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I got my COVID vaccine booster last week. As with my previous two COVID vaccines, I got the standard side-effects:
- Soreness at the injection site
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Muscle soreness
- Fever
- Chills
- High blood sugar
These started about 5h after getting the vaccine and lasted ~24h, the same as the last two times.
In addition to the standard effects, when I woke up the day after getting the vaccine, I noticed that my heart rate was 100 bpm, 21 bpm higher than average and way outside my normal range (see Figure 1).
Intrigued by this, I decided to track by pulse over the course of the day using my Omron blood pressure monitor. My original intention was to measure every hour, but I skipped several measurements where either my arm was sore at the measurement site or where I fell asleep. I had also wanted to track my temperature, as that’s known to correlate with increased heart rate1, but my family had taken our thermometer for the day.
As can be seen in Figure 2, my pulse peaked shortly after waking up, then declined steadily throughout the day, ultimately returning to about normal by the next morning. This corresponded to my subjective assessment of how I was feeling. I felt the worst when I woke up, got steadily better over the course of the morning with an abrupt improvement when I took a nap around 2pm (waking at ~4p), and felt completely fine when I woke up the next day.
Although vaccine side effects have been widely reported, I couldn’t find much on the effect on heart rate. The only paper I found was a medRxiv paper from Quer et. al. at Scripps, which reported a small but statistically significant increase of 1.5 bpm after the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine for a population of 3,300, with heart rate peaking on the day after vaccination and returning to normal by day 6. This is a much smaller effect size and longer duration than I saw, but there are some critical differences:
- They’re averaging a large number of people and there may be significant person-to-person variation in the effect.
- They report average the heart rate over the course of the day, while I report individual time points.
- They used data from Fitbit or Apple Watch vs. a blood pressure monitor.
To check the last two factors, I plotted the heart rate data from my Apple Watch (see Figures 3 & 4). Unfortunately, the watch had not recorded my data for 4 out of the 5 days prior to my vaccination (no idea why), though there was nothing unusual in my routine those days.
As can be seen from the graphs, the day after getting the booster vaccine, my arising and awake pulse were 27 and 13 bpm higher than average, respectively. This is consistent with the 21 bpm rise observed with the Omron and much higher than that observed by Quer et. al.. However, using the watch data, I do see the longer recovery time (~6 days) reported by Quer et. al. Not sure why I didn’t see this with the Omron, but it could be related to the fact that I don’t use it as often, resulting in a higher uncertainty in the average value.
This strongly suggests I’m actually seeing a larger effect and the result of different measurement methods. Anecdotally, I had worse side effects from the vaccine than most people I’ve spoken with, which is consistent with the larger increase in heart rate.
Have any of you seen an increase in heart rate from the COVID vaccine? If so, let me know in the comments.
– QD
Data
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(1) Karjalainen, J. & Viitasalo, M., Fever and cardiac rhythm. Arch. Intern. Med., 1986, 146, 1169-1171.
Yes, my heart rate is much higher. It is 2 days after the booster and my heart rate is quite elevated (more than 10bpm, even while sleeping). I am measuring this with my Fitbit. which didn’t recognize I went to sleep last night. Is this normal and how long will it last?
If you look at the study I cited, they report an average duration of 6 days before heart rate is back to normal. However, that’s averaging over a large population and I assume the variance is quite large. For example, I had a much larger elevation in heart rate than reported by the study, but it lasted for a much shorter period of time.
If you’re concerned, I’d contact your Dr.
Thank you for posting this. I am not seeing a lot online about irregular pulse after the COVID vaccines. I had no issues, beyond feeling tired, after the first two shots (Pfizer). I got the Pfizer booster last Wednesday. I was really tired the day after and began to have daily morning headaches each day after that for three more days. On the fifth day post vaccine, my pulse began to be irregular, I was lightheaded, chest discomfort/some pain, numbness. My BP ease normal. I had waves of my pulse going to high 90s and I would be sweating. It kept me awake all night. I saw my doctor and she did an EKG, which was normal. My doctor felt this was all just side effects of the booster and will go away. It’s day 7 post booster now. I am starting to feel better. My stamina is gone and I am still somewhat lightheaded, but I have been mostly on the couch for the past two days…. We shall see
Thanks for posting this. As you say, the main paper still seems to be the one suggesting 1.5 bpm. Not much else out there.
I just got the updated Moderna bivalent booster yesterday and My experience matches yours almost identically. I did not notice this with the original shots or boosters. This time I’ve been running an elevated resting hr about 20-30 bpm above normal and was unable to sleep first night and it has lasted all day with lows only getting to mid 70s but mostly in mid 80s with highs up to 105. I’m tracking on Apple Watch.
Here’s hoping tomorrow brings a return to normal.
I will add that I got flu and shingles shots on same visit so immune system is no doubt on overdrive.