4 ms·

> fewer side effects From my vantage point, Pfizer had far fewer side effects. One acquaintance who had Moderna got walloped so bad on the first shot that they

> fewer side effects From my vantage point, Pfizer had far fewer side effects. One acquaintance who had Moderna got walloped so bad on the first shot that they didn't get their second shot. Of course, all anecdotes. I'd love to read some better numbers.

bpodgursky 5y ago
I haven't known anyone in their 20-30s who got a 2nd Moderna shot and wasn't down for a day.
- likeabbas 5y ago
  My anecdotal experience with the second dose was that I experienced light headedness almost exactly 24 hours after the shot. But, it went away after two cocktails (I was flying that day)
- CydeWeys 5y ago
  I was 35 at the time and was completely down for a day after the second shot. My girlfriend got Pfizer and she wasn't as badly affected -- just got a little sleepy.
  - version_five 5y ago
    It's interesting to read these different experiences. I'm in my 40s, my second Pfizer just left me feeling mildly tired, with a bit of pain in the arm. My dad didn't have any real symptoms, and my brothers, in their 30s, said they had more flu like symptoms. I actually had planned to be out of commission based on other peoples reports and was surprised when I was basically fine.
- ff317 5y ago
  I'm mid-40s and had 2x Moderna on the recommended schedule back in Apr/May. First shot was just mild injection-site pain. Second shot was terrible. Symptoms started about 12h after the shot, and I was stuck in bed for ~36-48h of the worst flu symptoms I've ever had in my life (fever, chills, bad whole body muscle ache, etc - basically everything but the usual sinus/cough part). It was totally worth it, though, and I'd do it again! If you're on the fence - please go get your shot(s)!
  - FabHK 5y ago
    FWIW, similar age, Moderna, and just mild injection-site pain both times.
  - totony 5y ago
    >It was totally worth it, though, and I'd do it again! If you're on the fence - please go get your shot(s)! As another data point, I wouldn't and don't think it was worth it. Being KO for 4 days when the virus is mundane is not a good trade. (Im 25ish). Plus it doesn't provide 100% protection so I can still get it.
    - jleyank 5y ago
      Not sure you can call covid "mundane", given that 620K have died from it in the US...
      - totony 5y ago
        As I said I'm 25ish. It's a pretty mundane disease for people that age. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1191568/reported-deaths-from-covid-by-age-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1191568/reported-deaths-...
        bmitc 5y ago
        Potential damage to your lungs, heart, and brain doesn’t seem mundane to me. The person describing four days of being down is not common and is an extreme case. I myself got a little tired day of, had some mild chills the night of, and was a little sore with a headache the morning after. I took some ibuprofen, drank a lot of water, and ate well, and I felt fine later in the day after. I get the feeling this is very typical. The response to the vaccine is simply your body preparing itself. Getting the virus isn’t that and has a lot of potential for damage.
        totony 5y ago
        That person is me and seems quite prevalent at least in my entourage of young people. How old are you? Age is very important when talking about side effects. Plus the potential damage is less likely for people that age, aka we get the most side effect for the least chance of actually having a bad case of the disease. P(getting disease) * P(symptomatic | sick) * P(worse than 4 days fever | symptomatic) gets small very fast. Notwithstanding the fact that inflicting damage upon yourself is psychologically worse than chance events like getting a virus.
- coldcode 5y ago
  I had a little fever (99) and was tired for about 12 hrs. Was not terrible. But I am 63.
sigzero 5y ago
I had the Moderna short. Sore arm both times is all I had.
pseudo0 5y ago
I noticed the same pattern, and the FDA numbers do show worse side effects for Moderna. https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-vaccine-side-effects-dose-pfizer-moderna-johnson-johnson-2021-4?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-vaccine-side-effects-d...
- creato 5y ago
  It's probably not a coincidence that Moderna 1) has a higher dose, 2) has more side effects, and 3) is more effective. I got the Moderna vaccine. The second shot hit me pretty hard, I was definitely knocked down for a day. But honestly I was happy about that, being out for one day and then back to normal isn't that big of a deal, and it's a signal that the vaccine did something significant. Non-medically educated opinion ahead: I think symptoms of illness are mostly a result of immune system activity, and so vaccine side effects are an indication that the immune system is working hard. That's the whole point of a vaccine.
  - pseudo0 5y ago
    It was a solid couple days for me after the second shot, with a nasty fever and chills. Once, I can deal with, but I'm seriously not looking forward to the prospect of booster shots every 6-12 months. As someone in an extremely low risk demographic, the cost/benefit seems quite poor.
    - creato 5y ago
      My uninformed eyeballing of the study linked in this thread is that Moderna might not need a booster, or at least not on the same interval as Pfizer. The graph of Moderna cases in the linked paper looks roughly proportional to the unvaccinated cases to me, which suggests there was little to no reduction in effectiveness over that time period. In contrast, the Pfizer cases look to be growing more quickly than the unvaccinated cases, indicating a reduction in effectiveness over time.

