(WSIL) -- Some people, maybe even a lot of people, are reporting a mild itchy rash a week or two after they get the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Aside from sometimes being itchy, it doesn't appear to be dangerous, and people who get it should not hesitate to get their second dose of the vaccine, doctors say.
"We're encouraging people who've had this reaction to go in and get their second shot," said Dr. Kim Blumenthal, an allergist, epidemiologist and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who's tracking the reaction. "There was concern that if you had the reaction on the first dose, it might reoccur with the second and possibly be worse. But we now have followed enough cases to know that's not happening."
The rash has not shown up for the recipients of the Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccines and seems to be more common among women and people under age 60. It usually lasts about a week.
The clinical phrase is “delayed local large reaction� because it happens even after other symptoms subside. So far, side effects for both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines seem to be almost identical, apart from this one reaction.
COVID-19 vaccine reactions can be reported on the CDC's page.
