COVID vaccination: Kicking my ass
One of the benefits to turning 40 last month was I’m now eligible for the COVID vaccination in my state, so on my birthday I immediately went to the recommended website to sign up. They stated to sign up for both appointments at once, so that I could get the second shot 3 weeks after the first, but the site crashed after scheduling the first. Luckily, I was able to get the second appointment a few days later, and still within the three week period.
On Thursday my appointment came up, so I knocked off work and headed over there. No issues with anything, I walked straight in and didn’t even get to sit down before it was my turn. Normally with our flu shot (which we didn’t do last year, due to the pandemic), I feel a pinch of the needle and I can feel the actual injection going in - with this shot I felt almost nothing. Not sure if it was just the nurse doing it was that much more skilled or if the needle or fluid is different, but it was almost pleasant as we just chatted through it.
I did find out that my vaccination record is empty… which is curious because I had to get a battery of shots for US immigration a couple of years ago, so I thought at least those would show up. Apparently it’s only been mandatory for doctors to report adult vaccinations for the last year or two, and it’s been about five or six now. I can apparently get in touch with the doctor and if they still have the records they can upload them for me, but I’m not sure it matters… it was for TB and a handful of other things the US government wants me to be sure of, but by the time this pandemic is over I think I’ll be at the point where if I need them again I’ll be due boosters anyway?
Anyway, after wasting the nurse’s time enquiring about my vaccination record, I headed out for my 20 minute wait (now only about a 12 minute wait) in the lobby - the back half of a Cafe, interestingly enough. After an uneventful wait where I kept checking the status of my mobile (nope, still 4G unfortunately, maybe the second shot is needed for the upgrade to take effect), I headed home and went back to work.
I had given advance notice to work that I have, in the past, had some pretty poor reactions to Flu vaccines… when I was younger I got very extreme flu-like symptoms from one such shot, and so for a long time that I reasoned that if the vaccine was going to make me sick anyway, I might as well take my chances. Sabriena changed my mind when Duncan started school - we should get vaccinated to help protect him too, and at that point I noted that I didn’t have any symptoms so I didn’t figure I would have much go wrong with this one.
Oh boy was that a miscalculation. I did have the ultra-common injection-site tenderness a few hours afterwards, and I thought that’d be the end of it… I woke up on Friday with stomach cramps, and spent much of Friday in the bathroom for one reason or another. As the day progressed, I started getting headaches (fairly mild, all things considered, but still a definite symptom to report) and in the early afternoon every joint started aching. I felt absolutely beat up by the evening, I considered going to bed shortly after dinner but decided to play some video games instead and ended up going to bed about 10:00pm.
As others have reported though, on Saturday morning (second day after) all symptoms are gone, including the injection-site tenderness. They say the second shot of Comirnaty is worse, so I’ll have to make sure I don’t have anything pressing at work the day after it!
Update: 2021-09-22: Second shot, and I had the opposite reaction… just some arm soreness, and a touch of tiredness (though I don’t know if that’s just being worn out from work) and I felt like a million bucks a day after.
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