Getting the Covid Vaccine

[sagegrouse]

This is what we do with our nights and weekends, helping people out...but coming in contact with patients and caregivers. I think I could leverage this to put myself in group 1, the questionnaire clearly mentions part-time volunteer work. My wife works in a hospital and has already received both vaccine doses (Pfizer). Part of me wants to give it a try but I don't want to do anything unethical - I'd hate to feel like I'm taking a vaccine from someone else. So I'm wondering if I do qualify and then if I'm OK with the ethical part of "seeking the shot".

And as usual, I'm probably overthinking the whole thing.

Get the vaccine -- it's not a perfectly ordered set of priorities, and there's a lot of slop in the system. (We are having doses available at the end of the day at our regional hospital -- for reasons I don't understand.)

With your family, travel plans and activities -- there is no reason you shouldn't be persistently looking for vaccine doses.

[sagegrouse]

Here's a chilling article about post-vaccine activities from CNN. The article said, basically, it's not safe to do anything more than what you were allowed to do before vaccinantion -- on other words, nothing. I take great exception to this article.

Of, but here's the one thing you are allowed to do:

When can I hang out with friends and family?
That depends on everyone's vaccine status, experts say. If friends or other members of your family have also received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, the risk is greatly reduced, especially if the visit is outdoors. "It's probably pretty safe to see others who were also vaccinated, after everyone gets both doses and waits a few weeks," Wen said.

Fauci cleverly hedges his words:

"Getting vaccinated does not say now I have a free pass to travel," Fauci said at the CNN global town hall. "Nor does it say that I have a free pass to put aside all of the public health measures that we talk about all the time."

"I mean, if you absolutely have to travel and it's essential, then obviously, one would have to do that. But we don't want people to think because they got vaccinated, then other public health recommendations just don't apply," Fauci said.

His statement's, unlike Dr. Wen's, are carefully hedged in recognition that people will be more active after vaccination.

[Tooold]

My husband and I got our second Pfizer shot yesterday morning. We both felt it last night...he had chills and hallucinations (probably a fever???). I had achy joints and just felt yucky. But today we are both pretty good, although tired due to not sleeping well. I was very worried, but my symptoms were much milder than many have described.

[aimo]

My husband and I got our second Pfizer shot yesterday morning. We both felt it last night...he had chills and hallucinations (probably a fever???).

Ditto with my second shot. And several co-workers as well.

[TeacherTom]

Just curious as to how long after second shot the symptoms began? Thanks!

[Tooold]

Just curious as to how long after second shot the symptoms began? Thanks!

We got our shots at 8:30A, and we both felt fine the entire day. It wasn’t until that night that we felt the symptoms...so I would say 12 +/- hours after the shot for us. By the next day (24 hours post-shot) I felt much better, just a headache and a little foggy the rest of that day. I have read of some who had fevers for 48 hours though.

[TeacherTom]

I appreciate your reply. I have to drive four hours after my shot so it sounds like I’ll be okay.

[sagegrouse]

Just curious as to how long after second shot the symptoms began? Thanks!

I was feeling a bit poorly later in the day after a 7:20 AM shot last Tuesday. Took Tylenol and did OK. Next day I was back at the hospital for something else -- my blood pressure was ten points higher (mine is usually low) and I had a temp of 98.8, whereas I am usually around 970-97.5. Took some more Tylenol that day, and then was fine. Skipped outdoor exercise on the day of the shot -- and also on Wednesday, but only because of schedule (hospital plus Zoom meeting). Probably TMI, but there you are.

[TeacherTom]

The first shot took my resting heart rate from 60 the day of the shot to 69 the next day. It is back to 61 now.

[Kdogg]

Just curious as to how long after second shot the symptoms began? Thanks!

My sister-in-law got her second shot around noon last Wednesday. She is a 37 year old, healthy healthcare worker. It hit her around 5:00 am the next morning and really hard around 9:00 am. She still headed to work but had to come back home (fever, chills, nausea, body aches). She started feeling better by the evening and was much better the next morning. It may be prudent to plan a light or (if possible) off day after getting the vaccine. My brother was able to schedule his 2nd dose shot on Saturday just in case.

On the flip side, my 90 year old grandmother didn't have any reaction to she send dose. It's been over a month now so she's got maximum immunity. Both had the Pfizer shot. Next up are dose two for mom and dad.

[Lord Ash]

Wife is supposed to get her second shot in two hours. About an hour ago the place called, and didn’t leave a message. Been on hold now for an hour trying to figure out why they called, and if her appt has been cancelled. Very frustrating.

[TeacherTom]

I so hope she gets it. Let us know.

[LasVegas]

I got my second Pfizer shot at 3:00 pm yesterday and oh boy was it a night. Woke up at 3:00 am this morning and it felt like a train had ran me over and tossed me into a freezing cold lake. Symptoms currently are headache, fatigue, chills, and a little bit of nausea. Nasty stuff. Took the day off so not all bad!

