New Hampshire opened Covid vaccinations to people over 30 on Wednesday March 31st. Sally and I stayed up until midnight to make sure we got an appointment as early as we could. Vaccines had opened to people 40+ two days earlier and slots were filling quickly. We successfully booked appointments at our local C&J bus station for Moderna/Pfizer vaccines at the end of April. Our appointments were a few weeks away, but we’d be fully vaccinated by the end of May after the second shot.
That morning we learned that Walmart had opened up as a vaccine site and had appointments for the next week. We rescheduled our appointments to Walmart so that we’d be done the whole process a bit sooner. We deliberately scheduled on different days so that we wouldn’t be down on the same day if we had a strong reaction. Mine was for 4/7 and Sally’s was for 4/11.
The next week one of our friends got her vaccine at Walmart and we learned something new: it was the Johnson & Johnson single shot. While the Johnson & Johnson shot isn’t as effective at preventing infection as the others, it is as effective at preventing hospitalization. That was good enough for us, and the lack of a second shot enabled us to go to our friend’s wedding in April. That was nice.
I got my vaccine on Wednesday morning at 7:30 and it went fine. The needle didn’t hurt but I felt the pressure of the liquid going into my shoulder. On my way home I felt like my arm was a bit numb but it was just in my head. The rest of the day was normal and I felt OK with no side effects. That was until 8 PM rolled around.
I was reading with Zach and started to feel tired. Soon I had a headache and by 9 I had chills and was in bed. I woke up a couple hours later and the chills had subsided and I felt a bit better. I slept the rest of the night and woke up the next morning feeling… yucky? It was a little nausea, a little calmness, and just a general yuck. I had a little less energy than normal but it wasn’t horrible. I worked through the day and by dinner time I felt normal again.
So I think I’m through my side-effects. Done in 24 hours. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has a lower occurrence of reactions and they are less severe than the other vaccines. I heard stories of people sleeping all day after their second Moderna shot, but I think I’ve avoided that.
I’m happy to be vaccinated and am ready to move onto the next phase!
Relatively Ambitious 