Coronavax experiences?

[Leo Enticknap]

Had my first shot (of Pfizer) at 10.22am this morning. Was perfectly OK after the 15-minute cautionary wait, and drove home (47 miles / 62 minutes). 2h17m after the shot, felt a hot flush and hands shaking, significant enough to check the time and make a mental note of it. Half an hour later, joint and muscle ache all over. Kinda intermediate and persistent: enough to make it unpleasant to negotiate stairs or lift anything, but not enough that I have to lie in bed and feel sorry for myself. It's now 12h22 after the shot, and the joint and muscle pain has backed off to mild. I'd guess it was at its peak about 6h after the shot.

My wife (who had Moderna) experienced zero side effects after shot 1, but had severe fever, nausea and fatigue after shot 2 (onset about 12 hours after the injection), such that she was laid up for two days afterwards.

Interested to hear of others' experiences.

[Steve Guttag]

I had shot #1 of Pfizer on Tuesday of this week. My only symptom was a sore arm that grew in intensity and probably peaking around 3-4 hours after the shot. It did not stop me from lifting anything and, in fact, I was working on Dolby DSS200 servers that day (multiples, trying to test and/or revive them...all successful) so schlepping heavy objects were fine. However, lifting that arm above my head was "uncomfortable" and would intensify the pain. I would equate the pain to if someone punched you in your arm at that spot but minus the bruise.

Day-2, the intensity of the pain was probably 25-50%, depending on when in the day it was. I knew it was there but definitely less. By the following day it ranged from little to no soreness.

I don't recall any sensation of having a temperature (I didn't measure but I'm at a point in my life where my temperature is normally somewhere in the low to mid 97s (F)...when I was younger I was at 98.6F or pretty close to. Due to C19, my temperature has been checked a LOT in the past 12 months. The weather here in the Middle-Atlantic is such that hot-n-cold would be tuff to tell because the outside temps are anywhere to just above freezing to well into the 70F range on any given hour/day. So, your body is experiencing a range of temps both indoors and outdoors (indoors we haven't switched to A/C yet so it might very well be hotter indoors than normal. At no time have I felt Ill.

[Carsten Kurz]

My wife, aged 54, had no issues at all after her first shot of Biontech/Pfizer, but was knocked out for nearly two days after the second one with muscle pain and fatigue. Luckily, she received the second shot on a friday and could recover over the weekend. My father, age 81, had no issues at all after both shots of the same vaccine. This all seems to be within expectations and individual variation they say. These reactions especially to the second shot seem to be indications of an expected and desired effect of the immune system. So my father without any reaction should be more worried than my wife ;-)

[Matt Smith]

I had the AstraZeneca jab one morning at the beginning of March. I felt fine until the evening, when I started to feel really cold and began shivering. I had some trouble sleeping that night and woke up with a really mild headache and feeling achy. At least I knew it was working!

After taking a couple of paracetamol and a hot bath I felt better. I have been told it might be a good idea to take some paracetamol before I have the second jab though.

[Martin McCaffery]

Had Pfizer 1st shot a couple of weeks ago. Like Steve, felt like someone punched me in the arm. That lasted a day or two and that was it. Felt slightly hungover the next morning, but I may just have been slightly hungover. don't have my second shot until the 20th, unless I get ambitious and look for a better appointment.

[Carsten Kurz]

After taking a couple of paracetamol and a hot bath I felt better. I have been told it might be a good idea to take some paracetamol before I have the second jab though.

I just watched a feature about these issues, and they recommended - if at all - to take Paracetamol only AFTER the vaccination, as taking it a while before, or shortly before the shot is supposed to reduce the amount of antibody being built by the vaccination. You may try to educate yourself on that before you go that way.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

First dose of Pfizer was on 3/5, second dose was on 4/5. I had a reaction 24 hours later during dialysis where I broke out in uncontrollable shivers. After enduring that for an hour with my seat heater and electric blanket both on high, I had them take me off the machine. It was about another hour till I was back to normal. My Nephrologist said it is not an uncommon reaction for dialysis patients to have to the second shot. Otherwise, no reactions at all...

