No side effects from vaccine - does this mean they didn't work?

[Garysmum]

I have been on immune suppressants on and off through the year. So I was sent for 3 primary jabs.
After AZ I felt a bit rubbish and went to bed at 7pm (would have been earlier but have kids). After second AZ and Pfizer booster I felt a bit tired and off. But I often feel rubbish most of the time so hard to know.
I am concerned that I have made no antibodies at all - a real risk for those of us on immune suppressants.
Everybody else I know has felt really ill especially after the booster. When they have got Covid - they have all been asymptomatic/ very super mild symptoms.
I would have an antibody test but they are not free - they are about £50-100.

I had no side effects from any of my vaccines and I have antibodies, I get tested monthly for ONS research.

I'm on immunosuppressants and have had three jabs and had zero side effects to all of them - I've had a private antibody test and have antibodies (and have never had Covid that I know of).

I think the 'side effects show it's working' is just bullshit they tell people to make them feel better about having the side effects. Might be true only in the sense that the vaccines don't work as well the older you are and old people tend not to get many side effects. You won't get a doctor saying to you that it didn't work because there were no side effects.

What I'm interested in finding out is whether the vaccine side effects have any relation to the symptoms you'd get from actual Covid as they seem to affect people so differently.

Got my booster yesterday and have a slightly sore back, reminiscent of the day after my first jab.

Also, I don't know anyone in real life that has had anything other than super mild side effects after their jabs. All my friends/family have been totally fine.

My CEV sister had an antibody test as she was concerned about having no side effects. She had antibodies and she has not had covid, so it seems that the vaccines did their job!

No I wouldn't worry, I felt a bit strange after my first AZ jab but nothing that paracetamol/ibuprofen didn't help with so I could keep going. I believe I had Covid Christmas 2019 before it was even a "thing". I've never been so ill with a flu type thing and certainly (anecdotally but from excellent reliable sources) there were a fair few people spending time in local ICUs with a pneumonia type illness. I've avoided official covid since then... who knows 🤷🏼‍♀️

No, the side effects have no relationship to how well it has worked. It is your immune system doing it's thing, but different people's immune systems react differently. I really wouldn't worry.
This is obviously something that is circulating at the moment - I have been vaccinating for nearly a year & no-one has ever asked me this until this week when I had two people ask on the same day.