marriednmiddled

I'm not writing to brag...I'm writing in hopes that others will find this helpful. Last month, I began my job as an Admissions coordinator for a Long Term Care Facility, and was promptly exposed to Covid. Fortunately, even though I worked in the office with the person, and carpooled all week, I did not fall ill. I tested negative throughout my quarantine, though I was very anxious throughout the entire ordeal.

So, the decision to take advantage of the vaccine when it was made available to my facility was an easy one. It's the Pfizer vaccine, and I received one of two shots today around 2:15pm. My second dosage will be on the 24th.

Experience during administering: it didn't hurt. At all. Less sensation than the flu vaccine.

We were asked to stick around for about 15 minutes after we received the vaccine to make sure we didn't have an allergic reaction. Fortunately, I did not. I utilized this time to move my arm around to help with any future soreness at site injection. No side effects at this point at all. About 30-45 minutes after the shot, I was feeling soreness in my arm muscle (highly recommend getting any vaccine in your non-dominant arm) and some shoulder pain. The coworker I carpooled with had the same experience. Otherwise, all was well. This evening I have a slight headache, and some localized joint pain in one knuckle on my left hand. This could be the damp cold affecting a "weather bone" but regardless, the pain is negligible. The headache is slightly annoying but nothing an Advil and a hot shower can't handle. I feel slightly hot around my ears and neck, almost like I have a fever, but again that's within the range of a normal reaction for any vaccine. My thermometer is by my bedside, and I will be checking my temperature as per usual before bed and upon waking.

So at the end of day 1, I would have to report that I've had more of a reaction to this year's flu vaccine. We'll see how the next few days go.