My COVID-19 vaccine experience
The Science
Within just a year scientists and pharmaceutical companies have worked miracles and come up with several vaccines:
- Pfizer-BioNTech
- Oxford-AstraZeneca (AZ)
- Moderna
- Johnson & Johnson
- Novavax
Recently the AZ and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have had some bad press due to an extremely small percentage of people getting fatal blood clots. Some countries have even banned its use.
I was delighted to get the text message from the NHS offering me my first vaccine! They don’t tell you which vaccine it will be. I guess this depends on the centre you choose and which they have the most stock of.
The vaccination location was a local sports centre, around 10 minutes drive from home. Upon arrival a friendly volunteer greeted me and the other drivers entering the car park. She pointed out that there was a bit of a queue, but at least the sun was shining. And she was right, it was a beautiful sunny evening, albeit a bit chilly. After parking, I joined the queue with around 15 people in front of me.
The community spirit
At this point, I heard a bit of an altercation between that same volunteer and a man who was walking back and forth, towards and away from the queue. He complained about the queue's size, saying how “you shouldn’t book so many people at the same time”. He was referring to the volunteer, who of course had no input on the bookings.
The way she responded was what prompted me to write this. She maintained her smile, she maintained a friendly, calm tone. All while he was shouting at her. She explained it wasn’t her who managed the bookings, she is a volunteer. She tried telling him that the queue moves quite quickly but he was having none of it. He effectively stormed off back to his car for a few minutes.
Surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly, given the fact that he had one of the vaccine golden tickets that so many younger age groups would grab the chance to have), he eventually returned and begrudgingly joined the queue.
That volunteer continued doing her role, probably above and beyond her role to be fair. She seemed to be all over the car park. One second she was greeting the cars entering. The next second, she accompanied someone who had difficulty walking back to the car where someone was waiting for them. And she was also in and around the queue making sure everyone was ok, offering some kind of extra covering if people were feeling cold while waiting.
She was a hero and joins the many other heroes who have shone during this crisis. Thank you!
Ouch, my arm!
When inside, I got given the AZ vaccine. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little worried. I did ask the person vaccinating me if they had the Pfizer one, but they said no.
Fair enough, I accepted my AZ vaccine. They injected me on my left arm, quite high up, and that was that. They then advised me to go back to my car and sit there for around 20–30 minutes. Usually, if someone is going to have an allergic reaction to the vaccine, it will happen in this time frame.
30 minutes later I was fine and drove home. The next day is when the fun began.
When I woke up, I felt different. My arm was hurting, my head was hurting, in fact, everywhere was hurting. Pain at the injection site is one of the most common side effects, along with general aches and pains. The onset was so quick and some of the symptoms were similar to when I had COVID itself.
The day was a struggle. The symptoms got gradually worse throughout the day and peaked that night. That night was bad. I managed to sleep but woke up at 2 am from pain in my legs. I then couldn’t sleep again until 6 am. I had to get up at 7 am for work, but I felt SO much better when I did. It was incredible how just 1 hour before I was in so much pain.
The one thing that really helped was a simple Paracetamol. I think a 24-hour course of Paracetamol would have reduced all my symptoms.
As quickly as the symptoms started, they disappeared. In a way, it shows the body is doing its work in neutralising this external “threat”.
Overall, the vaccine program is a miracle, I’m glad I had mine.
