Personal SARS-COV-2 vaccination experiences

[Janeway]

My dad got the vaccination and then a week later got diagnosed with Covid and then a week after that he died. I am unsure but I think the vaccination actually makes you weaker to the virus the first few days. I also suspect the outside contractors who brought in the shots also maybe at least one of them was a carrier. But I also got vaccinated as did my one of my sisters and my brother. I never had trouble at all and neither did my sister and my brother said he got nauseated after one of them. Oh yeah my husband also got vaccinated and he’s had no side effects. Despite my dad‘s death, I still intend to vaccinate. I do not feel his vaccination likely led to his death, but I don’t really know when I figure out my age I’m at bigger risk from the Covid than I am from the vaccination. However for young people, I don’t know that the vaccination is worth it as the vaccination might be more of a risk than the Covid. Again, I don’t know. So I don’t think the law should be setting down any rules regarding people having to get shots.

[Not_a_Number]

46 minutes ago, Janeway said:

However for young people, I don’t know that the vaccination is worth it as the vaccination might be more of a risk than the Covid.

Really? Have people died from the vaccine so far? 

[iamonlyone]

16 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

Really? Have people died from the vaccine so far? 

Maybe? But the verdict is still out, and it seems the vast majority are doing well with the vaccine, thus far:

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-health-care-worker-vaccine-death-COVID-15902997.php

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/01/06/death-florida-doctor-following-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-under-investigation-gregory-michael/6574414002/

[Not_a_Number]

44 minutes ago, iamonlyone said:

Maybe? But the verdict is still out, and it seems the vast majority are doing well with the vaccine, thus far:

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/California-health-care-worker-vaccine-death-COVID-15902997.php

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/01/06/death-florida-doctor-following-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine-under-investigation-gregory-michael/6574414002/

Yeah, this is one of those things we may never know except statistically... some people will die after getting a vaccine, because it’s a very large group of people. So then you have to compare rates.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure the number of deaths from the vaccine is orders of magnitude less than from COVID, even for young people. At least, I’d be surprised if that were false.

[SKL]

8 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

Yeah, this is one of those things we may never know except statistically... some people will die after getting a vaccine, because it’s a very large group of people. So then you have to compare rates.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure the number of deaths from the vaccine is orders of magnitude less than from COVID, even for young people. At least, I’d be surprised if that were false.

We should consider not only deaths, but also any other effects that are worse than the effects of Covid for the given age group.

[maize]

53 minutes ago, SKL said:

We should consider not only deaths, but also any other effects that are worse than the effects of Covid for the given age group.

Which other effects? 

If we're talking about fears of some unknown long term-effects because we don't yet have longitudinal data on the vaccine, it is worth noting that there is much more potential for long-term effects to emerge as we collect more longitudinal data on covid infection. More potential because a viral infection has many more possible mechanisms by which to cause lasting harm than does a vaccine that has successfully passed safety standards in trials. Covid infection would never meet the safety standards of a vaccine trial. Even in young people.

While it is not impossible that the vaccine will turn out to have some kind of unexpected detrimental effects on young people, the probability of the SARS-COV-2 virus having more deleterious effects is much, much higher. 

Worrying more about the vaccine than about the virus is neglecting a large risk to focus instead on a very small risk.

[Kanin]

My mom will be eligible for the vaccine when Maine is in the 65+ phase, which is the next one, whenever that starts. I've been tracking the vaccine doses given in Maine, and today we hit a high of 9,000 vaccines given in a day. At that rate, the whole population of the state could be vaccinated by summer! Very exciting. I don't think the state is banking on that, though... the website says that people under 65 with no underlying conditions won't start getting vaccinated till June. Hopefully we can speed that up a bit! Feeling encouraged right now. @MEmama

[Jean in Newcastle]

Mom96 got vaccinated (first dose) yesterday.  So far no side effects. 

[Not_a_Number]

2 hours ago, maize said:

Which other effects? 

If we're talking about fears of some unknown long term-effects because we don't yet have longitudinal data on the vaccine, it is worth noting that there is much more potential for long-term effects to emerge as we collect more longitudinal data on covid infection. More potential because a viral infection has many more possible mechanisms by which to cause lasting harm than does a vaccine that has successfully passed safety standards in trials. Covid infection would never meet the safety standards of a vaccine trial. Even in young people.

