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Previous episode Weakened, killed or just a piece: what is inside a vaccine

How vaccines work: how a shot trains your immune system

Why your arm hurts after a vaccine, even with no live germ inside

The day after a shot, your arm can be sore, even when the vaccine holds no live germ at all. What is your body doing there? And why do some vaccines carry an extra ingredient, an adjuvant?

  1. 1 The morning after the shot, your arm is sore and a little warm. Rono got his flu shot the same week, and his arm hurts too. Yet his vaccine holds no live virus at all.youOuch.Rono, afterhis flu shotOuch.

    The morning after the shot, your arm is sore and a little warm. Rono got his flu shot the same week, and his arm hurts too. Yet his vaccine holds no live virus at all.

  2. 2 Let's go back to the spot of your measles shot. B cells are not the first cells to get there. Other cells guard every part of your body, all the time.the spot of the shot

    Let's go back to the spot of your measles shot. B cells are not the first cells to get there. Other cells guard every part of your body, all the time.

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Next episode mRNA vaccines: how a shot with no virus inside trains your immune system

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