I got the second dose of the Moderna vaccine 28 days after the first. The first time, I had no side effects. The second time, I started to feel fatigued and had a sore throat a few hours after the shot. The sore throat disappeared within 30 minutes but the fatigue continued into the next day, when I developed a temperature of 100.5. In addition, I had subliminal nausea and reduced appetite. This sounds worse than it was. The symptoms did not interfere when I had to shovel snow for 3 hours (and I felt better doing that activity than sitting around). All ill effects were gone the next day.
My wife just received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and, a day later, her only "complaint" (and that's much too strong a word) is that her arm has a very minor soreness at the injection site. We fully expect that she will have some side effects when she gets the second dose, so we will be prepared.
Some advice from an RN and MD: If you need to take medication to reduce your discomfort, take Tylenol ONLY. DO NOT USE Advil or aspirin. (This applies to generics, naturally.) This advice applies specifically to the COVID vaccine and is not a recommendation for any other use. For the record, I never was ill enough to feel compelled to take Tylenol.
Well, my wife and I are getting our second dose of the Moderna Vaccine this coming Thursday March 4th, which will be 31 days since we got the first one. It does seem to depend on the individual as to what side effects will occur. I've talked with some folks that got both doses (one got Moderna, the other Pfizer), and the couple who got the Moderna one had no issues at all, but the person who got the Pfizer one had some (and for some folks at his company who got the Pfizer one, again it was "hit and miss" regarding side effects). The only thing my wife and I experienced after the first dose was some soreness at the area where we got the injection the next day, and for the day after that. My wife also has an appointment with an eye doctor shortly thereafter, so hopefully all will be fine (I think it will be).
After we got that first dose, there was no restriction regarding what pain reliever we could take (we did not need to take anything). We'll see what they tell us on Thursday (we have both Advil and Tylenol). As for aspirin, I do need to take a daily 81 mg tablet for my heart "condition" (everything is fine after getting my stent and TAVR procedures done back in June). I'll remember to ask them about that.