Yep. In fact, we KNOW of some long-term effects of COVID for young people. Most of the long haulers are pretty young. 

The "personal COVID experiences" thread has stories about people's relatively young friends dying. No one has reported on people they know personally in their 20s and 30s dying, but there were at least 2 or 3 stories of people's actual friends in their 40s and 50s dying. And there were many, many stories about people with lingering side effects in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. 

The data is there if you care to know. 

 

2 hours ago, maize said:

While it is not impossible that the vaccine will turn out to have some kind of unexpected detrimental effects on young people, the probability of the SARS-COV-2 virus having more deleterious effects is much, much higher. 

Worrying more about the vaccine than about the virus is neglecting a large risk to focus instead on a very small risk.

I've stolen your line about the vaccine being much more thoroughly tested than the disease, by the way 😉 . It's a really good way to put it. 

[SKL]

9 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

 I've stolen your line about the vaccine being much more thoroughly tested than the disease, by the way 😉 . It's a really good way to put it. 

Except that's completely false when it comes to kids.  The vax has not been tested on kids at all.  The virus has been spread among kids for over a year, and the vast majority have very mild symptoms or none at all.

[maize]

4 minutes ago, SKL said:

Except that's completely false when it comes to kids.  The vax has not been tested on kids at all.  The virus has been spread among kids for over a year, and the vast majority have very mild symptoms or none at all.

The vaccine won't be publicly available to kids until it has been tested on kids.

SARS-COV-2 infection has shown enough negative side effects in kids (up to and including death) that it wouldn't pass safety protocols for a vaccine.

Any vaccine that becomes publicly available for kids will have a better safety profile than the virus. If its effects were as bad as those of the virus it wouldn't be approved.

[maize]

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 1.3% of known covid infections in children result in hospitalization. No vaccine would ever be approved that put more than one out of every 100 recipients in the hospital.

https://www.aappublications.org/news/2020/12/29/covid-2million-children-122920

Edited January 29, 2021 by maize

[SKL]

4 minutes ago, maize said:

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 1.3% of known covid infections in children result in hospitalization. No vaccine would ever be approved that put more than one out of every 100 recipients in the hospital.

https://www.aappublications.org/news/2020/12/29/covid-2million-children-122920

I dunno, more than 1% of all the kids I personally know well have been hospitalized as a result of vaccine reactions, unless various parents and siblings are liars.

[Not_a_Number]

17 minutes ago, maize said:

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, about 1.3% of known covid infections in children result in hospitalization. No vaccine would ever be approved that put more than one out of every 100 recipients in the hospital.

https://www.aappublications.org/news/2020/12/29/covid-2million-children-122920

One of the things that gets obscured when we discuss death rates is the rate of serious illness. For example, the percent of people who get hospitalized for each age group is MUCH more evenly distributed than the percent of people who die. 

If I remember correctly, on average, about 3% of people who get COVID get hospitalized. As we can see, the percent of kids who get hospitalized is still not that much lower than that. It's just that younger people are MUCH less likely to die. But we really have no idea what long-term effects of COVID are. Certainly, the long-term effect of COVID that's serious enough to result in hospitalization might be pretty bad. 

[Not_a_Number]

16 minutes ago, SKL said:

I dunno, more than 1% of all the kids I personally know well have been hospitalized as a result of vaccine reactions, unless various parents and siblings are liars.

Interesting. That's not the case for me. 

But also, that's the wrong statistic. You'd have to do the number of people hospitalized per vaccination, not per kid. If a kid gets 10 shots, and 1% of people get hospitalized for each shot, then about 1 in 10 kids or so would get hospitalized at some point. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Not_a_Number

[SKL]

1 minute ago, Not_a_Number said:

Interesting. That's not the case for me. 

But also, that's the wrong statistic. You'd have to do the number of people hospitalized per vaccination, not per kid. If a kid gets 10 shots, and 1% of people get hospitalized for each shot, then about 1 in 10 kids or so would get hospitalized for each shot. 

It depends on why they had a reaction.  If an individual is sensitive to vaxes, that would be true of more than one vax.  That's why people whose kids have had serious reactions are advised not to vaccinate their kids further.

[SKL]

Point is, we should really stop insisting the vax is safe for groups it hasn't been tested on.

They said thalidomide was safe.

I don't see the need to use anything other than scientific info to advise parents on getting their kids vaxed.  I mean where are all the people who always insist on science over fear?  The fact is that most kids are not in serious danger from Covid, so let's be patient and see how the vax testing goes.

