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Fatigue, headache, pain at the injection site - people have to be prepared for the possibility of side effects that are common with vaccinations, even after vaccination against the coronavirus.
This is the result of a study published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" on the vaccine tests by the Mainz company Biontech and the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
Vaccination experts say: not pleasant, but also no cause for major concern.
For the study, 44,820 men and women were examined from late June to mid-November.
About half of them were given the vaccine twice, the rest a placebo.
Depending on the age group and whether it was the first or second dose, 66 to 83 percent reported pain at the injection site.
Five to seven percent had redness or swelling at the area.
Common side effects with vaccinations
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Other symptoms were fatigue, headache, chills, diarrhea, or muscle and body aches.
Some of the participants developed a fever, particularly with the second dose of vaccine (16 percent of participants between 16 and 55 years of age and eleven percent of participants over 55 years of age reported a fever afterwards).
According to the study, these side effects were generally mild to moderate and resolved after a short time.
Such side effects are common with vaccinations.
Compared to many established vaccines such as the one against flu, however, the side effects are comparatively more pronounced.
Vaccination experts compared the reactions with those given a shingles vaccine.
But there is no reason to have any stronger concerns, said Stefan Kaufmann, director emeritus at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology.
"It's just a bit uncomfortable."
In addition to the minor complaints, there were isolated, more serious "adverse events".
64 people who were vaccinated reported swollen lymph nodes.
One person each reported a shoulder injury, cardiac arrhythmia and paresthesia in the leg, i.e. numbness.
The tolerability of the vaccine will continue to be checked after approval.