2025 Fall Booster: Get it or not?

Posted by greenshade @greenshade, Sep 30, 2025

I am in a quandary. I've had LC since 2022. I was fully vaccinated before my first infection. In Oct 2023, I got a Pfizer booster, and my symptoms flared up and set me back for months. I have avoided boosters since then. I am mostly well now (finally!), although I still experience some fatigue and joint pain. The question is: Do I get the 2025 fall booster or not? If so, do I receive the Pfizer booster in line with my prior vaccines and boosters? Should I go to Novavax instead? Is it less problematic? Any firsthand knowledge is appreciated. THX

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It was also recommended to me by the long COVID clinic to get the Novavax. It wasn’t available in my area until recently. I got it yesterday and so far no reaction. In the past with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines I became quite sick with fever, body aches, and vomiting.

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Profile picture for greenshade @greenshade

@colleenyoung Thank you. Very useful information. What I am specifically concerned with is: What is the risk of exacerbating Long COVID symptoms as a result of taking the new 2025 booster (Moderna, Pfizer, or Novavax)? Can taking the booster result in a relapse of symptoms for Long COVID patients? If so, to what extent? Severity and duration?

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@greenshade Hi, Most of the info on potential adverse setbacks from taking the boosters for people with LC is anecdotal. However, some researchers have acknowledged this problem. It has come up in Q&As at both Yale and Standford where LC research is ongoing. I believe it is generally accepted in the broader medical community that some LC patients will have set backs of some symptoms after taking the booster(s). As with everything COVID, the type, severity, and duration of the set back symptoms varies by patient. And it should be said that many, perhaps most, LC patients experience no set back following the booster(s). When I got my last booster, Oct 2023, I had asked my primary physician if there was any reason not to get it and he assured me there was not. I got it and I am still dealing with the set back; mostly fatigue but also muscle/joint pain and some brain fog. When I asked him again about the current booster, he said he could not give me an opinion, that it was a judgement call I had to make. It's a crummy place to be, not knowing what to do. But, for me, I have decided no more boosters. I continue to mask when indoors around people and generally avoid crowds as much as possible.

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Profile picture for azlynn5 @azlynn5

It was also recommended to me by the long COVID clinic to get the Novavax. It wasn’t available in my area until recently. I got it yesterday and so far no reaction. In the past with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines I became quite sick with fever, body aches, and vomiting.

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@azlynn5 Yes, it is not an mRNA vaccine and there is some reason to suggest it poses less of a risk of set back of symptoms than either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.

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Profile picture for flomba @flomba

I have been getting the Novavax for the past three boosters. Much less symptom-activating. It has not improved my long COVID symptoms, but unlike the others it did not activate them. The doctor I saw at the long COVID clinic in Rochester endorsed this choice for me, and my primary care physician strongly recommended taking all steps possible to avoid reinfection (including vaccination).

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@flomba Very good to know. Thank you!

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Profile picture for klf58 @klf58

I'm not getting the fall booster, as every booster set me back by a lot and my doctor advised against it in my particular case. Everyone reacts differently. For me, the boosters made me so sick that it wasn't worth it. LC for five years, going on six come March.

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@klf58 So sorry. It's four years for me. My personal decision is not to get the boosters. Warm regards.

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