Sellick Explains Metallic Taste After COVID-19 Vaccine

After getting the COVID-19 vaccine, certain symptoms are common. A less common symptom — and, in fact, not even included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of possible side effects — is a metallic taste following vaccination. John A. Sellick Jr., DO, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, explains that a small number of people experience altered taste with almost all vaccines, and the COVID-19 vaccine is no exception. “We’ve given tens of thousands of doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and the number of people who have reported [a metallic taste] is in the handful range,” Sellick says. If your taste is altered as a side effect of the vaccine, it should happen immediately following your shot. “If it happens days later, especially if in combination with loss of smell, it’s a fairly solid sign of SARS-CoV-2 infection,” notes Sellick.