[rsvman]

It is really interesting to hear everybody's reactions to the vaccine, especially to the second shot. They seem to run the gamut from just a tiny bit of sore arm to fevers/chills/headaches/fatigue, etc.

I have mentioned before that I got extremely tired/sleepy and had brain fog after my second shot that unfortunately lasted about a week or perhaps slightly longer. It has been three weeks now since I had it and I still occasionally feel really sleepy, but not fatigued or exercise-intolerant. I am about 99% back to normal (probably 100% and the other bit is psychosomatic owing to how bad I felt in the first few days after the shot). I can exercise, climb stairs, etc., just fine. I never had any fever or achiness or headache or anything. I had nausea for about 6 hours the second day. Just sleepiness and "brain fog."

Happy to have been able to get the vaccine, though, despite all that.

[aimo]

Just curious as to how long after second shot the symptoms began? Thanks!

I got my second shot at 2:45pm. I woke up about 3:45 with chills and probably fever. Lasted until I crashed on the sofa at about 4:15pm that afternoon. When I woke up an hour later, fever had broken and I was fine.

[Stray Gator]

I received my second Moderna shot yesterday at 10:30 am, and thought it might be helpful to share the results after 24 hours. To put it in context, I am a 72-year-old man in good health with no underlying medical issues.

Following the first shot four weeks ago, I experienced only mild soreness localized at the vaccination site on my upper arm, which started in the late afternoon but was gone by the following afternoon. I had read that the second jab tends to produce more significant side effects in a higher number of people -- though it seems the impacts of the Pfizer vaccine generally exceed those of the Moderna; but I typically do not have any reaction to inoculations, so I went into post-second-shot phase with no particular expectations.

About 8 hours after the second shot, I started feeling some soreness in the upper arm similar to the aftermath of the first shot, but it was a little more pronounced. I sensed the soreness only when I lifted my arm and moved it around, not when it was lowered by my side and at rest. When I went to bed around midnight -- almost 14 hours after the second shot -- that was still the only effect I could feel, and it was not so severe as to make it difficult for me to fall asleep.

At about 3:30 am, I awoke, which is highly unusual since I normally sleep through the night with no problems. Surprisingly, I felt no discomfort of any kind, other than the soreness in my arm when I lifted it. But I had some difficulty getting back to sleep -- which may be attributable to the effects of the vaccine, but might just as easily be a result of the disturbance to my regular routine. In either case, I woke up again twice for very brief periods before my alarm went off at the customary time.

When I got up from bed, a little more than 20 hours after the vaccination, I noticed immediately that I had some of the familiar symptoms that others have described -- like a very mild case of flu, with some minor achiness/soreness across my shoulders and in my upper legs, along with a touch of "brain fog" and fatigue (the latter two being, again, similar to what I sometimes experience when I don't get a full night's sleep). About an hour later, I began to notice a slight headache -- which seemed remarkable, because it's extremely rare for me to get any kind of headache (unless I try to read too much without my reading glasses, LOL). But none of these side effects amounted to sufficient discomfort that I felt the need to take any medication, such as an analgesic.

Just after the 24-hour mark, about an hour ago, I could tell that even these effects were beginning to dissipate. Specifically, the muscle achiness, the brain fog, and the fatigue are now mostly gone. There's still some soreness in my arm where they gave me the shot, but it's subsiding, too.

It's evident that reactions to the vaccine are individualized, so your experience may be more or less unpleasant than mine. But to the extent that it might matter, I'd say that the temporary effects are a very small price to pay for the sense of relief and satisfaction that comes with knowing that we're doing all we can to protect ourselves and those around us from the risk of severe consequences from this virus.

[aimo]

About the arm soreness . . . I work at a VA hospital, so I was told by many to move the arm around a lot after the shot. Told that "In the Army, we did pushups after shots . . " Did not do this the first time, just sat at my desk on the computer for hours, and my arm hurt A LOT that evening. The second time, I moved it around a lot, pushups against the wall when I had a few minutes, etc. Very little pain at all.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

About the arm soreness . . . I work at a VA hospital, so I was told by many to move the arm around a lot after the shot. Told that "In the Army, we did pushups after shots . . " Did not do this the first time, just sat at my desk on the computer for hours, and my arm hurt A LOT that evening. The second time, I moved it around a lot, pushups against the wall when I had a few minutes, etc. Very little pain at all.

If I do push-ups after the vaccine, I will at least know for certain why my arms hurt.

[Ggallagher]

Got my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine this morning.

I do have to say that I almost feel a little guilty. I signed up with the UC Health System (University of Cincinnati) to get my shot. There is no way they could have made the scheduling, registration, injection, and second shot scheduling any more efficient and smooth. I was really impressed at how well it was executed. Considering the ordeals I've heard about from many on this board, as well as similar difficulties from friends and family, I feel really lucky about my experience.

It's a shame that the planning and execution seems to be so poor in so many locations.

[cato]

My 84 year old dad in a long term care facility (which got hit really hard last spring and was in the news for the grim number of deaths) got his second shot about four weeks ago. I feel like a huge weight is lifted off my shoulders. Woohoo!