[Jim Cassedy]

My first shot (Moderna), which I got through the SF V A Hospital, was 100% painless. My arm wasn't even sore.
After my 2nd shot, I felt fine for about 10-12hrs, afterwhich I started to feel some slight tightness in my adenoids,
and developed a mild fever with occasional chills, accompanied by a really annoying headache and total lack of
energy for about the next 12-14hrs. I never actually got "sick", I just felt really lousy for about a day, and after
a good nights' sleep I was fine the next day.


> TRIVIA-
Google uses this photo I took abt 3 years ago as the default picture that pops up if you GooglSearch
for "Ft Miley Medical Center, or "San Francisco VA Hospital". They occasionally send me updates
and I think it's been seen several million times at last count.

SF_FortMileyPic.jpg

[Gordon McLeod]

I had the Astra on a sat morning 4 weeks ago that evening my shoulder was sore next morning felt very achy with a fever that lasted to the next mid day then was fine

[Rick Raskin]

My wife and I have had both doses of Pfizer. No reactions other than slight soreness at the stick point.

[Harold Hallikainen]

Wife and I had second dose of Pfizer a couple weeks ago. I had no reaction to either. My wife was sick for a couple days after second dose.

[Bobby Henderson]

I got my first shot of the Pfizer/Bio-N-Tech vaccine on March 5 late in the afternoon. The injection was almost painless. Much thinner gauge needle than the ones I encounter at Oklahoma Blood Institute when donating plasma and platelets.

Technically I was not yet eligible to get the vaccine, but the local Walgreens in my neighborhood had shots it needed to use and not enough people in the eligible groups bothering to show up. The health department cancelled a mass vaccine clinic at our mall for that weekend due to lack of demand. I saw the notice about Walgreens offering the vaccine to any adults, no appointment required. So I got my ass down there. Apparently we have quite a lot of anti-vax people around here. It's hard for me not to be angry about that; a local friend I've known for around 20 years died recently of COVID-19 after languishing for a month in the hospital (most of that time on a ventilator). He was in his late 40's. This guy's death prompted several people in my social group to change their minds and get vaccinated. Some other local acquaintances have died of COVID-19 or have been hospitalized by it. The disease is real enough for me.

Anyway, after shot #1 I felt fine the rest of the evening. The next morning I was a little nauseous and had a bit of diarrhea. That went away by noon. My left shoulder was pretty sore for the rest of the weekend.

I got shot #2 on March 26. That evening I developed a pretty stout headache and I felt pretty tired. I was in bed by around 10pm, which is really early for me on a Friday night. The next morning I had symptoms similar to what I experienced with shot #1, but less nausea. The soreness in my shoulder lasted only one day. I was pretty much back to 100% by Sunday.

Most people I know who've had more intense, flu-like symptoms from the vaccine got hit harder with the 2nd shot. One funny description I heard about the vaccines from a medical expert went something like this: The first shot politely asks your immune system, "please make the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and antibodies to neutralize it." The second shot tells your immune system, "okay, we're not asking."

Considering I had a minor case of COVID-19 in December I braced for a more serious reaction to the first Pfizer shot. It would have been like getting shot #2 for other people. I can't really complain about my experience; the symptoms didn't even compare to a minor cold.

One of my co-workers was laid up in bed with flu-like symptoms and even a high fever after his 2nd shot of the Moderna vaccine.

[Leo Enticknap]

Luckily, she received the second shot on a friday and could recover over the weekend.

Exactly the same with my wife, which was why I scheduled both of my shots for a Friday. The large hospital in the city I live in vaccinated its entire workforce (of which my wife is one) with Moderna, and anecdotal evidence is that a large proportion of them experienced intermediate 'flu-like symptoms for one to three days after the second shot, the onset usually being between 12 and 24 hours after it goes in.

Still feeling slight joint/muscle ache, but nothing like as nasty as this time yesterday. No pain or irritation whatsoever at the injection site, which seems to have been widely reported with Pfizer.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Well, with the AstraZeneca vaccine out of the running, there is no date in sight yet for our first shot, even my parents, who both are in an extended risk group, haven't been vaccinated yet. So yeah, it's quite a mess over here and I hope they get it under conrol and manage to ramp up the numbers significantly, otherwise a new wave of COVID-19 infections will probably be unavoidable...

[James Biggins]

Well, with the AstraZeneca vaccine out of the running...

Why.......?