The short answer is no. It’s common for people to have 1-2 days of body aches, chills and/or a mild fever immediately after getting their second shot. The vast majority of people then go back to living normally.

If you are unvaccinated, you are more likely to test positive for COVID-19, experience symptoms, and become hospitalized than people who experience serious health issues after getting the vaccine.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the research for the basis of mRNA vaccines had already been completed. The FDA followed all the safeguards and regulations it always does for vaccine approval.

This helped to get COVID-19 vaccines ready for approval and distribution much more quickly than we typically see.

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are FDA-approved for the prevention of COVID-19 disease. For the Pfizer vaccine, it is approved for individuals 16 and older. For the Moderna vaccine, it is approved for individuals 18 and older. The vaccines are still available under emergency use authorization for:

• Individuals 6 mos. of age and older
• A third dose in immunocompromised individuals ages 5 years and older (Pfizer only)
• A fourth dose in immunocompromised individuals ages 12 years and older (Pfizer only)

The full approval included additional evaluation of scientific data, safety analyses and further inspection of manufacturing processes, 

The Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) and Novavax COVID-19 vaccines are being manufactured using the FDA’s emergency use authorization.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been fully approved by the FDA for individuals over the age of 16 for the prevention of COVID-19 disease. It has also been given emergency use authorization by the FDA for the prevention of COVID-19 disease in children over the age of 6 months. In order to get approved for use in children, the clinical trials had the same safeguards and oversight as the adult approval process.

Michael Pichichero, MD, Director of Rochester General Hospital Research Institute, goes into more detail in a video about COVID-19 vaccines and children.

Researchers have found no increased risk of infertility for women who got the COVID-19 vaccine compared to those who did not.

Data from hundreds of thousands of pregnant women who received the COVID-19 vaccine show they are not at any more risk than women who are unvaccinated.

Some research even shows pregnant mothers pass their antibodies to their baby, helping to protect them against the virus.

If you have a health condition and are unsure how the COVID-19 vaccine might affect you, ask your doctor or primary care provider.

If you need to find a doctor to talk with, you can find one using our Physician Directory.

If you tested positive for COVID-19 and recovered from the illness, your immune system does have antibodies that protect against COVID-19.

However, research shows people who have immunity due to infection are more than twice as likely to get COVID again compared to someone who has immunity due to vaccination. Getting vaccinated will protect you better than relying on infection-acquired immunity.

Even people who are younger and have no history of health problems can get severe cases of COVID-19 if they are unvaccinated. It is hard to predict why some people get mild cases while others are more severe.

Another benefit: The more people who are vaccinated and protected, the fewer people the virus can infect. Each vaccinated person is one step closer to ending the pandemic.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are 95 percent effective in protecting against a COVID-19 infection. Wearing a mask helps to protect you even more. You could also be carrying the Omicron variant, which is more contagious, and spread it to others.

Michael Pichichero, MD, Director of Rochester General Hospital Research Institute, talks more about the recent changes in mask-wearing guidance.

Nearly all viruses have variants, especially as they infect more people and adapt. While researchers do not know exactly what will come next, the current COVID-19 vaccines protect the vast majority of people who get them.

Michael Pichichero, MD, Director of Rochester General Hospital Research Institute, describes what happens with variants.

The rise in cases has been fueled by a lack of people getting vaccinated. Most of the cases arriving at hospitals are unvaccinated people infected by the Omicron variant. The fewer unvaccinated people are out there, the fewer chances the virus has to spread .

A more thorough explanation comes from Michael Pichichero, MD, Director of Rochester General Hospital Research Institute.