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How bad are the side effects after a COVID vaccine?

Health care workers answer questions about the COVID-19 vaccines.

Ilan Shapiro, MD explains that explains that mild side effects from the COVID vaccines are normal signs that the body is building protection against illness from COVID.

Yes, you will have side effects, but they are actually not side effects. They are like a process that your body is actually building immunity, building those antibodies. And, yes, you will not be shiny for 12 to 24 hours as the majority of the cases. And yes, the second round is a little bit tougher than the first one, yes. But broad part of this, protection against dying. Huge percentage of going to prevent you to actually ending up on the hospital, that’s priceless. Understanding that at this moment, we’re almost reaching 600,000 lives that we lost against COVID-19. I do prefer having 24 hours of chills, fever and pain here than being one of those statistics.

This information is shared for educational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice. The views expressed are those of the featured medical professional and reflect information available to that professional at time of filming. Always consult a health care provider for any personal health decisions. Click here for vaccine FAQs from the CDC.

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