Peace.

[Paxiled]

I should also add, I did get a weird side effect on the 3d shot -- more energy!  Was it the vaccine?  Who knows?  But it did happen.  Maybe they mixed some steroids in with mine.

[auntiejessi]

I could do with some extra energy. :)

[mkh9]

Paxiled, Yeah, with the booster I slept great for 3 days! Felt better. Funny, but I will take it.
mkh9

[Barb135]

I had Moderna in Jan/Feb and bolstered with Moderna in early November.  With the original shots, I got a really sore arm and fatigue.  Later, I got a really bad itch on the arm they gave my the original shots - they insisted they had to do them both in the left arm.  I’ve read that itching can be a delayed reaction, so I’m assuming that’s what the itch is, but of course, I can’t know for sure.  

With the booster, my arm swelled up for a couple of days, then I developed an angry red rash near the injection site.  The rash lasted for several days, as did the arm soreness, but it’s all better now.  

I should note that I always get a very sore arm when I get vaccines so that part wasn’t any different from a flu, pneumonia or other shot.  I’ve never developed the rash at the injection site before.  I’m not worried about it because it’s all gone now and as you say, it was better than getting COVID.  

[AnnieBrooke]

I got boostered last week. Did Moderna last April, had some side effects then such as chills and sore arm, but not huge. (My husband had worse, it was that flu-like reaction with headache. But even that went away after about a day and a half.) I boostered with Moderna, and (maybe because Moderna's booster is a half dose, unlike Pfizer's) had only very light effects. A slightly sore arm but not wildly sore. A little tired in the evening. Slightly chilly. That was it. And it didn't last even into the next morning. That's my experience. Probably everyone's will be different, but for me the booster was much milder than the vaccine.

[mkh9]

AnnieBrooke,
I got the booster and had same,  side effects. With the original second shot I was knocked out for 3 days
and had chills, sore arm, second day fever of 102, day 3 splitting headache and muscle aches. So I guess it is the half dose. I was taking Ibuprofen and Tylenol for back pain too and so I am glad to see you got the same reaction. It makes me feel better.
mkh9