COVID Vaccination
Since the COVID-19 vaccine was being rolled out, I eventually was able to sign up to get the Moderna vaccine. I did not want to be the very first to get it because of the medical disparities, like the Tuskegee Experiment, that exist when it comes to treating Black and minorities. At the same time, wanted to be able to have an additional line of defense in case I was exposed to COVID.
First Shot
Day Zero
After the first shot, I did not have any side effects or reactions when the vaccine was administered. They suggest that you wait at the vaccination site least 15 minutes after being vaccinated to make sure that you do not have an allergic reaction to it. I did this and did not feel anything so I left and went back to work. I got the shot in my non-dominant arm. I did this in case the soreness became too great, that I would still able to do the essential tasks with my dominate arm.
Some suggested that you take Tylenol before you get your vaccine. This is the wrong move to make as doing that will suppress your body's ability to elevate the temperature when it gets sick.
Day One and Two
The first and second day afterwards, my arm did feel sore. However, I only felt the soreness when I pressed on my shoulder or raised my arm above shoulder height. I did make sure to stay hydrated during this time.
Day Three
By day 3, all of the arm soreness had went away. No other symptoms were experienced.
Second Shot
Day Zero
All felt well after getting the shot. I did get the second shot in the same shoulder, my non-dominant arm, that I got the first shot in. After getting the first shot, I stuck around (but was not required to) for 15 minutes before leaving. After doing this, went back to work.
Day One
Woke up and had full body ache as the only side effect. I had read where some said that they described their pain as if they had been hit with a Mack truck. However, my pain was not that severe. I would describe mine as the Kool-Aid Man running through a wall when he says "Oh Yea" type ache. As the day progressed on, I began to experience more side effects. Chills and fever eventually set in. I checked my temperature several times on this day and at the peak, my temperature hit 101.3 degree F. I also took two doses of store-brand Tylenol according to the package instructions (once per 6 hours) to manage the fever and aches. I will also add that I did make sure that I ate and stayed hydrated with orange juice and water throughout the day. As mentioned by others, it does have the same symptoms as the flu.
Day Two
Woke up and felt mostly fine. Still had some body aches that were on the pain level of walking into a glass door. The fever did go away and my temperature was in the 98 degree F range. Started having a burning or pain in my arm pit area of the shoulder that I got the injection in. Did not really think much of it at the time as some deodorants can cause skin irritation.
Day Three
The burning and pain in my arm pit area continued. I checked the area and noticed that the Lymph node that is located in the same shoulder as the injection site has swollen. Swollen enough that when my arm is down, that it applies pressure on it and causes some pain.
By no means am I a medical professional, but I do understand that it is the lymphatic system responsibility to capture and isolate viruses and bacteria and redirect them out of the body. That being said, my body does seem to be responding properly to the vaccine. Thus why staying hydrated after getting vaccinated is important as the body cannot flush the bad stuff out of your system if you do not put new stuff (e.g. water) into your system.
Day Four
Soreness at the injection site has majority, like 95%, gone away. If I press really hard, then I can feel some soreness. Lymph node is still swollen, but it does seem to be going down.
Day Five
Lymph node can be found if deeply searched for and is kinda swollen, but it is still decreasing. All feels good like before the vaccine.
Conclusion
The pharmacist told me just before she gave me the first shot that from the people that she had given the vaccine to, those who had had COVID before getting the vaccine, had worse symptoms than those who never got COVID. Based on the posts from friends on social media, I can agree that this statement is true. The ones that had COVID and got the vaccine described it as having the worse pain ever.
This was an interesting experience. I figured that I would share mine as others can have some sense of what they could experience if they choose to get vaccinated. There are a number of factors that come into play such as your current health condition and lifestyle, that determine whether you will have very few or a lot of side effects from the vaccine.