It looks like I didn't bother to blog my last year's covid booster, but for the record, I got the bivalent Pfizer vaccine in September 2022. I had side effects in line with previous Moderna 1st dose & 2nd dose shots and Pfizer booster, which is to say, I had varying degrees of whole-arm soreness, fatigue, headache, fever, chills, and body aches.
Yesterday, I got the Novavax updated vaccine. Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax all have updated 2023-2024 formulas that target more recent variants. Pfizer and Moderna were approved by the FDA in September, but I purposely waited for Novavax approval (which came in early October) because there's a line of thinking that maybe the Novavax protein-based vaccine might offer broader and/or more durable protection, especially following previous shots of mRNA vaccines. Novavax is also supposed to have fewer side effects, which did ring true for me (more on that later in this post).
So far I've gotten all my covid vaccinations either through a doctor's practice (which I prefer) or at CVS, but the first place near me that had Novavax available was Costco. I was a little nervous about insurance coverage, but thankfully everything went smoothly, and the shot was free to me. Interestingly, this was the first time I was not asked to wait 15 minutes afterwards for observation, and they did not update my vaccine card. (I wrote it in myself on the back, just for my own records.)
I usually get all injections in my left arm simply because I'm right-handed, but since I just got my flu shot in my left arm recently, I figured I'd use my right arm for the covid shot to keep potential localized side effects separate.
Somehow, I totally forgot that I should always get injections in my left arm!! Because I got fewer lymph nodes removed from that side, and injections are a risk for lymphedema. Plus covid vaccines specifically may cause lymph node swelling, which is especially undesirable on my right side (the side with more lymph nodes removed) because that side still always feels a little numb and puffy already.
I got vaccinated around 12:30 PM yesterday, and by the afternoon, my arm was achy/sore at the site of injection, and then the discomfort spread into my underarm. I didn't have any trouble lifting my arm above my head, which was the case with Moderna, but I did feel some extra numbness/puffiness in my right armpit, which is what prompted me to remember that I should have gotten the shot in my left arm in the first place.
I felt tired last night, but I ended up reading in bed and didn't actually fall asleep all that much earlier than usual. So, I did have tiredness as a side effect, but not nearly as much as with Pfizer and Moderna.
Today is the 2nd day after Novavax, and the only side effects I've had continue to be upper-arm soreness, swollen armpit, and some tiredness. All in all, a more comfortable experience than with Pfizer and Moderna, and I suspect it would have been even better if I had gotten the shot in my left arm.
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