COVID-19 Vaccine: My Story

I did it people. I didn’t think I was going to but I did it. Yesterday. I got immunized for COVID-19. I didn’t think I would be eligible for another month. But crazy things happen.

First… Some stipulations on this post.

I am NOT a doctor, nurse, or health advisor. I work in administration and as such am considered front line because I can come into contact with a lot of patients on a daily basis.
Anything I put here is personal experience and opinion NOT medical fact. I am not an expert in this stuff but I’ll happily share what I think or know. Just don’t take it as gospel.
Lastly, my opinions are likely to change as I learn. I’m researching and learning every day just like you so don’t expect anything to be set in concrete. I like to keep an open mind as much as I can.

Now on to the fun!

If you’d like to read about the second dose and my body’s response to the immunization click here. This post is all about the first dose.

Like many of you I’ve been following this pandemic stuff closely. I wish I could say that provided clarity and peace but far from it. People get scary on the internet and everyone is so sure they are right. I’m not exempting myself from that at all.

The more I read the more confusing and frightening this all became so I kinda…. Stopped. I used to check the numbers daily. Now I refuse to even look at the counts. I used to read every article I could and spent WAY to much time freaking myself out late into the night imaging those things happening to those I loved. It did not do happy things to my mental state or waistline. It just got to the point that I could keep drowning in fear or try to block it out entirely and I chose the latter. Pandemic fatigue I think those news savvy types are calling it?

When the news released that the vaccine could be approved any day I tried to care again. Now people were up in arms about what should have been a blessing. There were so many theories bouncing around that it got even more crazy and toxic out there which I didn’t even know was possible. Have you guys heard these things?

Some of the highlights:

• It’s a way to sterilize the population

• It will be a way to track the population/control them, you know tiny microchips…

• They will control who gets it and kill the rest… I.E. population control again

• It’s a way to brand people. People will have to have an ID card stating they have it and the rest will be under them… discrimination and control again.

• Who knows what other kind of crap is in that syringe

And a host of others.

After all this I just decided it wasn’t for me. I was young enough and healthy enough that I didn’t want to mess with anything.

But then I got the email saying I had a chance and you know what? My mind changed in an instant. I decided that if it really was dangerous I wanted to know before anyone in my family was exposed. If it was life-saving then I wanted to be the start of this all being OVER. If I can know that I am not going to be a carrier and take it to my FIL or 93 year old grandma, or anyone else that I worry about than it was worth it. What’s more, my nine month baby is high risk and if I can protect him in any way so be it.

And I also thought about you guys. I can tell you what it’s like. I’ll see how I feel. I’ll tell you if anything goes wrong.

So here’s to health. Here’s to being able to be around family and friends again. In PERSON. Not just online. Here’s to a healthy and HAPPY new year. And here’s to all of you.

So far.

Vaccine was administered at 7:00 PM last night. It was a small injection in my left bicep. And then I say small I mean small. It’s not even as much as the flu shot. It hurt less too, though that’s more credit to the person who gave it.

I got the Pfizer vaccine but the Moderna one will be available soon as well. I was told before getting it about the risks that were known and that there wasn’t research on nursing mothers so to be cautious. I knew all of this and decided to proceed. I will be getting a second booster 21 days from now and two weeks after that I will be at about 94.5% immunity. They still advise wearing PPE and masks to keep protecting everyone but also to make everyone feel safe.

The vaccine isn’t new technology necessarily but using this technology in vaccines is fairly new. I’m not a scientist but I will try to explain it as best I can.

From what I understand you are not receiving a killed or weakened version of the virus like in other vaccines. It is messenger RNA or mRNA that your body will respond to. Your body will see the foreign object that is injected with the vaccine and will send cells to investigate. These cells will then try to fight off the foreign object. However this vaccine is different because it actually instructs your body to make something and then learn to be immune to it. This thing that it’s making is called a “spike protein” and is found on the surface of the coronavirus. In my head that looks like the little red blobs that surround the purple surface like a halo that we’ve seen in all the pictures a million times. Since it’s not the virus and just the protein your body can then fight the coronavirus since it will recognize what it looks like and already have the immune response ready without having to experience the virus itself.

Whew. That’s still just barely on the cusp of my understanding. Kind of mind-blowingly cool.

Now for my response. I’ll be updating this part if I notice anything new as I go.

• Last night (12/21) I had a slight headache but I had already been fighting a tension headache all day so I don’t know how much of that was the vaccine and how much was already there.

• Today (12/22) mild headache continued but was pretty much gone by 1 PM.

• 24 hours after my arm is sore at the injection site but other than that I haven’t noticed any symptoms or reactions. I haven’t needed any pain meds. I was able to take my two kids on a 30 minute walk and I pushed the stroller just like normal.

• 12/23 update: My left arm is still somewhat sore but it comes and goes instead of being constant.

• I haven’t noticed any problems with nursing my baby. I’ve been able to feed him just fine.

All in all I’m feeling pretty good. I’ll keep you posted on changes though.

Anyone have questions? I want to hear from you. Like I said, I’ll keep this updated with anything else I notice and anything else I learn. Tell me what you’re thinking! Are you planning on getting it? Nervous? As long as we keep it nice anything is fair game.

Happy holidays!