Now That You Can, Should You Get a Covid Vaccine Shot?
17% of people are hesitant, 70% fear side effects
For months now, the question has been, “How can I get a Covid vaccine shot?”
The most at-risk portions of the population have now been vaccinated. The population at large now, or soon will, have vaccine availability.
According to Kaiser Family Foundation, approximately 17% of people are hesitant. They’re not sure if they’ll get a vaccine. Maybe they will, and maybe they won’t.
The number one reason people are hesitant? Side effects. A Carnegie Mellon University study indicates that’s a concern for 70%.
Which brings up a new question. Should you get a shot?
There are three possible answers to that question. Which answer is right for you will depend on your individual circumstances. The possible answers are:
- Yes, get one right away
- Yes, wait until you can get the single-shot vaccine
- No
I’m going to give you the stories of some of my family and friends, to illustrate why they chose how they did. And also, what happened in each case.
Get a vaccine as soon as possible
My father is 95 years old. Although generally in good health, in the past year he’s had issues. Big issues. He needed heart surgery for arrhythmia last summer. And surgery to remove bladder cancer in the fall.
Both of these were out-patient procedures, with no complications. But they weakened him, as any surgery will.
He was among the first people eligible for the vaccine, after health care workers. But “eligible” and “able to get” were two wildly different things.
He lives in New York, where all vaccine requests went through a central state website. You could also call a hotline number, but it was always busy.
Since he isn’t computer literate, that meant my brother or I needed to log onto the website every day. We would check to see if new appointments were available. If there were, we would call him and try to schedule an appointment.
Twice, we almost got an appointment for him. But the time required to get the information entered into the form was so long that the system timed out. It gave the appointment to someone else.
Fortunately, he was in the Navy in WWII, with a medical discharge. That means, he gets healthcare from the local VA hospital. I was able to enter his information in a VA database of former servicemen who wanted vaccines.
His local VA got vaccines, and started calling their patients who wanted one. He was scheduled for his first shot within a week.
The process went smoothly, with his first shot producing only some tenderness in his arm. His second shot produced more tenderness and fatigue, but it went away after a few days.
Side effects may vary
My husband was also in one of the early groups of vaccine recipients. We live in Colorado, and he was in group 1b because of age and underlying conditions. By the time he actually got his shot, that was subdivided down to group 1b.3.
He received an email telling him when he was eligible. If he wanted to wait, our healthcare provider would email him with an appointment.
He chose not to wait. Instead, he went to a website coordinating community vaccinations. Our county was sponsoring group vaccinations at their offices. He was able to get an appointment for the next day.
His first shot was completely free of side effects. In fact, he had me check his arm to make sure the needle had actually penetrated the skin. His second shot caused a slight soreness in his arm, that he only noticed when he focused on it.
Concerned that this meant he wasn’t building up immunity, he checked with his doctor. He was reassured that lack of side effects does not correlate with lack of immunity. Even people with zero side effects have developed immunity.
I was in group 1b.4, and became eligible about a month after him. Like him, I got an email from our healthcare provider explaining my eligibility. This was on a Friday afternoon.
The vaccination scheduler offered me an appointment for the following Monday. Unfortunately, by the time I checked my availability, the appointment had been given away.
Since we were in the middle of a major snow event, new appointments were delayed. But within two weeks, I had scheduled and received my first shot.
I have a rocky history with vaccines. I had the mumps vaccine as a child, and still caught the disease. I stopped getting the flu vaccine, because every time I did, I developed “flu-like symptoms” for 3 or 4 days.
But in this case, the potential downside for catching the disease was huge. I was willing to risk a little discomfort to prevent months of lingering symptoms.
It was more than a little discomfort. The long muscles in my arm and leg on the left side ached horribly. The injection site was painfully tender to the touch. I ran a slight fever, and felt extremely nauseous.
I cancelled all my appointments for the next day. Instead, I stayed home distracting myself with video games. Within about 24 hours, the symptoms were gone.
I am not looking forward to getting the second shot, since the symptoms are usually worse than the first one. But I can deal with a day or two of discomfort, if it means not worrying about months of debilitation. Just to be on the safe side, I’ll have my husband drive me to the vaccination clinic.
Wait to get the single shot
I have three friends who either got or are getting the single shot.
The first is someone who had been very careful for the entire lockdown. But, with the news talking about how everything was getting better, she let down her guard. And she got sick.
She’s in her twenties and generally healthy, so she had a mild case. She was down completely for two days, and running at about half power for the rest of the week.
Having had Covid, she now has some immunity. Protocols recommend waiting at least 2 weeks after having Covid before getting vaccinated. (The same is true if you have recently received another vaccine, such as for flu.) Some states restrict people who’ve had Covid from getting vaccines for 90 days. She lives in Washington, DC, though, where there is a recommendation but no restriction.
She’s concerned about side effects. Officially there is no correlation between having had Covid and side effects. That isn’t what others are seeing, though.
So, she’s planning on waiting for the Johnson & Johnson single shot vaccine. She figures she’ll avoid the worst of the side effects that way.
Two other friends got the single shot vaccine from their work place in New Hampshire. They are both extremely healthy women, in their 50s. They would not have been eligible for vaccination until the general eligibility.
One had no side effects to speak of. She thought her arm might have been a little sore, but didn’t really pay attention.
The other had chills that were so bad, she was afraid her chattering teeth would crack a filling. Even after that passed, she was exhausted and bedridden for more than a day.
Do not get a vaccine
There are many people who refuse to get vaccines because of conspiracy theories. One person I know is convinced that anyone who receives a vaccine will die within 10 years. This is all part of a plot by the global elite to reduce the Earth’s population.
He is putting his faith in religious purification and protection. That, and segregating himself in a community of like-minded people. If the community restricts contact with outsiders, they should be safe without vaccination.
Others have experienced allergic reactions to vaccines before. Or they’ve reacted to components of this vaccine. As such, they are in a very high risk category for vaccination. If they are in a low risk category for Covid, it makes more sense to avoid a vaccine if they can.
I have another friend who does not want to get a vaccine. She works from home, and wears a mask in public. She’s a reasonably healthy woman in her 30s, so her risk of a bad case is fairly low.
She’s hoping that by the time her business calls all its workers back to the office, the pandemic will be over. If it isn’t, she’ll be trapped in an enclosed space with many people for 8 hours a day. At that point she may rethink getting a vaccine.
But since there’s a chance she can get by without one, she’s putting it off for now.
Conclusion
If you are at risk for Covid, get the first vaccine you are eligible for.
If you have already had Covid, or are at low risk, you can wait for the one-shot vaccine.
If you are low risk, with limited contact, you may be able to delay vaccination. Other people may refuse vaccination for health or religious reasons.
Don’t delay just because you don’t want to experience side effects. Most are mild, and gone within a day or two. Even a mild case of Covid will last longer, with greater risk of long-term complications.
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