Just got mine...last year it wasn't a big deal, but this year it fucking HURT. I'm already a giant baby who hates getting my vaccines but this was way worse than usual. When I started telling people about my reaction this year a number of people agreed that it hurt way worse this year and/or they had different reactions than previous years.
Please note I'm not looking for any conspiracies about it being worse or different somehow in a bad way, and I'm not trying to scare people into not getting it; even if it fucking hurt this year please get it, the temporary pain is better than getting and spreading covid.
But it definitely felt different in my arm and in my body this year and I have heard the same from others. Did something change or are we just misremembering? Or are our bodies reacting different somehow this year for other reasons? Or is it just random and this year for whatever coincidental reason I know a bunch of people who had a worse muscle reaction to it.
So I'm not an expert and take this with a grain of salt. The one I got a month or two back was a "spike protein" vaccine, where there are just bits of the same spike protein that covid uses injected into you. I think the previous were MRNA (makes your cells produce the protein), and the J&J one was another thing, basically a genetically modified cold virus that has those spike proteins. To me they all were moderate soreness.
I think both are available? Im pretty sure the pfizer ones that are advertised are still mrna