[Not_a_Number]

34 minutes ago, SKL said:

Point is, we should really stop insisting the vax is safe for groups it hasn't been tested on.

They said thalidomide was safe.

I don't see the need to use anything other than scientific info to advise parents on getting their kids vaxed.  I mean where are all the people who always insist on science over fear?  The fact is that most kids are not in serious danger from Covid, so let's be patient and see how the vax testing goes.

.... did anyone suggest we vaccinate kids right now? The point is that no one will recommend it until the trials are run.

 

40 minutes ago, SKL said:

It depends on why they had a reaction.  If an individual is sensitive to vaxes, that would be true of more than one vax.  That's why people whose kids have had serious reactions are advised not to vaccinate their kids further.

Either way, it’s the wrong statistic. If 1% of people getting each vaccine had a bad reaction (I don’t think that’s the case, but assuming), you’d know more than 1% of people with a bad reaction.

I do understand your point, though.

[maize]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

I dunno, more than 1% of all the kids I personally know well have been hospitalized as a result of vaccine reactions, unless various parents and siblings are liars.

In this post you make anecdotal claims.

41 minutes ago, SKL said:

Point is, we should really stop insisting the vax is safe for groups it hasn't been tested on.

They said thalidomide was safe.

I don't see the need to use anything other than scientific info to advise parents on getting their kids vaxed.  I mean where are all the people who always insist on science over fear?  The fact is that most kids are not in serious danger from Covid, so let's be patient and see how the vax testing goes.

And in this one say we should only rely on scientific data.

 

Let's go with the scientific data, as we all know anecdote is not a reliable source of medical advice. 

Scientific data for common childhood vaccines report a MUCH lower rate for serious adverse reactions than 1%. For example:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11144371/

With regard to vaccination for SARS-COV-2, I haven't seen anyone recommend parents get their kids vaccinated before the vaccine is tested. That isn't even possible, no-one will administer the vaccine to children in the general public before it is tested.

The vaccine WILL NOT pass testing and be made available to children if it results in severe reactions during trials at anything close to the rate that SARS-COV-2 infection results in severe reactions in children.

We can be confident when the vaccine is made available for children that it has proven less hazardous than covid.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by maize

[Lecka]

My parents were supposed to get their second dose today, but they made their appointment one day too early by accident and couldn't get it.  They are probably going to be trying again next week.  

My middle sister is the one helping them get their appointments.  It is not very easy here.  Some people get their appointment for their second shot at the same appointment where they have their first shot, but some people don't.  My parents did not so they are back on the Internet trying to find a second shot.

In good news all of the elderly people I know personally have an appointment made at this point 🙂 Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SKL]

1 hour ago, maize said:

In this post you make anecdotal claims.

And in this one say we should only rely on scientific data.

 

Let's go with the scientific data, as we all know anecdote is not a reliable source of medical advice. 

Scientific data for common childhood vaccines report a MUCH lower rate for serious adverse reactions than 1%. For example:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11144371/

With regard to vaccination for SARS-COV-2, I haven't seen anyone recommend parents get their kids vaccinated before the vaccine is tested. That isn't even possible, no-one will administer the vaccine to children in the general public before it is tested.

The vaccine WILL NOT pass testing and be made available to children if it results in severe reactions during trials at anything close to the rate that SARS-COV-2 infection results in severe reactions in children.

We can be confident when the vaccine is made available for children that it has proven less hazardous than covid.

1) Anecdotes are not science, but the fact is that many reactions are not reported to the official databases.  So the truth is really somewhere in between.

2) I hope you are right that they won't bring the vax to market (for kids) if it has worse side effects than Covid, but I have my doubts.  The chickenpox vax is not only available, schools require it for entry into KG, even though chickenpox is a mild disease in kids under 10.  The fact that (despite documented side effects) it's forced on kids, for a pretty mild illness, makes me wonder about what policy will be applied to a Covid vax.  I've already seen some headlines suggesting Covid vax mandates for school attendance.  I just don't feel a lot of scientific objectivity on that topic.

[Corraleno]

19 minutes ago, SKL said:

I don't see the need to use anything other than scientific info to advise parents on getting their kids vaxed.  I mean where are all the people who always insist on science over fear?  The fact is that most kids are not in serious danger from Covid, so let's be patient and see how the vax testing goes.

