Frequently Asked Questions

After getting vaccinated, you might have some side effects, which are normal signs that your body is building protection. Common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling in the arm where you received the shot, as well as tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, fever, and nausea throughout the rest of the body. These side effects could affect your ability to do daily activities, but they should go away in a few days. 

 It depends. For now, fully vaccinated people can gather indoors without physical distancing or wearing masks with:

• Other people who are fully vaccinated
• Unvaccinated people from one other household, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19

Until more is known, fully vaccinated people should continue to wear masks and stay 6 feet apart from other people in other settings, like when they are in public or visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households.

 Yes, you should be vaccinated regardless of whether you already had COVID-19. That’s because experts do not yet know how long you are protected from getting sick again after recovering from COVID-19. Even if you have already recovered from COVID-19, it is possible—although rare—that you could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 again. Learn more about why getting vaccinated is a safer way to build protection than getting infected.

If you were treated for COVID-19 with monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma, you should wait 90 days before getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Talk to your doctor if you are unsure what treatments you received or if you have more questions about getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

People with underlying medical conditions can receive a COVID-19 vaccine as long as they have not had an immediate or severe allergic reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine or to any of the ingredients in the vaccine. Learn more about vaccination considerations for people with underlying medical conditions. Vaccination is an important consideration for adults of any age with certain underlying medical conditions because they are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19. 

We don’t know how long protection lasts for those who are vaccinated. What we do know is that COVID-19 has caused very serious illness and death for a lot of people. If you get COVID-19, you also risk giving it to loved ones who may get very sick. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is a safer choice.

Experts are working to learn more about both natural immunity and vaccine-induced immunity. CDC will keep the public informed as new evidence becomes available.

No. People with COVID-19 who have symptoms should wait to be vaccinated until they have recovered from their illness and have met the criteria for discontinuing isolation; those without symptoms should also wait until they meet the criteria before getting vaccinated. This guidance also applies to people who get COVID-19 before getting their second dose of vaccine. 

Yes. A pregnant person who is part of a group recommended to receive COVID-19 vaccine (e.g., healthcare personnel) may choose to be vaccinated. There are currently few data on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant or lactating people. When making a decision, you and your patient should consider the

• level of COVID-19 community transmission
• patient’s personal risk of contracting COVID-19
• risks of COVID-19 to the patient and potential risks to the fetus
• efficacy of the vaccine
• side effects of the vaccine
• lack of data about the vaccine during pregnancy

The vaccines don’t contain live, attenuated, or inactivated vaccines. The vaccines contain the gene for a virus protein only. This means you can’t get COVID-19 from the vaccine. 

The FDA is committed to science and the critical evaluation of all new vaccines for their safety and efficacy in an unbiased way before their authorization for use. No vaccine will be released until it has undergone rigorous scientific and clinical testing that all vaccines in development are held to. Learn more about vaccine development in this presentation from the CDC. 

Vaccine development typically takes many years, however, scientists had already begun research for coronavirus vaccines during previous outbreaks caused by related coronaviruses, such as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome). That earlier research provided a head start for the rapid development of vaccines to protect against infection with the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19. 

The federal government will cover the cost of the vaccine. There will be no out-of-pocket costs for the vaccine. Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers will cover the cost of vaccine administration. It is possible that health care providers may charge an office visit fee, or a fee to administer the vaccine. Administrative costs for vaccines for the uninsured will be covered by the Health Resources and Services Administration.