‘Covid Arm’ Rash After the Moderna Shot Is Common but Not Worrisome

Reactions frequently occur after vaccines while the immune system is doing its thing

Tara Haelle
Medium Coronavirus Blog

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Photo: Steven Cornfield/Unsplash

About five days after I got my Moderna vaccine, I found myself scratching the place where I’d gotten it. At first it was automatic, like scratching any itch, but soon I realized it was really itchy — and big and warm and red. I knew there could be injection site reactions, but with all my past vaccines, it had only been red or swollen at the injection site for a day or two after the shot. This was a week later, which seemed weird.

Photos courtesy of the author

It turns out it isn’t as weird as I thought, and it’s something many others, though mostly women it seems, are experiencing as well.

“I was concerned that I might be having some kind of allergic reaction, so I posted this picture and asked if I should contact my doctor,” said Amanda (last name withheld by request), who experienced it after her first dose. But her friends and the nurse who gave her the second dose said it wasn’t anything to worry about.

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Tara Haelle
Medium Coronavirus Blog

Tara Haelle is a science journalist, public speaker, and author of Vaccination Investigation and The Informed Parent. Follow her at @tarahaelle.