I got my second vaccination yesterday!

[thewayne]

A month ago Dave and I got our first. It was crazy crappy weather, major winter storm had moved into the area. They had been doing drive-up vaccinations, but because the weather was so bad, they had everyone coming inside.

Russet got her first shot a week ago, and yesterday Dave and I completed our cycle.

And while I'm thinking about it, you can register with the CDC's VSafe program and receive a daily text from them, polling you for any symptoms that you may be experiencing after your first or second shot. Contribute to the base of medical knowledge!

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/vsafe.html

And here's an article from The Atlantic talking about the differences in numbers between the vaccines. For example, if one vaccine says no one in the trial group went to the hospital, that's great news, right?! But what if you later heard that only three people in the placebo group required hospitalization? Changes your perspective on the efficacy a bit.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/03/pfizer-moderna-and-johnson-johnson-vaccines-compared/618226/

But right now it boils down to the fact that we probably don't have a choice on which vaccine we're going to receive initially. I was advised to get the mRNA vaccine from my doc at the Nat'l Institutes of Health, and that's what I got.

And damn, do I feel like crap today!

According to that Atlantic article, the Moderna vaccine has a 15% chance of side-effects. And that's what I rolled. Ignoring the arm soreness, which I had for a couple of days after my first shot, I just feel like crap, perhaps like a mild grade flu? But I'm not running a fever. My temperature was mildly elevated, up to maybe 98.7, whereas I'm normally low 97s. Not enough to be concerned about.

But the bad part is one of the listed side-effects and a possible Covid symptom, and also a side-effect of taking antibiotics. Which I'm on. Again. For a repeat of the sinus infection that I had last month. My ENT just can't get it through his head to give me a 20 day course of the things to completely eliminate any bug that I may have. I was on Cipro for 10 days, I called them three times before they were set to expire, crickets. Now I'm on Amox-Clav. For some reason Cipro doesn't hit my lower gut in a distressing way at all, but the Amox-Clav most certainly does!

And that is a symptom of Covid! But, watching my Apple Watch, my heart rate variability is still nicely irregular - which is good! - so that's still nicely indicative of no Covid infection. I wrote earlier about smart watches that measure pulse frequently also tracking heart rate variability and that also being an indicator usually eight days before you become symptomatic for Covid.

So I'm leaving work early today to get a good nap in and hopefully a solid night's sleep in hope that I'll feel better tomorrow. Tuesday we have no student workers in, so it's just Emily and I, and Wednesday we only have one in from 3-5, so better that I leave early today than not show up tomorrow!

Comments

[dewline]

Glad you got the vaccination, sorry about the side effects!

[thewayne]

Slept for four hours straight, got food in the oven then I'll figure out the rest of the evening.

[rain_gryphon]

Three weeks now until my second dose of Moderna. I'm simultaneously looking forward to it, and also fearful of what side-effects I'll suffer. It seems common-sense (and matches my reading) that if you reacted at all to the initial dose (deltoid sore for two days with me), then you'll have a stronger reaction to the follow-up. I have the luxury of just lying around the house for a few days pretending that I'm tragically dying, of course. There's an odd satisfaction to be found there.

That's an interesting discussion to which you linked. I certainly understand the argument that a data group which has explicit numbers for people who are healthy / asymptomatic / mildly ill gives a better understanding of the situation than one which simply shows how many are sick enough to ask for help and/or die, but I'm not sure that it actually matters in the real world. Ex post facto, of course, it will be important to develop a model of what happened, and to have it be detailed as possible. That's part of why I'm using the V-Safe app. That assists in future decision-making, arguably helping to keep humans safe long after I'm dead.

For the current emergency, it's of far greater importance to take quick action, even though it may be only half-assed when examined with the thoroughness and calm of retrospect. As in so many things, the better solution becomes the enemy of the good-enough solution. And yet, understanding all of that, I still remain strongly prejudiced against the J&J vaccine in favour of either of the mRNA vaccines, to the point where I'd probably have turned down the J&J had it been offered to me. Why is this?

