I got the Pfizer jab. The next day, I felt like I've been hit in the arm with a sledge hammer. It was soreness, not pain, and it lasted a day. I felt fine otherwise. Don't know if it was the vaccine or the injection technique.
My wife got the AstraZeneca jab. She felt "frail" in the evening after her shot and went to bed early. Felt fine the next day.
A few comments:
1. You can minimize soreness at the injection location. If it’s your arm, have the jab placed in your dominant one. This helps to dissipate the injected volume, which lessens local discomfort. It also helps to work your deltoids by moving your upper arms from your side up to your shoulders (‘chicken flaps’), let’s say 10 times every half hour for several hours. You’ll still feel the jab, but it won’t be nearly as annoying if you notice it at all. Secondary effects like fever, chills, tiredness, general malaise etc. are due to your immune system, and tend to last no more than a day. They also tend to be more pronounced after the second dose.
2. While two doses is a vaccination ‘standard’ (ideally making contact with the actual pathogen the 3rd exposure), the second dose of a particular vaccine may not boost your immune system much beyond what the first achieved. That’s why the J&J vaccine (developed by Janssen Pharma in the Netherlands) only uses one dose, and the Pfizer vaccine (developed by BioNTech in Germany) uses two. Similarly, while the interval between dose 1 and 2 usually is several weeks, it may be longer, as is now practiced in the UK. There are indications that this may be even more effective than shorter intervals, although this depends on both the vaccine and the actual duration of the interval.
3. The percentage vaccine effectiveness you hear about usually refers to the chance of NOT getting MILD disease. The chance of NOT getting more severe disease, hospitalization or death is increasingly larger, and runs from about 80% for no severe disease to about 100% for no death (J&J; Pfizer & Moderna numbers are somewhat higher). Bottom line: take
any vaccine that’s available to you, as soon as you’re eligible.
4. Variants only develop when the disease is actively going around, be it endemic or pandemic. As soon as that stops, so does the occurrence of variants. That’s another reason (beyond protecting people) why it’s important to stop the disease’s rampage ASAP, a.o. by maintaining masking and social distancing, and avoiding crowds, particularly indoors. Because we don’t yet know if vaccinated people can harbor and spread virus, this will be necessary for everyone, vaccinated or not, until ‘herd immunity’ levels are achieved, usually beyond 70% of the population. Even so, for the foreseeable future expect periodic (re)vaccination as with the flu.
Much of what you say is well stated. Just a few comments:
1. I did not feel a thing when I got the first dose of the Moderna vaccine. My arm, though, was sore the next day, and the day after (same for my wife). With the second dose, I did feel a very, very slight "pinch", but hardly noticeable. However, today it is rather sore (more so than with the first dose), although the pain is slowly subsiding.
2. Regarding the number of doses, it's important to remember that the clinical trials for
both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were conducted with initially specific intervals between the 2 doses: 21 days for the Pfizer vaccine, and 28 days for the Moderna vaccine. The results of those critical trials is what lead to each of them being approved by the various "agencies", with it being the FDA here in the US. Somewhat recently, it has been stated that 4 to 6 weeks between the two doses for either one is acceptable. But it has yet to be demonstrated that only 1 dose is all that is needed. Thus, it is best to get the 2 doses. Again, that is the case for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. For Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca, the clinical trials showed that only one dose is needed. As I mentioned above, I am happy that both my wife and I received the required 2 doses of the Moderna Vaccine, and also that they were 31 days apart, which is very close to the original 28 days.
3. Agree totally about getting whichever one is available. Here in Washington state, when one has an initial appointment, there will soon be 3 vaccines available: Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson. In actuality, when my wife and I made our first appointment, we did not know it was the Moderna vaccine until the time and day of our appointment. (The AstraZeneca vaccine should be receiving FDA approval soon, from what I have read).
4. Also agree with #4. And yes, it is not known right now as to whether vaccinated folks (like my wife and I) can harbor and spread the virus. Be that as it may, we are STILL going to do the same things we have been doing: wearing masks, staying 6 feet apart from others, etc. And we are even more stringent: myself I only venture outside a couple of times a week (we do go for walks near our place), and maybe once a week to go to Costco and/or HMart (a Korean store). Same with my wife, although she also (usually once a week) gets together to play Korean cards with 3 others. Next month, though, weather permitting, I will start my usual spring activity of picking ferns. I can't wait, as it is really good exercise, I'm out in the fresh air, and my wife and her sister make some good stuff from it. Plus, where I go is rather isolated (although not very far from our place), and hence don't have to worry much at all about masking up, 6 feet apart, etc.
In the "near" future, I expect the way it will go will be as follows:
1. Not sure how soon, but my wife and I will get a Moderna booster shot, which will be (I believe) to combat all these new strains that have been arising (or at least as many as possible).
2. After that, a COVID-19 vaccine will most likely be a yearly event (like getting a flu shot), and whichever one we get, it should be for combatting all "strains" of COVID-19, ie, like the Flu shot. I am just making an assumption that will be the case, but it seems reasonable. If and when Pfizer and Moderna get to that point, I don't know if it will still require 2 doses, or maybe just one.
On that last point, about 12 or so years ago, my wife and I got the Shingles Vaccine, and at that time, it was only one dose. However, in recent years, apparently a more effective Shingles Vaccine was developed, and it required 2 doses within 2 to 6 months of each other. My wife and I got them in November 2019 and March 2020.
