Up until now, I’ve only gotten the Pfizer vaccines. And while I’ve reacted to them, it was never particularly bad. Light muscle aches and some fatigue were basically it. Worst was the second one - I could feel my hair follicles and eyelids with that one.
But the Moderna one seems to be quite the beast.
When I found out I could get the new Moderna, I was excited, since I’ve heard that mix-and-match is probably the strongest immunity you can get. And I figured it wasn’t going to be that bad when after several hours, I only had some light fatigue.
But today has been awful. Consistent fever around 102.3, chills, headache, nausea, whole-body aches, and ludicrous levels of exhaustion. I’ve been utterly useless.
Is this what Moderna vaccines have been like all along? I’ll take it over contracting COVID-19, definitely… but ouch. It’s hurting me plenty.
Next morning update: Chills are gone, fever seems to be gone, muscle aches aren’t entirely gone, but they’re fading. All in all, 10/10 would feel like shit for a day again to help stop the spread of a dangerous disease.
I think the moderna dosing is still double the pfizer dose. So I think it’s always caused a larger immune response. Ibuprofen will deal with most of those symptoms if you’re really not feeling good.
I believe one can’t 1:1 compare the dosage, Pfizer’s MRNA was supposed to be a little more stable and hence less of it was needed. But, yeah, Moderna’s dosage is higher.
I’ve gotten both over the years and Moderna always knocked me out harder, but never like OP. Symptoms have always been medium to strong fatigue and at most a mild headache.
I haven’t gotten the new booster yet.
Moderna absolutely kicked my ass, I had the worst body aches I’ve ever experienced to the point that I was curled up in a ball on the floor until the double dose of Tylenol started kicking in.
I just got the Pfizer booster recently and had hardly any side effects at all.
It helped to remind myself that I felt like shit because my immune system was at work. It’s a sign (albeit an unwelcome one) that the vaccine is working.
Yep, better than getting COVID. It only lasted about 10 hours.