In part, it's because the J&J uses an adenovirus carrier. Despite the PR campaign, there's nothing routine or well-established about this. That approach has been used exactly once, in an Ebola vaccine, itself of doubtful efficacy. I'm 60 years old, and have been exposed to adenoviruses in the wild my entire life. I've spent much of my time hanging out with cats, dogs, and horses, moreover (and like the average furry, don't really keep a 'social distance' from animals). I have no remote guarantee that my immune system wouldn't simply eat the virus carrier and be done with it, leaving me completely unprotected, whatever the CDC says. For that reason alone, and given how tightly the government is controlling access to vaccines (so that you can't, say, just visit three doctors and get shotgun coverage), it seemed a better, safer, choice to just hide away at home until I could be sure of getting an mRNA vac. Fortunately that's what they offered me, so that worked out.

And, I didn't mean to run on quite so long, but so it goes.

[thewayne]

Eh, reply lengths make for interesting reading. My wife and I think we may have been laboring under a misapprehension about vaccines, specifically for me and my condition.  We were told that we were supposed to avoid "live" vaccines, such as the flu nasal spray, yellow fever, the previous shingles vaccine, etc.  None of the Covid vaccines are live.  Turns out we may have confused information that we were given, and that warning may have just been for the period between when I was diagnosed with my immune disorder and when I began antibody replacement therapy! She listened to a webcast from a bunch of immunology experts, and like you wrote about the Covid adenovirus vaccinations, apparently because I'm getting vaccinations from 10,000+ donors in every batch, that my body would likely eat it alive and the efficacy of live vaccines would be in doubt!  As I said, I was told to get the mRNA vaccine, and specifically told to avoid the adenovirus vaccines, which at the time of the advice were not available. So we'll be having some questions for my immunologist when we see him next month, also for my NIH doc whenever we're able to go back to DC. I left work an hour early and slept for four hours straight!  Still kinda tired and very hungry, there's food in the oven to address that.  Hard to say if I'm running a fever.  Tonight, and this morning, I got a reading near 99.3, but in four readings all the others were below 99.  I hate erratic devices, so I'm not sure what to make of that. I'd feel better if it were next week and Dr. J, the library director, were on shift, but it isn't and Emily is.  She's perfectly capable, but she's soooo young I just feel guilt about leaving her there alone the next two days if I don't feel functional.

[rain_gryphon]

She's perfectly capable, but she's soooo young

So long as she knows all the usual procedures, and nothing goes to hell unexpectedly, it'll probably be beneficial for her to run the place for a limited time. It builds confidence in an intern to prove to herself that's she's able to keep things running properly.

[kathmandu]

I'm glad you're vaccinated.

I got the Moderna, first shot, three days ago. It has progressed the same way flu shots do for me. I'm taking notes on your experience, and thinking I should plan to have extra food already made and chores done before I go for my second shot.

Sympathies on the reaction to the Amox-Clav.

[thewayne]

Yeah, looks like mild fever and feeling crappy, so being prepped to hole up for a couple of days is not a bad idea.

[devilc]

I second the call to submit to VSafe. It's useful date that may change programs, save lives, etc.

[silveradept]

Yay, second shot! And thank you for the information, it'll be good to read.

[moonhare]

VSafe was texting me daily, then weekly. I am glad to help populate the database! I don’t recall signing up; they found me after I received the first jab (the Town may have initiated that).

No pains other than normal flu shot reaction. Two of our folks reacted- the boss got the Covid preview while the other was seriously in pain (she has a history of reactions, I believe).

I won’t feel comfortable about being fully vaccinated until my wife gets her shots. There are no openings available within minutes of the online signups going live each Tuesday and Thursday :o(

[thewayne]

I hear from a lot of people that the only thing to do is to plague the sites like buying concert tickets: sit there and refresh and hope for someone to cancel.

[bibliofile]

Yay for vaccinated!