A vaccine that resulted in hospitalization for even 1 out of every 1000 children who received it, let alone 1 in 100, would never be approved, so by definition any vaccine that is approved for children will be safer than the disease itself. 

The chart below shows all the VAERS reports on reactions in children, ages 0 to 18, that resulted in hospitalization, from 1990 through 2020. The average number of hospitalizations is 535 per year.

I couldn't find an exact number for total vaccines per year for ages 0-18, so I estimated based on the CDC vaccine schedule and population figures for ages 0-18. I also used a vaccination rate of only 75%, which is actually lower than the CDC estimate, and I did not count flu shots.

That works out to an average hospitalization rate of around 1 in 170,000 immunizations in children. In 2019 it was 1 in 220,000. Even if the rate of severe reactions to the covid vaccine was 10 times higher than for the vaccines currently in use, it would still be safer than actually catching the disease.

[SKL]

26 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

A vaccine that resulted in hospitalization for even 1 out of every 1000 children who received it, let alone 1 in 100, would never be approved, so by definition any vaccine that is approved for children will be safer than the disease itself. 

The chart below shows all the VAERS reports on reactions in children, ages 0 to 18, that resulted in hospitalization, from 1990 through 2020. The average number of hospitalizations is 535 per year.

I couldn't find an exact number for total vaccines per year for ages 0-18, so I estimated based on the CDC vaccine schedule and population figures for ages 0-18. I also used a vaccination rate of only 75%, which is actually lower than the CDC estimate, and I did not count flu shots.

That works out to an average hospitalization rate of around 1 in 170,000 immunizations in children. In 2019 it was 1 in 220,000. Even if the rate of severe reactions to the covid vaccine was 10 times higher than for the vaccines currently in use, it would still be safer than actually catching the disease.

Well this is off topic, but if a kid gets 7 vaxes at once and gets a reaction, is it actually only 1/7 of a reaction because it was 7 vaccines?

Again, I just hope all that nice language above, about them never bringing it to market if it's not less benign in kids than Covid, is correct.  We'll see.

[RootAnn]

5 hours ago, Kanin said:

... today we hit a high of 9,000 vaccines given in a day. At that rate, the whole population of the state could be vaccinated by summer! 

I didn't check your math, but did it account for needing two shots?

3 hours ago, maize said:

 

Just a caveat on these statistics:  Since many places wouldn't test kids for Covid for the first half or more of 2020 (and there are some places that still won't), the "known cases" (denominator) is likely much smaller than it would otherwise be. So, the percentage of hospitalized children (vs. infected) is probably lower than 0.5%. But the point you make is still valid.

I understand @SKL's mindset, though. The idea that it will be required that one receive any vaccine in order to fly on an airplane or keep one's job (this has been discussed in theory for a small handful of jobs) is anathema to many people. One is required to receive certain vaccinations to attend schools now and some chafe at that requirement. Adding another to that list--perhaps within the coming year--especially one that is so new, is definitely going to cause unrest in certain crowds (especially homeschooling crowds).

Edited January 29, 2021 by RootAnn
Removed an extraneous word

[Not_a_Number]

4 minutes ago, SKL said:

Well this is off topic, but if a kid gets 7 vaxes at once and gets a reaction, is it actually only 1/7 of a reaction because it was 7 vaccines?

Again, I just hope all that nice language above, about them never bringing it to market if it's not less benign in kids than Covid, is correct.  We'll see.

I’d count a single shot as one instance, for obvious reasons. So one would probably could count it as 7 reactions to be safe. But most kids do get lots of shots in their lives.

We’ll see the data about the kids in the trials, I’m sure. And yes, there’s no way that a 1.3% hospitalization rate vaccine would move past all the phases. It just wouldn’t happen. 

Edited January 29, 2021 by Not_a_Number

[Not_a_Number]

57 minutes ago, RootAnn said:

The idea that it will be required that one receive any vaccine in order to fly on an airplane or keep one's job (this has been discussed in theory for a small handful of jobs) is anathema to many people.

Yeah, I can see why people don't want this, but I also understand why companies will want it!! They don't want to host an outbreak. It's expensive for them. 

[Kanin]

1 hour ago, RootAnn said:

I didn't check your math, but did it account for needing two shots?

