I got my COVID Vaccine – update

Well today is day 1 post COVID vaccine. That was the first of two shots that I need to get, the second one will be in the middle of January (already scheduled). Since I was lucky enough to get the vaccine I thought I would talk a bit about the side effects of it, at least from my end. My hope is to help people relax a bit and when it becomes available to the public, you won’t be nervous to get it done.

First, let’s get this out of the way. The vaccine is safe, effective, and the science behind it is some of the most studied science we have. The process from designing the vaccine to now is how we know its safe, they did trials, studied efficacy, and watched people. However, because this is an emergency use situation, the one thing we don’t know is how long the vaccine lasts. It could be 6 months, it could be 6 years, it could be 60 years, we just don’t know that part yet. If we can get everyone vaccinated quickly that won’t be an issue though. We could theoretically eradicate the virus like we did with smallpox and not have to worry about the length of immunity, but that’s a team effort on a global scale.

Now what can you expect? Well I can only speak for me and the rest you can find online in the statistics for the vaccine. The common side effects are soreness at the injection site, you may run a mild fever, chills, that sort of thing. When I got my vaccine they had me wait in a room for 15 minutes to make sure I had no serious reactions. I waited, had no reaction, so I could leave. No one else in the room (we were sat at a distance apart in a rather large space) had any adverse effects either, so an N = 1 in my case, but also the 15-20 people that were in the room waiting with me when I got vaccinated.

When they gave me the shot it was painless. Didn’t feel it go in, didn’t feel the injection itself, and didn’t feel any different right afterwards. I did notice some injection site soreness this morning, but nothing too crazy. I’m on hormone replacement therapy, or more specifically testosterone replacement therapy and the soreness is comparable to those injections, the difference is I do those shots once a week. I haven’t run a fever, don’t feel rundown, or chills, nothing out of the ordinary besides the soreness.

There were a few unexpected side effects though that should be talked about. First the lightning. Now I’m stuck carrying around a lighting rod for a few weeks before my booster shot and they really don’t cover that. I’m surprised they didn’t give more of a warning. For those confused, this is a real FDA adverse events disclosure (see below or read it directly from here). To be fair it’s the moderna vaccine, I got the pfizer vaccine so now I can control the lightning, but it takes a few weeks to learn properly hence the lighting rod. I highly recommend the pfizer vaccine for that reason. If you’re not a fan of lightning, then I recommend the moderna vaccine, you still have to deal with the lightning strikes, but that’s temporary. I hear you get power over water from the moderna vaccine. I prefer the lightning, but hey everyone has their own thing, who am I to judge?

Seriously though, if you’re on the fence about getting the shot, it’s worth it. Even if you don’t get super powers from the vaccine, it can save your life and that’s super enough. COVID is deadly and even if it doesn’t kill you, we’re already seeing tons of long-term side effects from infection. Things that are far more common than death and that’s not good! Things like heart and lung issues, brain issues, things you really don’t want to spend the rest of your life dealing with. Death is not the only measure here, so you definitely want to get vaccinated if you can and have the option.

I’ll give another vaccine update between now and the second shot and probably a follow up after the second dose. I don’t expect to have any weird issues (aside from power over lighting and I mean who doesn’t want that?), but if I do I’ll make sure to put them down here in my blog.

If you’re here looking for some final thoughts from a random PhD candidate on the internet, then it’s simply to tell you to get the vaccine. It’s not just your life you’re saving, it’s the people around you and exponentially more.