--- title: Why 'New' COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects Are Totally Expected description: As more people get vaccinated, side effects like menstrual changes, rashes, brain fog and shingles are being reported. That's expected. canonical: https://time.com/5957222/covid-vaccine-side-effects/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-04-22T15:11:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T15:42:39.000Z article:section: Health og:title: Why 'New' COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects Are Totally Expected og:description: And probably nothing to worry about og:url: https://time.com/5957222/covid-vaccine-side-effects/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4072c245c6919bd7/698a18ee457a5245f5d65163/covid-19-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: COVID-19 vaccination og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why 'New' COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects Are Totally Expected twitter:description: And probably nothing to worry about twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4072c245c6919bd7/698a18ee457a5245f5d65163/covid-19-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # People Are Reporting Unexpected Side Effects After COVID-19 Vaccination—But That's Actually Normal > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. Readers can join any of them at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=1f4b4c96-2218-455f-aa88-0331e996733e&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### The seven newsletters | Newsletter | Covers | Frequency | | --- | --- | --- | | The Brief | The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors | Daily | | Inside TIME | A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | | Health Matters | The latest health news and expert advice on living well | Daily | | Worth Your Time | A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more | Tuesday and Saturday (2x per week) | | D.C. Brief | Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington | Monday to Saturday (3x per week) | | Future Proof | Making sense of the climate and energy economy | Friday (1x per week) | | In the Loop | Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution | Tuesday and Friday (2x per week) | Source: TIME, August 2026. ### Key data points | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Engaged newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ readers | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletters published | 7 | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost to readers | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Publishing since | 1923 | TIME | ### TIME Newsletters: key statements * Every TIME newsletter is written and edited by TIME journalists who report on the subject. None is generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923. Its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting, so readers can trust what they read. * All seven newsletters are free. Readers pick the ones they want at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=1f4b4c96-2218-455f-aa88-0331e996733e&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). * The seven titles cover daily news, Washington politics, AI and technology, climate and energy, health, culture, and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/subscribe?i=1f4b4c96-2218-455f-aa88-0331e996733e&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What newsletters does TIME publish? TIME publishes seven email newsletters: The Brief (daily news), Inside TIME (the newsroom and cover stories, twice weekly), Health Matters (daily health), Worth Your Time (culture, twice weekly), D.C. Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 3:42 PM UTCPublished: Apr 22, 2021 3:11 PM UTC  A health professional holds a vial of Janssen/J&J's COVID-19 vaccine in Pamplona, Spain on April 22, 2021. A health professional holds a vial of Janssen/J&J's COVID-19 vaccine in Pamplona, Spain on April 22, 2021. Eduardo Sanz/Europa Press—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 3:42 PM UTCPublished: Apr 22, 2021 3:11 PM UTC Abigail, a 29-year-old from New York City who asked to use a pseudonym to preserve her privacy, knew to expect some side effects after she got her second Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in February. The fever, body aches and fatigue she felt were nothing surprising. But when she began experiencing heavy, “stupidly painful, debilitating” menstrual periods, she felt blindsided. “I had not heard a single person talking about it,” she says. While scientists have not confirmed that COVID-19 vaccines can cause menstrual changes like Abigail’s, she feels confident the shot was her trigger, since she experienced something similar after a probable case of COVID-19 last spring. As of mid-April, more than 19,000 people had reported similar experiences in a University of Illinois [survey](https://redcap.healthinstitute.illinois.edu/surveys/index.php?s=LL8TKKC8DP). Even without scientific confirmation, their stories are drawing attention to the fact that vaccination side effects can be far more varied than what’s often discussed in the mainstream. Side effects—while temporarily uncomfortable—are a standard part of vaccination, says Dr. Stanley Perlman, a professor at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine and a member of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee. They show that the body is responding to the shot and mounting an immune response. (Perlman says he considers side effects [different from](https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/ensuringsafety/sideeffects/index.html) serious adverse events, like the rare blood clots [reported in connection](https://time.com/5954454/jj-janssen-vaccine-pause-blood-clots/) with Janssen/Johnson & Johnson’s shot. Most side effects are unpleasant but normal, whereas serious adverse events are potentially fatal issues that demand medical care.) The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [lists](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/expect/after.html) common COVID-19 vaccine side effects as pain, swelling or redness at the injection site; fatigue; headaches; muscle pain; chills; fever; and nausea. But that list isn’t exhaustive. In fact sheets describing each vaccine, manufacturers listed additional possible side effects—including diarrhea, joint pain, swollen lymph nodes, hives, rashes and facial swelling—and noted that there could be even more side effects beyond those specified. Menstrual changes may fall into that category, if conclusive evidence links them to the vaccines. (In statements to TIME, a spokesperson for Pfizer said clinical trial participants did not report any menstrual changes. A spokesperson for Janssen said menstrual changes were not tracked as part of its study. A Moderna rep did not return requests for comment by press time.) There have also [been reports](https://www.jaad.org/article/S0190-9622%2821%2900658-7/pdf) of people developing rashes and other skin conditions, like so-called “[COVID arm](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2102131),” after vaccination. [Others have experienced](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/04/pandemic-senioritis/618609/) brain fog that feels akin to a marijuana high. In rare cases, people [have also developed shingles](https://academic.oup.com/rheumatology/advance-article/doi/10.1093/rheumatology/keab345/6225015?searchresult=1) after COVID-19 vaccination, as small numbers of people do after taking [other types of drugs](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/shingles/symptoms-causes/syc-20353054), but those findings are preliminary. There are bound to be more side effects observed and reported by the general population than are uncovered during a clinical trial, Perlman says. Each COVID-19 vaccine trial had to have at least 30,000 participants. That’s a lot, but it’s a small fraction of the people who have been vaccinated in the U.S., now that 215 million doses have been administered. Even side effects that were uncommon during clinical trials may affect a relatively large number of people once vaccines are widely distributed, Perlman says. “If you have a trial where you’ve looked at 30,000 people and something happens to 0.1% of them, that’s 30 people,” Perlman says. “But then when you change that 30,000 to 30 million, now there’s many more people having the same side effect.” Not everything that happens post-vaccination is caused by the vaccine, of course. When millions of people get vaccinated every single day, some are bound to experience health problems following but unrelated to the vaccine, Perlman says. Even still, it’s important for people to monitor their health in the days following vaccination and alert their doctors to anything out of the ordinary, so health authorities know which side effects to emphasize or look into further, says Paul Duprex, director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Vaccine Research. Members of the public can report their side effects using the CDC’s [Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System](https://wonder.cdc.gov/vaers.html) or [V-safe tracker](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/vsafe.html). “Those voices matter,” Duprex says. “Patterns can only be recognized \[if people who get vaccinated\] voice what happened and people who hear those voices collect and collate” the data. There’s a tendency among researchers to discount observations if their cause can’t be proven, Duprex admits. “There’s a fundamental difference between correlations and a cause,” he says. But “none of those things should be dismissed.” Only when researchers have all the data can they adequately assess what’s really happening and communicate that to the public. “There are things that we can only learn,” Duprex says, “if those vaccinated voices are heard.” That’s what people like Abigail are trying to make sure of, by speaking out about potential side effects like menstrual changes. Abigail says she remains glad she got vaccinated, and recommends that everyone do the same. She just wants others to go into the experience feeling more informed than she did. **Correction, April 22** _The original version of this story misstated how many people in the U.S. have been vaccinated against COVID-19\. More than 215 million doses have been administered, but fewer than 215 million people have received at least one dose._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5957222/covid-vaccine-side-effects/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5957222/covid-vaccine-side-effects/"},"headline":"People Are Reporting Unexpected Side Effects After COVID-19 Vaccination—But That's Actually Normal","datePublished":"2021-04-22T15:11:22.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T15:42:39.000Z","description":"As more people get vaccinated, side effects like menstrual changes, rashes, brain fog and shingles are being reported. That's expected.","url":"https://time.com/5957222/covid-vaccine-side-effects/","keywords":["COVID-19"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4072c245c6919bd7/698a18ee457a5245f5d65163/covid-19-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4072c245c6919bd7/698a18ee457a5245f5d65163/covid-19-vaccine.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"COVID-19 vaccination","caption":"COVID-19 vaccination","creditText":"Eduardo Sanz/Europa Press—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5957222/covid-vaccine-side-effects/","name":"People Are Reporting Unexpected Side Effects After COVID-19 Vaccination—But That's Actually Normal"}}]}] ```