Most adolescents do not experience any symptoms or discomfort from vaccinations.
Some adolescents develop mild symptoms that can be treated at home and will clear up within a few days.
Serious side effects are rare.
After vaccination, some adolescents could feel a bit unwell. Most of these reactions resolve within a day or two. The most common reactions to adolescent vaccines include:
If your adolescent doesn’t seem to be getting better or you are worried about them, you can get help:
Many of the common reactions listed above will last for a few days and then get better. Here are some simple things you can do at home to relieve some of these symptoms.
Some adolescents have a sore, red spot where the needle went in for a few days after they get their vaccinations. It can feel hot and it could be a bit swollen. Sometimes it feels itchy.
What to do at home
Putting a cool, damp cloth on the spot where the needle went in can help adolescents feel more comfortable.
Sometimes a small, hard, painless lump – also called a ‘nodule’ – develops at the spot where the needle went in. The nodule may last for weeks or even months, but it will eventually disappear on its own.
What to do at home
Lumps or nodules usually don't hurt and they usually go away after a few days or weeks without any specific treatment.
For a few days after receiving their vaccination, some adolescents don't want to eat as much as they usually do.
What to do at home
Adolescents may prefer to eat small meals throughout the day instead of at regular mealtimes. Remind your adolescent to drink water and other fluids throughout the day, because this may help them feel better.
It is not unusual for adolescents to have a mild fever for a day or two after vaccination. A mild fever is a low-grade temperature of around 38.5°C or less.
Fever on its own will not harm your adolescent, but it can make them feel uncomfortable. In some adolescents, fever can be high (>39.4°C).
What to do at home
It can help if your adolescent wears light (summer) clothes. Reminding adolescents to drink water and other fluids during the day may help them feel better.
If your adolescent is not allergic, paracetamol (e.g. Panadol, Dymadon) or ibuprofen (e.g. Nurofen) can also help ease a fever and relieve soreness. (Always follow the instructions on the packet.)
Call your preferred health professional if you feel like your adolescent is getting worse or if the fever lasts for more than three days.
Some adolescents will experience a mild headache after vaccination.
What to do at home
This does not need any specific treatment and will usually get better within a day or two.
If your adolescent is not allergic, paracetamol (e.g. Panadol, Dymadon) or ibuprofen (e.g. Nurofen) can also help ease a headache. (Always follow the instructions on the packet).
Call your preferred health professional if you feel like your adolescent is getting worse or if the headache lasts for more than two days.
Some adolescents will experience muscle aches after vaccination.
What to do at home
This usually does not need any specific treatment and will get better in a day or two.
If your adolescent is not allergic, paracetamol (e.g. Panadol, Dymadon) or ibuprofen (e.g. Nurofen) can also help ease muscle aches and joint pain. (Always follow the instructions on the packet.)
To help with any muscle aches in the arm they were vaccinated in, make sure your adolescent keeps moving the arm.
Call your preferred health professional if you feel like your adolescent is getting worse or if the aches and pains last for more than three days.
Some adolescents will experience dizziness or light-headedness (fainting) before or immediately after vaccination. This reaction commonly occurs within 15 minutes of the vaccination, before your adolescent can leave the school or clinic setting.
What to do at home
If your adolescent is still feeling dizzy or light-headed when they are home, they should lie down until they no longer feel faint or dizzy. Otherwise, this does not need any specific treatment.
Tiredness is also common after many vaccines.
What to do at home
This is only temporary, and adolescents should rest as needed. Tiredness does not need any specific treatment.
Call your preferred health professional if you feel like your adolescent is getting worse or if the tiredness lasts for more than a few days.
Some adolescents will experience mild a mild upset stomach (nausea) after vaccination.
What to do at home
This reaction is only temporary and should get better in a day or two. It does not need any specific treatment.
Call your preferred health professional if you feel like your adolescent is getting worse or if the upset stomach lasts for more than three days.
Serious side effects are very rare, but they can happen, and some parents want to know more about them before they vaccinate their adolescent.
For more information about serious and/or rare side effects, see Information about diseases and vaccines.
Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction to one of the vaccine ingredients. About 0.0001% (1 in 1,000,000) of people have this reaction following vaccination.1
Anaphylaxis usually happens within 15 minutes of receiving a vaccine, before your adolescent can leave the school or clinic setting, and it can be treated with an injection of adrenaline. People who have this reaction usually recover quickly and don’t experience any long-term effects.1
Less than 2% of adolescents can experience a large (extensive) amount of limb or arm swelling after receiving booster doses of a vaccine that protects against whooping cough (pertussis), diphtheria and tetanus.
This reaction usually happens within 48 hours, lasts for 1–7 days and then resolves completely.2
Around 0.5–1 in 100,000 of tetanus toxoid-containing vaccine doses given in adolescents and adults are linked to a swelling or inflammation of a nerve in the arm (brachial neuritis), which causes weakness or numbness.3,4 The seriousness and length of time of this reaction changes on a case-by-case basis.
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rare disorder where a person’s natural defence system that protects them from disease (immune system) damages their outer-body (peripheral) nerve cells.
GBS occurs at a very low rate of up to 1 in 1,000,000 doses of influenza (flu) vaccines (0.0001%).5 People infected with flu are more likely to get GBS than people who get the flu vaccine.6,7
One study from France showed the possibility of a very small increased risk (approximately 1 in 100,000 girls vaccinated) of a person developing GBS after receiving human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.8 However, other large studies that collectively included more than 10 million people showed that GBS is very rare and the evidence for it being associated with HPV vaccination is weak .9,10,11,12,13
Very rarely (0.001–0.002% of doses, or 1–2 in every 100,000), people receiving a vaccine that protects against COVID-19 can experience a swelling or inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) or the lining of the heart (pericarditis).14
If your adolescent doesn’t seem to be getting better or you are worried about them, you can get help:
Please note: In SKAI Adolescent, the phrase ‘your adolescent’ refers to all guardian relationships where health decisions for an adolescent fall under your responsibility.
Drafts of this page were reviewed by members of our immunisation Provider Reference Group and Consumer Advisory Group.