COVID-19 Vaccine

For weeks I had been searching online everywhere I could think of trying to find a resource for the Covid immunization. I'd check online every day but no luck, everything was solidly booked.

Last week after again searching online for a couple of hours without any luck, my phone rang. It was my family practitioner's office who asked,"have you yet received your Covid vaccination" to which I answered, no. I went on to say I'd been searching every day for a source without any luck.

The called replied,"we have the Moderna vaccine in stock and we can give you an injection as early as tomorrow."

I couldn't believe my luck. Next morning I received my vaccination and I have my second one scheduled in about three weeks.

Sometimes you just have to get lucky.

Both doses, along with my spouse.

--

it's the dog's fault

Wife, too.

Like winning a prize in the lottery, only with no taxes! I don't think you'll find the side effects difficult; a few people do, but for us and most others, they're not bad at all. And even for those who feel sick after the shot, the effects are much less in impact in almost every instance than a bad case of COVID-19. For us the first dose was easier than a flu shot, and the second dose was about the equivalent in after-effects as a flu shot (mild, one day).

I do think availability will be gradually improving across the US soon, and at some point, maybe by summer or fall, possibly sooner, everyone who wants the shot(s) will have been successful. Right now levels of vaccination are all over the map depending where you live, ba-da-bum-tssss, but politics aside, an uneven, chaotic rollout was pretty much a gimme for any endeavor this big.

Very difficult system in Pennsylvania, and a very small amount of doses to give out comparatively speaking.

I received my first shot this past Friday, 2nd to come in 4 weeks. In my area the most popular spot to get an actual appointment was via Rite Aid stores which is a federal partner and until a couple days ago it was just the Moderna vaccine. Now they are also giving Pfizer.

But when it was mostly Moderna in my area we had over 6 million people eligible for the couple thousand doses they were being allocated and getting an appointment was literally like finding a needle in a haystack. Very poorly laid out system. The state run facilities were not much better, with long lines of people waiting for their shot.

Total nightmare in PA, some smaller (in population) counties were given doses equivalent to over half of their population, while my county, the 4th largest in population, was barely given 10%.

Rite Aid automatically sets an appointment for the 2nd dose so that's the only plus for me, for the rest of PA with Pfizer and now J&J added to the mix hopefully it gets better for those still looking.

My wife and I had been calling & checking out web sites for weeks until we found a clinic 3 hours away with available appointments. We waited 3 weeks for that appointment only to have it cancelled due to bad weather. The next available appointment was a month later. With no other choice, we rescheduled.

We got a text from the clinic this morning saying they had sooner appointments available. We called immediately and now we are scheduled for our first dose tomorrow afternoon! My sister in law called 10 minutes later and the appointments were all filled!

As you say, sometimes you get lucky!

Wife and I got our second injection on the 19th of last month. No ill effects. Life is good.

We hope everyone who is actively searching for a shot will find it today.

For the last month I'd spend about three to four hours every morning cycling through the eight providers in my area. I almost got an appointment on three different days; but by the time I got to the web page to select a vaccination time, all appointments were gone. Finally last Tuesday a Walgreens had some appointments available and I managed to snag one for Wednesday. I feel pretty lucky because the county I live in has vaccinated about half the percentage of the population(7.95% for first dose & 3.56% for both) compared to the other counties in the state (state averages 14.2% & 7.84%). The vaccination rates must increase substantially or it will take at least a year to get everyone vaccinated.
Mark

They are doing the Moderna vaccine. My second dose is set up two weeks from today. I kept trying to get my wife set up for her first shot and everywhere I checked was filled up. Then at church a week ago, another member told us about Rite Aid. I checked their website and got an appointment for the 9th of March. This past Thursday, I was surfing the web and decided to give Kroger a try. Turns out, they were doing a shot clinic about 25 miles from our house and I booked her an appointment for 1:00 that afternoon. Went down, got her the first shot and they set her up for her second one in 3 weeks. Turns out they are doing the Pfizer vaccine. So, by the first of April, we should be pretty well protected. Both of my brother-in-laws got their shots from VA back in January and their wives have now gotten their shots, so I think that we may have a pizza party around the 1st of next month.

Three weeks and six days ago and purely by happenstance, my wife and I were able to get our first Pfizer shot. Tomorrow we get the second.

Phil

I couldn't be happier with the folks who are in charge of things here......

They took over the County Fairgrounds, making gravel roads to interconnect buildings... They took over the local FM Station to provide real time updates to folks in cars waiting in line...

They had the foresight to make two roadways one for Phizer, one for Moderna, so that for folks doing second shot, after check-in, you are routed to the correct roadway.... and first shot, whichever line is shorter...

And after the shot, another set of roadways with courtesy checkpoints to see how you're doing.... with EMS tents, Ambulances at the ready and doctors....

