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If you are scheduled for a second shot, you may want to get it in the other arm or see if an alternative vaccine is available. ## Review Date 1/1/2025 Expand Section Updated by: Linda J. Vorvick, MD, Clinical Professor Emeritus, Department of Family Medicine, UW Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team. Learn how to cite this page ## Was this page helpful? Yes No Thank you for your feedback\! [](https://accreditnet.urac.org/directory/#/certification/HCP010004/info) Health Content Provider 06/01/2028 [A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC](), for Health Content Provider (www.urac.org). URAC's [accreditation program]() is an independent audit to verify that A.D.A.M. follows rigorous standards of quality and accountability. A.D.A.M. is among the first to achieve this important distinction for online health information and services. 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URL of this page: //medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/19970.htm  ## Overview COVID-19 vaccines may cause certain side effects in some people. These symptoms can be a sign that your body is making antibodies against the virus. One common side effect is a red, itchy, warm, painful, swollen rash on the arm where you got the shot. This rash, which can be large, is also known as “COVID arm.” It may develop a few days to a week after getting the vaccine. While it may be uncomfortable, this reaction is harmless. You can take an antihistamine or an over-the-counter pain medicine to relieve itching and pain. Even if you have a rash after vaccination, it is important to get further shots as needed. If you are scheduled for a second shot, you may want to get it in the other arm or see if an alternative vaccine is available. Updated by: Linda J. Vorvick, MD, Clinical Professor Emeritus, Department of Family Medicine, UW Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team. ## Was this page helpful? Thank you for your feedback\! The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, timeliness, or correctness of any translations made by a third-party service of the information provided herein into any other language. © 1997- 2026 A.D.A.M., a business unit of Ebix, Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. All content on this site including text, images, graphics, audio, video, data, metadata, and compilations is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may view the content for personal, noncommercial use. Any other use requires prior written consent from Ebix. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, transmit, display, publish, reverse-engineer, adapt, modify, store beyond ordinary browser caching, index, mine, scrape, or create derivative works from this content. You may not use automated tools to access or extract content, including to create embeddings, vectors, datasets, or indexes for retrieval systems. Use of any content for training, fine-tuning, calibrating, testing, evaluating, or improving AI systems of any kind is prohibited without express written consent. This includes large language models, machine learning models, neural networks, generative systems, retrieval-augmented systems, and any software that ingests content to produce outputs. Any unauthorized use of the content including AI-related use is a violation of our rights and may result in legal action, damages, and statutory penalties to the fullest extent permitted by law. Ebix reserves the right to enforce its rights through legal, technological, and contractual measures. [](https://www.adam.com/about)