Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
By Isabella Loy
Covid-19, as everybody knows, has hit the US extremely hard in the past year. With over 522,000 deaths according to The New York Times, a safe and reliable vaccine seems to be our only hope at stopping the spread of this virus once and for all.
On March 4th, 2021, I received my first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, provided by Pfizer. This particular vaccine “was 95% effective at preventing laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 illness in people without evidence of previous infection” (CDC.Gov). I am eligible earlier than others since I am employed as a caregiver for the state of Washington, and have no preexisting conditions or allergies that would make it dangerous for me to get the vaccine.
The process was fairly simple. First, I signed up online for an appointment at a mass vaccination site (the Clark County Fairgrounds). Then, I drove over once it was my assigned time. I waited in line for about an hour, and there were checkpoints along the way to verify my identity.
Once I got to the end of the line, military personnel approached my car and asked me a series of questions. They asked which dose I was receiving, if I have ever experienced a bad reaction to a vaccine, and which arm I wanted my shot in.
The shot itself was virtually painless, I’d say even less painful than an annual flu shot. It took just a few seconds until I was all done, given a vaccination card, and directed to the 15 minute waiting area in order to make sure I didn’t have any adverse reactions.
I was instructed to honk my horn and put on my hazards if I felt any side effects, so that paramedics could come take a look at me immediately. Luckily, I felt completely fine, and headed home after the given wait time.
About an hour later I did experience a minor headache, but over the counter pain medicine helped ease that pain immediately. There was also some soreness around the injection site, but nothing too severe that an icepack couldn’t fix.
Getting vaccinated was a positive experience for me, and though I did have minor side effects, they were a small price to pay for life to return to normal. I have my second shot scheduled for March 25th, and plan to report on that experience as well.
