(She cautioned, however, that she's generally 'a fairly sleep deprived person,' so it's unclear whether that fatigue was all a result of the shot.)

Katie Bent, 30, boosted her J&J with Pfizer and said after that second shot she was so tired she slept for 15 hours, whereas with the J&J she was just 'a little tired and sore afterwards.' Lynch described feeling 'tired and achy' and 'kind of gross' but without a fever.ģ2-year-old Andy Sparks who boosted his single shot J&J vaccine with a shot of Moderna said his arm hurt 'way worse' after the Moderna boost than with the initial J&J. Younger adults told Insider similar stories.Īlec Lynch, who's 21 and on medication that affects his immune system, said he was 'just out of commission for a day,' laying in bed after he got a third shot of Pfizer in August. I didn't have any of those shakes, fevers, or all the other reactions that most people have. 'The only thing that bothered me was I was extremely tired for 24 hours,' Walz, who is in his 60s, said. Steve Walz, head of international relations at Israel's Sheba Medical Center, spoke to Insider after his third dose of Pfizer. In general, reactions to third doses of the two mRNA vaccines appear quite similar to second doses, though third dose side effects may be slightly milder. Nearly all of them (more than 98%) remain loyal to the same brand when they go back for a third shot (Pfizer recipients boost with Pfizer, Moderna recipients with Moderna.) Some are boosting their single shot of J&J with a second shot of the same, while others are topping it up with a jab of mRNA vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna. More than 21,900 people have reported their third dose side effects using the CDC's v-safe text messaging system. 'It is wealthier people, it is more highly educated people who are going out and getting boosters on their own.' Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown School of Public Health, told a group of journalists recently, explaining how he had recently been at a dinner where roughly a quarter of attendees had boosted themselves. More than 2.3 million Americans have gotten booster doses already, according to CDC data, a number that most certainly includes people who are not immunocompromised. Most are sticking to the same brand, and reporting milder side effects

They say their side effects are, by and large, a lot like the ones they had after a second dose of Pfizer or Moderna. This week, the FDA expanded its booster authorization to a much broader population, and t he CDC is now recommending certain adults who've had Pfizer's vaccine get a third shot at least six months after their initial one.īut the truth is that many people have already taken it upon themselves to get boosted, whether they are in priority groups or not.

Sick after vaccine booster