There’s been a lot of talk about how bad the side effects can be from the COVID-19 vaccines. But what happens if you don’t have any side effects at all?

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Some Garden State residents are worried this could mean the vaccine isn’t effective but the experts say that is not the case.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the COVID vaccine can result in pain, redness and swelling in the arm where you got the shot, and an overall feeling of tiredness, as well as headache, muscle pains, chills nausea and a fever.

The CDC also said side effects after your second shot (from the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine) may be more intense than the ones you experienced after your first shot, but side effects are normal signs you body is building protection against the virus.

If you have been vaccinated and you haven’t had any ill effects, Dr. Susan Boruchoff, the chief of infectious disease and a professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said you should consider yourself fortunate because you have nothing to worry about.

"I think it’s unpredictable who is going to have reactions and who is not going to have reactions,” she said. “A lot of people are being immunized not having reactions, but they are all being protected.”

Dr. Boruchoff said because this is so unpredictable, “it’s a good idea if possible to leave time for yourself in case you have a reaction so not to do it on a day where you’re going to be terribly busy that day or the next.”

She said people who've had COVID-19 before getting the vaccine tend to get a reaction after their first shot.

For these people, “the first dose of vaccine may in fact be acting like a booster, reminding your immune system you’ve had it before."

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