I ‘m not a fan of needles, but I am a much lesser fan of getting sick. And i am grateful for opportunity to get my second vaccination against COVID-19.
My second Pfizer COVID-19 dose
So, yeah, I did get poked for the second time pretty much a long time ago – specifically 26 January 2021… It has been very busy at work (my day job), so I have not been able to sit down and publish stuff I had in my cue. But finally, I got a chance to share my thoughts and experience on the vaccine. Keep in mind, this is MY own experience, therefore somebody else’s might be different. I didn’t have many side effects this time around, as it was with my first post from early January 2021. Which is great because I was actually brazing it for it to be much worse…
© 2021 J Marcelo Baqueroalvarez / HLC | “Hanging out” in the clinic Post COVID-19 vaccine #2 – 26 JAN 2021 VA, USA
How does it feel?
Again, as a person it felt much better to be in the lead to fight this disease. Although there is still a lot of unknows, specifically if you can still get COVID post-vaccination, or if you can be a spreader of the virus even though you remain asymptomatic… the jury still out on those questions, but thank goodness there are a lot very smart scientists working on finding answers to those very questions. Again, this is my experience based on the side effects presented from the PFIZER-BIONTECH COVID-19 Vaccine and MY actual reaction to the shot:
- Injection site pain (just like last time — Meh, was a little sting, very small dose, it does not hurt right now, but I feel it… if I touch the poked area.
- The medical person did have a good hand)
- Tiredness (Yeah, but this was a workday, and I had to wake up earlier to get to get my stuff done, get in time for my appointment and had to finish my entire work journey post vaccine… so yes, tired… but then again, it was a long day)
- Headaches (Not really for the second time… the first time took 15 minutes after the injection, and it was horrible)
- Muscle Pain (Not really, but then again… I was very active that day, so the blood was flowing getting stuff done)
- Chills (Not really, then again it was pretty cold, and as usual for this season I was pretty bundled up… but I’ll go with “no”)
- Joint Pain (Not this time around)
- Fever (Nope)
- Injection site swelling (Nope)
- Injection site redness (Nope)
- Nausea (Nope, and this time I did not crave a burger, as it was the case last time)
- Swollen lymph nodes a.k.a. lymphadenopathy (No)
As it was the case before, we had to wait 15 minutes in the medical facility before leaving the site to ensure we didn’t get any side effects. Apparently, according to one medical person the headaches were because of a batch that was giving that particular side effect. I’m not a biotech so I’m not sure if that is necessarily bad or normal when it comes to vaccines.
Were there any other “serious” side effects?
So, as a reminder the fact sheet also says… that from a few minutes to about an hour after the shot, a person could experience one or more of the following:
- Difficulty Breathing (Fortunately, I did not experience this)
- Swelling of your face and throat (Once again, thank goodness, no)
- A fast heartbeat (Nope)
- A bad rash all over your body (Nope)
- Dizziness and weakness (Just like last time, no dizziness, but a bit of weakness but as mentioned before I did have quite a busy day)
Once again, Pfizer does recommend, if a person get severe side effects to contact their provider, go to the closest hospital, or in case of emergency call 911 in the US. You can get an updated fact sheet at this site www.cvdvaccine.com from Pfizer. (I’m not sure how long will that link will remain active).
What now?
So, I was right, the UK strand – which is a lot more infectious – did arrive to the US, and it has been infecting people left and right. There are other variants of COVID that could or could not be prevented by the vaccine. I predict this will be much like the flu in the sense that annual vaccinations will likely be needed. However, there are plenty of infections still affecting the world. I have spoken with people who did contract COVID. Some of them had very mild symptoms and were fine in a few days. Not everyone was as lucky. I’ve also met people who passed away due to complications exacerbated due to COVID. Some very young, in their 20’s – got infected and in less than two weeks they passed away.
I’m sure I’ll be judged as fatalistic by many readers when it comes to COVID… but I am not – actually. I just want to do my part to protect those who could be most vulnerable. And sometimes pointing to worse-case-scenarios (which are plenty) take more attention than milder cases. I do realize that most people do recover – although it is still too early to understand the long-term effects of this disease… even to the asymptomatic segment of infections. What worries me, is that because so many do recover with ‘minor inconvenience’ this creates a false sense of security in the collective, and those who tend to think that if it was “not that bad” to THEM, then “why all the fuss?” This is why. Because this virus does not affect everyone the same, COVID tends to cling onto other conditions, especially on immunocompromised people and lead them to a very bad situation – very quickly. Sometimes in the best-case scenario putting them in bed rest for a few days, worse get stuck with a high medical bill, paired with the inability to work, or worst death after suffering from this disease. That’s why I am so adamant about it. I would not want to inadvertently harm somebody – even if I don’t know them – due to my own negligence in not doing my part to prevent spreading this disease. And guidelines to prevent spreading are definitely out there… and they actually work.
The new presidential administration signaled their intent to combat COVID in a way that was not widely accepted in the previous administration. We have learned, what many of us suspected… that this situation was severely mishandled from the response to the vaccine and everything in between, in a manner that turned a bad situation into the crisis that we experience today. President Biden did set an executive order that face masks must be worn at all times in federal property for the first 100 days of his presidency. Surprisingly to many, this has indeed reduced the cases spreading, however the death toll continues to raise. This death rate is unfortunately not surprising, nor was unpredicted. The disease does not kill people right away, usually death comes after complications escalate, and that can take several days and weeks after the person got infected. Again, this disease does not affect everyone the same way.
As always, I like to emphasize – when we use a mask and wash our hands in intended to prevent spread and to protect OTHERS and hope they would return the favor. It didn’t take a short time to get us where we are at now when it comes to COVID, so it won’t be immediate to get out of it. Fortunately, at least for now the numbers seem to be declining in the infection rate. So, what’s next? We must remain vigilant. In the US and around the world, when we lowered our guard then the cases started to rise again… very quickly. This was not unexpected and was even warned by the foremost medical authorities in the subject around the world… but unfortunately that (like the masks) because it became a political issue in USA, and the statistical curve of infection and death slopped upwards… as predicted. Hopefully, we will work together to make this situation improve so we all can return to what we considered normal before COVID. I hate this situation as much as everyone else, but we can only get out of this by working together. HLC