I Got My Two Shots and You Should Get Them Too

The country is moving from the first phase of inoculation to the second. First we protect ourselves, then we protect the community.

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.

Author: BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.

22 thoughts on “I Got My Two Shots and You Should Get Them Too”

  1. I got my second shot of Pfizer on Saturday. I barely noticed a few weeks ago when the first shot went in; the second shot actually did hurt a bit. I barely felt any side effects at all. On Sunday, I went for a two-mile run, did my usual workout and nearly forgot that I might be expecting side effects. That worries me a little bit, because I wonder if my body is creating the immunity it is supposed to be creating. But I guess there’s not much to be done about it. I got my shots.

    1. Everyone is different. I definitely had COVID at some point, probably last March, 2020. I’m relatively young and healthy, so it wasn’t too terrible. I had my PCP test me for antibodies in September and I was positive. I got my first Pfizer on 12.22.20 (I’m a RN in the ED, so I was first up) and had injection site tenderness day 0, and arm soreness day 1. That was it. I got my second Pfizer on 1.12.21 and same thing, injection site tenderness day 0 and arm soreness day 1.

      There will be people who get heavy flu symptoms from both shots, and people who get nothing from both shots.

      There’s going to be some immunity or at least ramped-up immune activity if you come across COVID in the wild, after getting both shots. Getting a huge immune response to the shot isn’t a marker on whether the shot “took”. You’re definitely better off against COVID.

  2. I am in group 1A (age 66) and my wife and I got our 1st dose of the Moderna vaccine on Mar. 16. We live in Chester County, PA, and the two months prior to getting the appointment (which was through the CC Health Department) we were continually applying to various sites with no luck. As a friend of our said “This is no way to run a pandemic.” I don’t know if this was due to: a) the Trump mishandling of the whole pandemic; b) the state’s inefficient distribution system; c) the fact that each county has its own (with a few exceptions) health dept.; d) all of the above and other factors such as logistics and supply. All I know is this whole thing highlights the inequitable, chaotic, profit-oriented, and political/racist nature of health care in our country. Medicare for All, which for now is a distant pipe dream, sounds like something to move towards to at least put us on par with even developing countries. As to my reaction to the first shot–nothing more than a sore arm.

    1. Medicare for all and the vaccine rollout are completely unrelated. Take it from me, I’m from Australia and we have it and the rollout has been abysmal.

  3. I got my first one two weeks ago, and am eagerly awaiting my second dose. I felt so happy after the first shot, but I couldn’t get up the next day (fever, chills, but most of all a terrible migraine). They say that’s possible because perhaps I had COVID previously (doubt it), or that it just affects younger people more than older people. I buy that. Anyway, there was a real festive vibe at our vaccination place (it was our workplace), and you could feel the hope. By May our cases will have plummeted and we’ll be normal, while other countries still have supply issues. We need to think about how to vaccinate the world to get rid of the pandemic once and for all, but the country should become normal by the late summer.

  4. I got my first Pfizer shot on Saturday. It was surprisingly organized and easy. I got an email through my patient portal from my medical group, picked a date and time and then had it done at the medical complex with tons of other people. Once you answered a few questions about how you felt, you were directed to a seat, six feet apart from everyone else, where you were immediately administered the shot, had your next appointment made, and then waited 15 minutes to make sure you were all right. My only side effect was a sore arm and fatigue today. I’m so looking forward to the day I can enjoy a drink with friends and family in person.

  5. My first Moderna left me with a sore arm, while the second left me lethargic, feverish, and with a mild headache for the better part of the following day. Not a big deal, and I kept thinking, “Wow. This vax is some powerful medicine that’s putting my immune system through a workout!” I’m so grateful to everyone that had a hand in developing and delivering these vaccines (I’ll even thank TFG for Warpspeed…but seriously, who wouldn’t have done something like that if they were facing the same situation?)

    On a side note I’m fascinated how we all like to share our vax stories. I like telling mine, and I like hearing of others’. After a year’s isolation in the face of so much uncertainty, I think we like being able to share a common experience while forging a sense of what’s the new normal…renegotiating reality, if you will.

  6. Got mine in February. One of the few perks of being in education. My wife gets her second at the end of the month. My eldest lives in a dorm and is getting his first dose around the same time. Just waiting on the other two to have access to the vaccine. Our state has been a bit sluggish about rolling out vaccinations. Hopefully we pick up the pace, especially with our mask mandate going away.