4 hours ago, maize said:

No, I didn't!  Waaaah. 😪  Our state CDC director said yesterday that we're only getting 20,000 doses each week for the next 3 weeks. That'll get us to 40% of people over 70 vaccinated. Progress, but not super fast progress.

[AmandaVT]

I know three people who got itchy blotches on their arms about 8-10 days after getting the Moderna vaccine. I looked it up because I was wondering how common it is and it's not super common, but becoming more known. Nothing serious, but a weird one more than a week out from the vaccine!

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/heal-the-mind-heal-the-body/202101/what-s-the-new-phenomenon-called-covid-vaccine-arm

[DeainUSA]

I had a very sore arm day 2-4 from dose 1 of the moderna.  All was fine until day 8, when the area became itchy, inflamed and warm to the touch.  That lasted a full 24 hours and I've been fine sense.

[Shoeless]

Got my first Moderna shot today. I am tired and my arm is sore, but that is it. 

I feel really, really, really, really lucky I got an appointment. I cried after I got my shot because I was so relieved.

It sounds like Texas is supposed to get about a half a million doses next week. I am hoping I can get an appt for DH and/or his grandpa. The drive to the Alamodome is too much for grandpa, so I hope we can get something local for him asap. 

[Lady Florida.]

Ds got his at work today - he works in a long term care facility. He got the Pfizer and the one I got Thursday is Moderna. I had a sore arm from Thursday night (got the shot around noon) until last night and now it's fine. Ds said his arm doesn't hurt. 

[AbcdeDooDah]

2 hours ago, AmandaVT said:

I know three people who got itchy blotches on their arms about 8-10 days after getting the Moderna vaccine. I looked it up because I was wondering how common it is and it's not super common, but becoming more known. Nothing serious, but a weird one more than a week out from the vaccine!

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/heal-the-mind-heal-the-body/202101/what-s-the-new-phenomenon-called-covid-vaccine-arm

Was just coming to post this.  My mom is in about this timeframe and this appeared a day or two ago on her arm.

[wathe]

On 1/29/2021 at 4:17 PM, SKL said:

 

2) I hope you are right that they won't bring the vax to market (for kids) if it has worse side effects than Covid, but I have my doubts.  The chickenpox vax is not only available, schools require it for entry into KG, even though chickenpox is a mild disease in kids under 10.  The fact that (despite documented side effects) it's forced on kids, for a pretty mild illness, makes me wonder about what policy will be applied to a Covid vax.  I've already seen some headlines suggesting Covid vax mandates for school attendance.  I just don't feel a lot of scientific objectivity on that topic.

A mild illness for most.  A non-trivial proportion get very sick, and some of those die.

Canadian hospitalizations for chickenpox have decreased 10-fold from the pre-varicella-vaccine era to the publicly-funded-varicella vaccine era, from 1500 per year to just over 100 per year.  Hospitalizations and deaths have decreased by similar proportions in the US, "Since 1996, when the varicella vaccination program was implemented, hospitalizations and deaths from varicella have declined in the United States 93% and 94%, respectively."

I started my medical training in the years before the varicella vaccine was licensed here.  I've seen chickenpox-associated necrotizing fasciitis.  I am so glad that I will likely never see another case again.  Nor will I ever likely see a case of chicken-pox encephalitis, or chicken-pox pneumonia.

The societal costs of pre-vaccine varicella were also non-trivial, " The total medical and societal costs of varicella in Canada were estimated in a multicentre study to be $122.4 million yearly or $353.00 per individual case. Eighty-one percent of this amount went toward personal expenses and productivity costs, 9% toward the cost of ambulatory medical care and 10% toward hospital-based medical care".

Not to mention the stress faced by non-immune women who worked with children - congential varicella sysdrome is tragic.  And we just don't see it anymore.

Covid vaccines won't be approved for children until the data show that they are safe.  But, knowing what we do about vaccines, and what we know about covid outcomes for children right now, if I could ethically source doses for my 11 and 13-year-olds right now (which I obviously can't, so moot point) I would get them vaccinated.  Because I think the risk of covid between now and when vaccines are approved for children is greater than the potential risks of the vaccine.

 

[Lady Florida.]

2 hours ago, AmandaVT said:

I know three people who got itchy blotches on their arms about 8-10 days after getting the Moderna vaccine. I looked it up because I was wondering how common it is and it's not super common, but becoming more known. Nothing serious, but a weird one more than a week out from the vaccine!

