“The vaccine appears to have worked to protect my lungs, so that kept me from having life-threatening symptoms, but at the same time, a so-called mild course can be . . . sort of the sickest I’ve ever been in my life,” said Kinsey, who is 38 and lives with his wife and three children in Pennsylvania. “It’s important for people to know that what they picture in their head of a bad cold isn’t necessarily what will actually happen even if they get a mild course.”…

Seven vaccinated people who ended up sicker than they expected shared their stories and said they did not want to cast doubt on vaccines – because they believe their outcome would have been much worse had they not been inoculated. Instead, they said they want to help fellow vaccinated people weigh their risks as they decide when to wear a mask and whether to attend a wedding or travel for vacation. They also do not want people to assume a mild case is trivial…

Matt Longman, who is 41 and lives in Tucson, Ariz., said he had a 103-degree fever, experienced aches in his elbows and toes like he had never encountered before and could not stop shaking even after wrapping himself in three blankets. Longman fears he would have ended up in the hospital had he not been vaccinated, especially because his immune system is weakened from migraine treatments.

“It was definitely scary feeling as sick as I did, but throughout it, I kept thinking if I hadn’t been vaccinated, this would be so much worse, and I can’t imagine what it’s like for people who are unvaccinated,” said Longman, who works in communications for a pharmaceutical company.