Image Credits: Jeff Lewhard.
I received my second (Pfizer) COVID-19 vaccination about 24 hours ago. I was prepared to feel like I had a bad case of the flu, perhaps for a couple of days, but I’m just a little groggy and feel like someone punched me very hard in the shoulder. I slept a lot and might sleep some more, but the first shot actually created a more noticeable immune reaction. In that case, I felt weird almost immediately and eventually had some brief tooth-rattling chills, but they lasted about ten minutes. If the statistics are accurate, I’m now very unlikely to have an infection from the actual virus for at least six months, and maybe much longer than that. They say it will be three weeks before my immune protection reaches full power.
One of our three kids has had his first shot, our surviving parents are all vaccinated, and we feel like we’re filling in the boxes to get back to a some sense of normalcy. If you have any hesitancy about getting inoculated, I’d advise you to go ahead and do it. It brings peace of mind, and it helps everyone because each time there is a new infection there is an opportunity for someone to die or for the virus to mutate into something we cannot manage.
We had to go through some major hoops to get this done because my home county is only now indicating that they might have a vaccine for me, and that’s why my focus has been on the shortage of vaccines rather than the folks who could be vaccinated but are opting against it.
That’s going to change now as states move to get shots to everyone, not just those at higher risk. It becomes less of a private battle to protect yourself and your family and more of a collective effort to create herd immunity and stamp this virus out, or at least tamp it down to the threat level of the seasonal flu. The Biden administration will be ramping up their messaging around this idea and using a billion dollars of tax dollars to do it. But you can contribute for free by sharing your experiences and reassuring folks that the vaccine is safe and effective.
I’d also like to point out for those who hate shots and are afraid of needles that I didn’t even realize I’d been stuck the first time until I was told. To say that this shot doesn’t hurt is a major understatement. The pain comes later when the body reacts to the intruder, and it’s a minor annoyance easily handled by some Tylenol.
So, don’t be a hold out. When you get the chance, go ahead and do it, and bring as many people with you as you can. We need to get past this epidemic, and we each have our own part to play in making that happen.
