When I first signed up to get the vaccine, I really had no idea what to expect. As a nursing home employee, I was part of the first phase to receive the vaccine, and even though I’m not some conspiracy theorist or an anti-vaxxer, I still had some hesitancy before I agreed to get it. Nobody I knew had gotten it yet so I knew very little about the side effects, and there were even some healthcare professionals in my nursing home telling me they didn’t trust the first phase, that they wanted to wait and see how people reacted before they got it themselves. Despite my reservations, I got my first shot of the Pfizer vaccine on January 7 and my second three weeks later.
I’m very grateful to have been able to receive my vaccine so fast, and even though my concerns might seem silly to look back on, I see them reflected in many people I know as the vaccine is becoming more readily available to the masses. I wanted to share my personal experience getting the vaccine to hopefully give someone soon to get theirs some peace of mind. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who was positive for COVID last October, and there has been some research to suggest that those who were positive for the virus might have different reactions than those who never had it.
First Shot – Day One
On the day I got my first shot, the thing that was affecting me the most was nerves. I’m not a huge fan of needles to begin with and like I said, I was going into this with no idea what to expect aside from the horror stories people used as attention-grabbing headlines.
Thankfully, I had an incredibly sweet woman administering my shot that helped ease some of my anxiety and even offered to take my picture when it was over. It felt just like getting a flu shot and was over in less than two seconds. They had me sit in another room under supervision for about ten minutes which was just enough time for me to convince myself that I was having a reaction and was going to pass out, before letting me go on my way. (I was fine).
In terms of actual reactions, the first day I really didn’t feel much aside from some soreness in my arm the rest of the day and I noticed I was a bit more tired than I usually am.
First Shot – Day Two
When I woke up the next morning, my arm was very sensitive where I had received the shot. It was really sore and I couldn’t lift it past a certain point. This happens to me when I get the flu shot as well so I wasn’t too concerned but I would definitely recommend getting the shot in your non-dominant arm. As for the rest of the day I just had some general lethargy and I couldn’t stop napping, but other than that I didn’t feel sick.
Second Shot – Day One
This day went a lot smoother than my first shot as I had a better idea of what to expect. This time I had no self-induced side effects during the mandatory observation and left fully vaccinated! It was definitely an exciting feeling to take a step towards this whole mess being close to over.
Same as before, I had a slightly sore arm as the day went on but nothing out of control. I wasn’t as lethargic as before but I did have some cold-like symptoms at the end of the day.
Second Shot – Day Two
I woke up really in the morning this day feeling gross for lack of a better word. Overnight I had developed a very small fever and I woke up feeling hot, sticky, and nauseous. After drinking some water and staying up I felt a little bit better but it was enough to keep me in bed most of the day. It was nothing out of control, but I definitely felt a lot more noticeable side-effects after the second dose than I did with my first.
Overall, I didn’t experience any dramatic side-effects but I definitely wouldn’t say there were none. In my experience three months later, I’m very glad to have gotten the shot especially because I work with such a high-risk population. The entire residency of the nursing home got the vaccine and so far we have had no positive cases that I know of, at least on the floor I work on, besides some staff that did not agree to get the shot. This is a huge step up considering we had an entire unit dedicated to COVID patients when the pandemic began.
My advice if you are getting vaccinated soon would be to take the day off from work after your vaccine, drink plenty of water, get a lot of rest, and keep stretching your arm throughout the day to make fend off any soreness.