# Reaction to Pfizer booster: did anyone feel unusually cold? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [January 14, 2022, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769 "2022-01-14T03:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/1 "2022-01-14T03:38:50Z")
I got the booster yesterday and last night I nearly froze to death. I couldn’t get warm despite extra blankets, wearing a heavy sweater in bed, and keeping the heat on. I’m in southern CA, so it wasn’t the weather. Has anyone else heard of this as a reaction to the shot? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/2 "2022-01-14T03:52:54Z")
I didn’t have this reaction, but it is the reaction I sometimes have when I have a low-grade fever, and that is something you can sometimes get from the shot. Did you check your temperature? I also just sometimes get it without any such signs, too. It feels the same, but my temperature remains normal. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/3 "2022-01-14T04:04:40Z")
I didn’t take my temperature, but my forehead felt cool to the touch. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/4 "2022-01-14T04:06:02Z")
No. A little feverish. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/5 "2022-01-14T04:06:41Z")
I had no reaction to the Pfizer booster. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/6 "2022-01-14T04:27:47Z")
My notes say that I had chills (as well as queasiness) the next morning, but that I wasn’t sure that it wasn’t just that the house was cold. In any case, I was all right by that afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/7 "2022-01-14T04:31:31Z")
> [@Newtosite](#): > > Has anyone else heard of this as a reaction to the shot? I had Moderna for a booster, but I had the exact reaction you’re describing to my Pfizer #2. Worst chills I ever had in my life. Moderna booster had its own charms, but Pfizer #2 for me was the most memorable. Not in a great way. ---
**Author:** ![Newtosite](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/newtosite/32/8623_2.png) [@Newtosite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newtosite)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/8 "2022-01-14T05:01:17Z")
Interesting! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/9 "2022-01-18T05:46:43Z")
Though it may seem contradictory, chills is often evidence of a fever. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/10 "2022-01-18T05:51:57Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > chills is often evidence of a fever Indeed. The worst chills I’ve ever had in my life were when I had the flu at age 16. I spent several days lying in my bed, wrapped up in heavy blankets, in our southern CA house with no air conditioning, shivering and chattering my teeth. On the topic, the Pfizer booster left me feeling tired and sore all over the next day, which was different from the first dose which just made me tired the rest of the day that I got it, and the second which had no side effects at all. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/11 "2022-01-18T06:01:41Z")
I got the chills and shivers from the first Moderna shot. Ruined my sleep that night. Had to take a long nap the next day. Nothing from the second or booster. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/12 "2022-01-18T06:03:08Z")
> [@Newtosite](#): > > I got the booster yesterday and last night I nearly froze to death. I felt a bit chilly after my booster and thought I might have had a fever but my temperature was normal. I wouldn’t describe the sensation as freezing though. The booster hit me harder than either of the regular Pfizer shots for some reason but I recovered in two days. Mainly I just felt weak and tired. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/13 "2022-01-18T06:35:49Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > > [@Newtosite](#): > > > > Has anyone else heard of this as a reaction to the shot? > > I had Moderna for a booster, but I had the exact reaction you’re describing to my Pfizer #2. Worst chills I ever had in my life. > > Moderna booster had its own charms, but Pfizer #2 for me was the most memorable. Not in a great way. I had the same sequence as you – Pfizer for #1 and #2, and a Moderna booster (in my case, because of age, a full-dose booster). But reactions vary wildly. I had a mild reaction to #1, no reaction at all to #2, and nothing but a very slightly sore arm to #3, and perhaps a bit of tiredness the next day. But nothing else. And even the tiredness could have been due to other things. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/14 "2022-01-24T02:30:21Z")
Not from the vaccine. I take regular (not “no flush”) niacin for a skin condition and somewhere about 5% of the time it gives me chills like you’re describing, OP. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/15 "2022-01-24T03:48:02Z")
Nope. I had Pfizer x 3 and no chills. Just a bit of fatigue but nothing much. ---
**Author:** ![raspberry\_hunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2022, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reaction-to-pfizer-booster-did-anyone-feel-unusually-cold/957769/16 "2022-01-24T18:38:03Z")
With the booster I had flu-like chills (thankfully only for a short period of time) but with #2 I just felt cold overnight. Not flu-like chills, but I felt unusually cold (it wasn’t a particularly cold night).