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Feb 27, 2024 · The vast majority of people experience only minor, temporary side effects such as pain at the injection site, fatigue, headache, or muscle pain — or no side effects at all.
- Overview
- What You Need to Know
- Anaphylaxis after COVID-19 Vaccination
- Reports of Deaths after COVID-19 Vaccination
- Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) after COVID-19 Vaccination
- Myocarditis and Pericarditis after COVID-19 Vaccination
- Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) after COVID-19 Vaccination
- Related Pages
Updated Sept. 12, 2023
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Some people have no side effects. Many people have reported side effects—such as headache, fatigue, and soreness at the injection site—that are generally mild to moderate and go away within a few days.
Are the Vaccines Safe?
•The benefits of COVID-19 vaccination continue to outweigh any potential risks.
•Severe reactions after COVID-19 vaccination are rare.
•CDC recommends everyone ages 6 months and older get vaccinated to protect against COVID-19 and its potentially severe complications.
•Millions of people in the United States have received COVID-19 vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring program in U.S. history.
Anaphylaxis after COVID-19 vaccination is rare. It has occurred at a rate of approximately 5 cases per one million vaccine doses administered. Anaphylaxis, a severe type of allergic reaction, can occur after any kind of vaccination. If it happens, healthcare providers can effectively and immediately treat the reaction. Learn more about COVID-19 vaccines and allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis.
CDC scientists have conducted detailed reviews of cases of anaphylaxis and made the information available to healthcare providers and the public.
Multiple factors contribute to reports of death after COVID-19 vaccination, including heightened public awareness of COVID-19 vaccines, requirements under FDA authorization for COVID-19 vaccines that healthcare providers report any death after COVID-19 vaccination to VAERS (even if it is unclear whether the vaccine was the cause), and reporting requirements in CDC vaccine provider agreements. People receiving COVID-19 vaccines are less likely to die from COVID-19 and its complications and are at no greater risk of death from non-COVID causes, than unvaccinated people.
CDC scientists and partners have performed detailed assessments of deaths after COVID-19 vaccination and made the information available to healthcare providers and the public.
GBS is a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system damages nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis. GBS has largely been observed among people ages 50 years and older.
Based on an analysis of data from the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), the rate of GBS within the first 21 days following J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccination was found to be 21 times higher than after Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccination. After the first 42 days, the rate of GBS was 11 times higher following J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccination. The analysis found no increased risk of GBS after Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccination.
Similarly, CDC found higher than expected rates of GBS reported to VAERS after J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccination but not after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination. These observations contributed to the preferential recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to use mRNA COVID-19 vaccines over the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, which is no longer available in the United States.
CDC and FDA will continue to monitor for and evaluate reports of GBS occurring after COVID-19 vaccination and will share more information as it becomes available.
Myocarditis and pericarditis after COVID-19 vaccination are rare. Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis is inflammation of the outer lining of the heart. Most patients with myocarditis or pericarditis after COVID-19 vaccination responded well to medicine and rest and felt better quickly, and most cases have been reported after receiving mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
To date, evidence indicates that the benefits of mRNA COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the risk of myocarditis. CDC and FDA will continue to monitor for and evaluate reports of myocarditis and pericarditis after COVID-19 vaccination. Learn more about myocarditis and pericarditis, including clinical considerations, after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination.
Data from VSD and from VAERS indicate that rates of myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination are highest among males in their late teens and early 20s, usually following the second dose of the vaccine.
CDC scientists have conducted detailed reviews of cases of myocarditis and pericarditis after COVID-19 vaccines and have made the information available to healthcare providers and the public.
Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) has been rarely observed after J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccination and has occurred in approximately 4 cases per one million doses administered. TTS is a rare but serious adverse event that causes blood clots in large blood vessels and low platelets (blood cells that help form clots).
A review of reports indicates a causal relationship between the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine and TTS. This observation contributed to the preferential recommendation by ACIP to use mRNA COVID-19 vaccines over the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, which is no longer available in the United States.
•Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines
•Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS): What Reports Mean and How VAERS Works
•COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Publications
Last Updated Sept. 12, 2023
May 3, 2024 · Federal health officials acknowledge four major side effects of Covid vaccines — not including the temporary injection site pain, fever and malaise that may accompany the shots.
- Apoorva Mandavilli
Jun 1, 2021 · Now, a group that monitors vaccine safety for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating whether there is a link between Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine and a few mild cases of...
Mar 10, 2022 · A study published in August 2021 indicates that if you had COVID-19 before and are not vaccinated, your risk of getting reinfected is more than two times higher than for those who were infected and got vaccinated.
Sep 5, 2024 · When you got the SARS-CoV2 vaccine to protect against COVID-19, you may have experienced severe side effects. Or maybe you didn’t. This study was published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Research. Concerns about potential side effects were a major barrier for some people to getting the ...
Mar 1, 2022 · BACKGROUND. As of January 14, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed about 318,648,834 cases of COVID-19 worldwide, including 5,518,343 fatalities [1]. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a global economic disruption. To restore normalcy and enable economic growth, vaccines are the best option.
