“Shot Girl Summer”— My Experience with the COVID-19 Vaccine
Disclaimer: I am clearly not a medical professional. The only person you should trust when it comes to making decisions about your health and wellbeing is a trusted doctor— a medical professional with doctoral experience that can accurately give you a portrait of your health and wellbeing before you make medical decisions!
With that said, I want to share my experience for those who are medically able to get the vaccine but are a bit weary/unsure/etc. Taking the “leap of faith” to believe in cutting-edge science may seem daunting at first, but this is so much bigger than any one of us as individuals, and I promise my experience getting the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was incredibly simple and not scary at all. I am fine. I am thrilled, actually, to know that I am protected (and mounting evidence suggests I’m likely protecting others, too), and that I can actually have a real summer, now. Let me explain further—
Getting the COVID-19 vaccine: the process
Essentially, the process went like this for my husband and I (and most of our family and friends who’ve also received the shot)— we signed up on the Walgreens list and our state’s registration list, and eventually a local Walgreens had two doses of Moderna about to expire and, when we got the call to go receive them before they expired, we went right away. Now, however, the process is even simpler, with a bloat of vaccines starting to come on the market, and everyone 16 and up encouraged to contact local pharmacies to claim unused vaccine doses in the state of West Virginia (and in many other states.)
Once we got to Walgreens, the shot was literally like any other vaccine I’d ever received. Nothing scary, nothing different. It felt completely normal. We signed some paper-work, as we’ve done with other shots in the past (hello, Hepatitis A/B combo the week before going to Morocco!), then we waited. Soon, we were called back into the vaccination cubicle. Basically, from there, the pharmacist swabbed my arm with a cleaning alcohol-based solution, administered my shot, covered it in a bandaid— and viola! That was literally it. I felt nothing. And guess what? The second dose (since I got Moderna, which is a two-dose vaccine, not a single-shot like J&J— which my mother received and is also effective—) was just as easy. In and out in 15 minutes max. No hassle, no trouble. Didn’t feel a thing. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am.
Side note: COVID-19 vaccines are known to produce some side effects that go away typically in a couple days. I felt sort of “blah” after my first shot and Andrew did after his second shot. Both of our arms got a little sore. That was about it, and it was well worth weathering the side effects to ensure that we likely won’t have to worry about getting COVID in the near future (which is WAY worse than any side effects a vaccine can produce in most people— trust me!)
Getting the COVID-19 vaccine: the benefits
Now, this is the fun part! Instead of boring you all with another wall of text, I’m literally just going to list all the fun, CDC-approved things I can safely do now that I’m vaccinated:
Go to New Orleans for a vaccination-vacation! (We leave this week, eep!)
Hug my vaccinated grandparents!
Hug my vaccinated parents and friends!
HAVE A GATHERING, INDOORS, with vaccinated family and friends! (This one is HUGE for me, tbh.)
Did I mention TRAVEL, TRAVEL, TRAVEL?
Possibly attend MUSIC FESTIVALS again this fall! (AHHHH!)
And so. much. more.
Needless to mention that, as I said before, mounting evidence suggests I’m also protecting others now from COVID as well, and likely stopping variants in their tracks. Now isn’t that alone enough to make it worth it for most people?
All that said, I believe I made the right decision in getting the COVID-19 vaccine. I understand people’s hesitancy, that’s totally valid, but the risk vs. reward in this situation is undeniable for me, personally, and I encourage everyone to speak with their primary doctor about the vaccine and if it would benefit them personally to receive it.
And, hey, if you do get the vaccine we can have a “shot girl summer” together, amirite?
Xoxo, MM.