The Covid-19 Vaccines
My experience with the first and second doses
More and more people get their Covid-19 vaccines these days, and I was one of them. I signed up for the Biontech-Pfizer vaccine as soon as I was eligible. As a high school teacher I am surrounded by hundreds of teenagers every day, and they don’t always observe social distancing.
As expected, the first dose was no problem. My arm felt a little tight and heavy for two days, and I developed a bruise at the injection site. I am very light-skinned and bruise quite easily, so that was no problem for me.
I felt more apprehensive before the second dose. One of my friends was very sick for three days afterwards and others reported chills, fever, and severe body aches.
I received my second dose in the afternoon three weeks after the first dose. My arm did not hurt at all this time, and I went about my day. When I got up the next morning, I felt a little off. As the day progressed, body aches developed and got worse. My daughter said to take Tylenol, but I don’t like taking anything unless I really have to.
A co-worker who just got the one-dose J&J vaccine reported the same symptoms of body aches and general malaise.
By the time I got home, I felt tired and had chills, so I curled up on the couch with a blanket and fell asleep. When I woke up from my nap two hours later, I felt much better. Three hours later I went to bed and slept another 10 hours.
The body aches and chills are completely gone now. My energy level is still lower, but I have the day off and don’t have to rush anywhere. I will just rest and relax and expect to be back to normal in a day or two.
In two weeks I will be considered fully vaccinated. Does that change anything? Traveling within the U.S. will be easier with the vaccine pass, and the risk to me will be low. At least a new report by the CDC says so. That means I can travel to see my daughter whom I haven’t seen since last summer.
However, I just decided not to travel overseas for now. Several European countries have just locked down again, and quarantines are possible. As sad as I am not to see my 85-year-old father, we agreed that overseas travel, travel restrictions, and quarantines make travel just too hard to plan. Everything is so unpredictable, and the situation changes daily.
Last summer, when I could not travel to Germany to see my dad, I really did not think that I would be in this position again this summer. I really hope that once more people get vaccinated and we develop “herd immunity,” things get back to normal and we don’t have to think about if we can visit family or not.
My dad’s wife says they are both healthy and that we will see each other soon. I do hope so!