 

 

37 minutes ago, AbcdeDooDah said:

Was just coming to post this.  My mom is in about this timeframe and this appeared a day or two ago on her arm.

I'll keep this in mind if I see a rash on my arm in the next week or so. 

1 hour ago, MissLemon said:

I feel really, really, really, really lucky I got an appointment. I cried after I got my shot because I was so relieved.

 

Same here. I didn't cry after my shot but I feel so lucky to have managed to get an appointment. The system used here in Florida was a wild west free for all. They're finally making some changes but I kept getting up at the crack of dawn and getting online only to see all appointments booked practically as soon as it went live. When I got my appointment I was just about ready to give up. I was shocked to realize I actually got in and maybe I did get a bit teary at that time.

[Big Buckin' Longhorn]

I got my 2nd Moderna dose Friday morning.  My experience: 

Exhausted. Saturday I slept ALL day. I literally could not stay awake for more than 2 hours. And I wasn’t just laying down, I slept hard all day long.
My arm felt like a balloon - tight, warm, and very sore to the touch. I couldn’t lay on that side or wear sleeves that brushed against the injection site.
I had the same headache as after the first shot, kinda relentless.
BUT I woke up today, Sunday, pretty much like myself. No headache. Very minor arm soreness. I’m doing laundry and regular Sunday chores.

I’m not sure what will happen next, but I am incredibly grateful to be among the very few in Texas who are fully vaccinated. Immensely grateful. 

 

[Not_a_Number]

Oh yeah, I just talked to my MIL about her 1st shot experience. It sounds like she basically didn't have any side effects at all. It's lucky for her, since she's a super anxious person and would have probably freaked out if she had. 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Not_a_Number

[readinmom]

My mom (90) had the Pfizer yesterday, no side effects except for the sore arm.  I had the Pfizer last week, and I didn't have a reaction except for the sore arm at the time.  

The last few days, however, my blood sugar has been sky high (diabetic) and I had to call in about it.  I was supposed to have been told to "monitor blood sugar carefully in the days following vaccination."  

I wasn't warned about this, but it's coming down now, just being very vigilant and staying hydrated per doctor's advice.

[J-rap]

On 1/31/2021 at 12:03 AM, MissLemon said:

Got my first Moderna shot today. I am tired and my arm is sore, but that is it. 

I feel really, really, really, really lucky I got an appointment. I cried after I got my shot because I was so relieved.

It sounds like Texas is supposed to get about a half a million doses next week. I am hoping I can get an appt for DH and/or his grandpa. The drive to the Alamodome is too much for grandpa, so I hope we can get something local for him asap. 

I cried after my dd (a health care worker) got her first vaccine ~ first one in our family.  (By now, she's already had her second one as well.)  I think my tears were more in awe of the scientists who were able to pull this off in less than a year...  It's truly incredible!  (Of course, I am very relieved too!)

[Tenaj]

3 hours ago, readinmom said:

My mom (90) had the Pfizer yesterday, no side effects except for the sore arm.  I had the Pfizer last week, and I didn't have a reaction except for the sore arm at the time.  

The last few days, however, my blood sugar has been sky high (diabetic) and I had to call in about it.  I was supposed to have been told to "monitor blood sugar carefully in the days following vaccination."  

I wasn't warned about this, but it's coming down now, just being very vigilant and staying hydrated per doctor's advice.

My mom is diabetic and her primary care doctor warned her to get the Moderna rather than Pfizer.  Mom didn't have any real control over which one but when she showed up was glad to find out it was Moderna.

[wathe]

I had my second Pfizer dose today.  33 days after my first dose - we've had shortages.

I got a weird taste in my mouth about 5 min after both doses, and a bit of a sore arm after the first.  So far, so good after dose 2.

[ScoutTN]

On 2/1/2021 at 3:49 PM, JanOH said:

My mom is diabetic and her primary care doctor warned her to get the Moderna rather than Pfizer.  Mom didn't have any real control over which one but when she showed up was glad to find out it was Moderna.

Did the doc give an explanation? 

[kokotg]

My dad reports that he got his second dose (pfizer) yesterday, with no side effects whatsoever. He says he had a sore arm with his first dose, not even that with the second. 

[Shoeless]

Brief update on my first Moderna vax: I had very, very mild fatigue, headache, sore arm, and chills for about 36 hours. I got the vax Saturday afternoon and was back to normal Monday morning. 