  7. It is interesting how the symptoms people experience really run the gamut. I know someone in their 80’s who had nothing more than a sore arm both times, and I know someone younger than me (I’m early 60’s) who had a hell of time for about 4-5 days. So I’m preparing for anything when we get our second Moderna shot On April 6. The first round I had as sore an arm as I’ve ever had from an injection. Lasted about 2 days. I also had a little neck and shoulder stiffness.

    I am still amazed at how some people are making decisions on whether or not to get it. I listened to my wife on a conference call this morning with a co-worker, who is in her late 50’s, and she said she was holding off getting the vaccine because she claims to hear too many conflicting things. She said she knew someone who was in line waiting for the shot who overheard someone else in line saying that they heard that the Johnson and Johnson vaccine was only good for 10 days.

    In addition, she said that because those who were under 18 were only being given the Pfizer vaccine, and not the Moderna or J&J, that must mean they are hiding something bad about those two vaccines, because “why wouldn’t they give the other two to people under 18 if there wasn’t a problem?” I sat here shaking my head and wanting to just pound it on the table at the sheer ignorance of an otherwise very intelligent woman. If one doesn’t know the reason for giving only the Pfizer to those under 18, all it takes is a 10 second google search to find the answer. Yet, she is getting all her info from social media or what she overhears from other people. After 4-plus years of Trump, and all the ignorance he encouraged and inflamed in so many people, I find myself exhausted at times watching grow adults acting so stupidly and simply not caring about the fact they are keeping themselves so purposefully and consciously ignorant about one of the most important issues in their lifetimes.

    I really do fear for our future. A significant minority of our citizens, at a minimum, are simply incapable anymore of knowing how to discern fiction from fact. And they just don’t care.

    1. I’m a RN and I work in an Atlanta ED. Probably 60-65% of my coworkers have chosen to get the vaccine. There are still coworkers who refuse to get it because they don’t “trust” it. When asked, I tell them that of course I got it, and if they’re the paranoid type, I like to tell them how one of the added benefits is that my Microsoft Windows auto-updates now. I like to think that it’s just a slight enough shame while joking that they realize how silly they are for being wary of a vaccine for a disease that they’ve seen first hand for the past year. I think that eventually it’ll become common, like the flu shot.

      A solid 45% of the human species is being carried on the backs of about 50-55% of the species who have the capacity to objectively observe reality. You can see that split visibly simply by looking at the voting patterns of the US electorate. A significant minority of our citizens view the 50-55% of the species that are doing the real work towards advancing the species as enemies. It’s a real problem.

  8. Looking forward to getting my second shot of Moderna vaccine tomorrow. First shot (Mar 2) left me with a sore arm for a few days and no other symptoms.

    Colorado’s vaccine rollout seems to be fairly well organized.

  9. Two shots of Moderna, and my experience was identical to the OP.

    BTW I do have a needle phobia, which was not helped by having to sit in a car line for almost six hours at Dodger Stadium (only for round one), but a phobia doesn’t make me an idiot: I got my shots.

  10. I got my 2nd Pfizer three weeks ago. Sore arm, maybe a small head ache. Super easy system here in San Diego County.

    I was at the Oceanside Harbor on Sunday at noon. Weather was about 75, with full sun. It definitely felt like the first day of a Southern California beach summer. Surf camps, tourists, and traffic/parking issues, and crowds.

    We are opening up, and by May nobody who is vaccinated is going to care one wit about the vaccine deniers.

  11. I had difficulty getting the shot locally, so made an appointment at a hospital 40 minutes away. Got both my Pfizer vaccinations, its been two weeks and I feel very relieved. I had no ill effects other than some soreness at the injection site, certainly not nearly as rough as the last series of military overseas shots some years ago when I ran a 104 degree fever overnight.

  12. Got my second Pfizer shot last week. The second shot did hurt more than the first one and my arm was sore for perhaps a day. Other than that, I’ve noticed no side effects.

  13. I got my second Moderna over two weeks ago. I feel as though I have been let out of jail. I’m over 65 and have been quarantining for a year. Bless all those scientists and doctors who worked to create these vaccines.

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