bpodgursky 5y ago

I haven't known anyone in their 20-30s who got a 2nd Moderna shot and wasn't down for a day.

likeabbas 5y ago
My anecdotal experience with the second dose was that I experienced light headedness almost exactly 24 hours after the shot. But, it went away after two cocktails (I was flying that day)
CydeWeys 5y ago
I was 35 at the time and was completely down for a day after the second shot. My girlfriend got Pfizer and she wasn't as badly affected -- just got a little sleepy.
- version_five 5y ago
  It's interesting to read these different experiences. I'm in my 40s, my second Pfizer just left me feeling mildly tired, with a bit of pain in the arm. My dad didn't have any real symptoms, and my brothers, in their 30s, said they had more flu like symptoms. I actually had planned to be out of commission based on other peoples reports and was surprised when I was basically fine.
ff317 5y ago
I'm mid-40s and had 2x Moderna on the recommended schedule back in Apr/May. First shot was just mild injection-site pain. Second shot was terrible. Symptoms started about 12h after the shot, and I was stuck in bed for ~36-48h of the worst flu symptoms I've ever had in my life (fever, chills, bad whole body muscle ache, etc - basically everything but the usual sinus/cough part). It was totally worth it, though, and I'd do it again! If you're on the fence - please go get your shot(s)!
- FabHK 5y ago
  FWIW, similar age, Moderna, and just mild injection-site pain both times.
- totony 5y ago
  >It was totally worth it, though, and I'd do it again! If you're on the fence - please go get your shot(s)! As another data point, I wouldn't and don't think it was worth it. Being KO for 4 days when the virus is mundane is not a good trade. (Im 25ish). Plus it doesn't provide 100% protection so I can still get it.
  - jleyank 5y ago
    Not sure you can call covid "mundane", given that 620K have died from it in the US...
    - totony 5y ago
      As I said I'm 25ish. It's a pretty mundane disease for people that age. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1191568/reported-deaths-from-covid-by-age-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1191568/reported-deaths-...
      - bmitc 5y ago
        Potential damage to your lungs, heart, and brain doesn’t seem mundane to me. The person describing four days of being down is not common and is an extreme case. I myself got a little tired day of, had some mild chills the night of, and was a little sore with a headache the morning after. I took some ibuprofen, drank a lot of water, and ate well, and I felt fine later in the day after. I get the feeling this is very typical. The response to the vaccine is simply your body preparing itself. Getting the virus isn’t that and has a lot of potential for damage.
        totony 5y ago
        That person is me and seems quite prevalent at least in my entourage of young people. How old are you? Age is very important when talking about side effects. Plus the potential damage is less likely for people that age, aka we get the most side effect for the least chance of actually having a bad case of the disease. P(getting disease) * P(symptomatic | sick) * P(worse than 4 days fever | symptomatic) gets small very fast. Notwithstanding the fact that inflicting damage upon yourself is psychologically worse than chance events like getting a virus.
coldcode 5y ago
I had a little fever (99) and was tired for about 12 hrs. Was not terrible. But I am 63.

sigzero 5y ago

I had the Moderna short. Sore arm both times is all I had.

pseudo0 5y ago

I noticed the same pattern, and the FDA numbers do show worse side effects for Moderna. https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-vaccine-side-effects-dose-pfizer-moderna-johnson-johnson-2021-4?op=1 https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-vaccine-side-effects-d...

creato 5y ago
It's probably not a coincidence that Moderna 1) has a higher dose, 2) has more side effects, and 3) is more effective. I got the Moderna vaccine. The second shot hit me pretty hard, I was definitely knocked down for a day. But honestly I was happy about that, being out for one day and then back to normal isn't that big of a deal, and it's a signal that the vaccine did something significant. Non-medically educated opinion ahead: I think symptoms of illness are mostly a result of immune system activity, and so vaccine side effects are an indication that the immune system is working hard. That's the whole point of a vaccine.
- pseudo0 5y ago
  It was a solid couple days for me after the second shot, with a nasty fever and chills. Once, I can deal with, but I'm seriously not looking forward to the prospect of booster shots every 6-12 months. As someone in an extremely low risk demographic, the cost/benefit seems quite poor.
  - creato 5y ago
    My uninformed eyeballing of the study linked in this thread is that Moderna might not need a booster, or at least not on the same interval as Pfizer. The graph of Moderna cases in the linked paper looks roughly proportional to the unvaccinated cases to me, which suggests there was little to no reduction in effectiveness over that time period. In contrast, the Pfizer cases look to be growing more quickly than the unvaccinated cases, indicating a reduction in effectiveness over time.