[Shoeless]

Oh, and I still have not acquired 5g internet speeds post vax, but I think I saw Bill Gates spying on me in the produce aisle, so I am hopeful he will come through for me! 😉

[TCB]

9 hours ago, wathe said:

I had my second Pfizer dose today.  33 days after my first dose - we've had shortages.

I got a weird taste in my mouth about 5 min after both doses, and a bit of a sore arm after the first.  So far, so good after dose 2.

So glad you were finally able to get it!

[Tenaj]

9 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

Did the doc give an explanation? 

Her interpretation of what the Dr. Said was that diabetics are being affected with more side effects after Pfizer than Moderna.  

[Martha in GA]

10 hours ago, kand said:

The Covid vax would have a lot more reason for mandate than the chicken pox one, since the risk to others from Covid is so high. If it turned out vaccination doesn’t decrease transmission at all (so far it appears that it probably does—today’s news is by 56% for the Oxford vax), then requiring vaccines probably doesn’t make sense, but otherwise, it is only fair to teachers and others that people be vaxed. People who don’t want to can choose a different way of schooling if they feel that strongly about it. 

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but... If you are vaccinated against COVID, then you are protected, even if I am unvaccinated and get COVID, right? The argument I hear from past discussions is that my not being vaccinated is a threat to those who can't be vaccinated due to pre-existing health problems? Can we apply the same criteria to those who can't get vaccinated due to pre-existing conditions that maybe *they* should choose a different way of schooling if they are afraid of getting COVID, rather than saying all children must be vaccinated who are able to be vaccinated? And, sticking my neck WAY out there, while I believe that the threat to children who get COVID is real, I don't believe it is as prevalent as the news and social media is indicating, and we may be having similar issues with the vaccine with inflammation, etc.

[Sneezyone]

1 hour ago, Martha in GA said:

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but... If you are vaccinated against COVID, then you are protected, even if I am unvaccinated and get COVID, right? The argument I hear from past discussions is that my not being vaccinated is a threat to those who can't be vaccinated due to pre-existing health problems? Can we apply the same criteria to those who can't get vaccinated due to pre-existing conditions that maybe *they* should choose a different way of schooling if they are afraid of getting COVID, rather than saying all children must be vaccinated who are able to be vaccinated? And, sticking my neck WAY out there, while I believe that the threat to children who get COVID is real, I don't believe it is as prevalent as the news and social media is indicating, and we may be having similar issues with the vaccine with inflammation, etc.

The risks to unvaccinated children are not evenly spread across the population. While children are less at risk of severe complications, those children most likely to have them look like mine. The vaccines appear most likely to prevent severe complications, not infection or transmission or further mutation. All children are entitled to a free and appropriate public education, even those who may not be able to take the vaccine and/or are medically fragile. Federal education law doesn’t operate on ‘majority rules’ principles.

Edited February 3, 2021 by Sneezyone

[Not_a_Number]

1 hour ago, Martha in GA said:

And, sticking my neck WAY out there, while I believe that the threat to children who get COVID is real, I don't believe it is as prevalent as the news and social media is indicating, and we may be having similar issues with the vaccine with inflammation, etc.

I've been following the COVID news and I don't think we have a good sense of what the risks to children with the virus is. Children seem very unlikely to die and not all that unlikely to be hospitalized, and the fact that there were weird sequelae like the inflammatory syndrome makes me nervous. 

A virus has many more ways to damage your body than a vaccine, which is why I'd be surprised if there were as many possible sequelae with the vaccine. However, I do wish we had more longterm data. I really do. 

[JennyD]

Our state legislature, never an entity to rise to an occasion, is currently very very concerned about theoretical vaccine mandates. 

In the meantime, my county -- the most populous in the state -- has a daily vaccine standby list for leftover doses.  To sign up, you must commit to being able to get to one specific clinic within 30 minutes.  About 11,000 people a day sign up and they give away between 0 and 4 doses.

Obviously at some point we will have to confront the issue of vaccine hesitancy, but I really think public health would be best served by vaccinating the population that does want the vaccine as quickly as possible, then see who/what/where the folks are who have been more skeptical and figure out how best to target those populations.  I have to think that the group of people who 'don't want to get the vaccine first' is a lot larger than the group of people who 'don't want the vaccine at all,"  so presumably hesitancy will decline over time, assuming the vaccines on the market continue to appear to be safe.

Edited February 3, 2021 by JennyD