And They have NO TROUBLE GETTING VOLUNTEERS TO WORK THE SITE (for non critical -- Traffic Control, paperwork and Follow up Checkup areas): as they offer shots to Volunteers, regardless of age!
They are presently doing this 1 to 3 times a week, depending on the delivery they get... Updates are via the Local FM Station, so changes in schedule are easily updated to all! There was an extra delivery a few weeks ago, and within a couple hours, the system was Up and Operational, and people showing up...

I've never seen such organization!! Makes me Proud of our Area!

When I compare this with what we hear from relatives about the confusion that exists in the state we retired from, I am absolutely Amazed with the organization and throughput going on in our County!!
Haywood County, NC Retired from Cook County, IL....

We both had second shot 3-4 weeks ago..

got my second shot last week, wife will start hers next week she was scared of getting hers because of her cancer treatments making her feel ill and weak so she wanted to wait until she felt a little better.

The system in Ca., is completely fucked up..

My wife and I get our second Moderna vaccinations the day after tomorrow - March 4. We got lucky with them. One of my wife's friends said she was signed up for the first shot but nobody else we knew of had even heard they were doing the shots. I checked online and found a signup for a limited number of vaccinations. I immediately sent email and texts to several friends and we all managed to snag appointments in the next few minutes. An hour later all slots were filled. They didn't make appointments for the second shot but said to "keep an eye out" for the follow up. All of us who got in on the first one started checking daily (first thing in the morning) when it got close to the date we were eligible for the second injection. When it popped up we all jumped on it immediately. Again, all slots filled very quickly.

My wife's friend (the one who initially told us about it) has had her second shot with no ill effects. Our son however (CHP Sergeant) has also had his second Moderna shot and it kicked his butt HARD. He was quite sick but had to work anyway. Another guy in his unit had the same reaction. We'll find out how it goes for us in a couple of days.

Got mine at the VA 10 days b4 my wife go her's at a local hospital. She had some pain from the first one, none from the 2nd. I had NO reaction from either, though the 2nd injector did exert some undue pressure and cause pain. The first, all I felt was a slight pin pick.

Both of us have had both Moderna shots. It turns out that I was in a test, not the trial. When the vaccine was first about to arrive I received mail that I could sign up with the large entity that our GP is part of. I had some periodontal surgery scheduled in the middle of the vaccine interval so I asked my GP if I should re-schedule. Both she and a buddy who taught medicine said 1) they didn’t know and 2) put the surgery off ‘til at least two weeks after the second shot. My GP also said (not metaphorically) that I won the lottery.

At my yearly checkup last week she explained that what I was a part of was a test to figure out how they wanted to set-up processing when more vaccine became available.

I got my second dose of Pfizer yesterday. No side effects so far except a minor sore spot on my arm.

The situation at the clinic has changed a lot in the 3 weeks since my first dose. When I got my first dose, there were only 15 or 20 people in line, all getting the first dose, and the wait time was only about 10 minutes. Yesterday, there was a very long line with about an hour wait time. Even though I had an appt. it still took about an hour to get through the line. This time they were giving both Pfizer and Moderna where 3 weeks ago it was all Pfizer. The majority of people waiting in line were there for the first dose, although there were several others like me getting a second dose of Pfizer. I am guessing the increase in traffic is showing that the vaccine supply has improved significantly in the past 3 weeks.

I am glad to have this behind me and thankful that I made it this far without contracting the COVID virus.

Congrats on getting it behind you.

The part I emphasized above played a big part in my stubbornness to only try for two locations near me, at a Rite Aid and not a free for all place like the county and state are holding. I cannot stand for long periods of time, I need to be in and out, my first shot was exactly like I had hoped for, crossing my fingers on the 2nd.

One thing happening here in Chester County PA is many people are getting notification emails that end up in their spam folder. If found in time they may get their “place” in line but many of these emails have been found days later. This is especially true of the Chester County Health Department that seems to be using an email forwarding service.

Both of my shots went smoothly. The first was at a fire company, very smooth, virtually no line, in and out in about 25 minutes including the 15 minute recommended wait. My 2nd was at a government services building and required 15 minutes just to get into the building as you were screened with metal detectors. Pretty much a drill like at an airport.

Things can be sped up tremendously if people have a filled out consent form in advance.

As far as side effects (Moderna), none on the round 1 shot but the round 2 shot was at 2 PM. That night my wife said I looked flushed and I had a very low grade fever (99.5). But the next day, around noon so 22 hours after shot, I got chills, fever about 101 and felt like I’d been hit by a truck. Two Tylenol every 4 hours helped tremendously! Fine the next AM.

I’d advise having a small container of Tylenol on hand just in case.

Wife and I both got our 1st Moderna with the second scheduled for 3/4. Other than a little injection site soreness no side effects for 1st, although they did remark that the 2nd is the one where a reaction is more common. We got ours through the local health department. Feeling fortunate.

I am not getting the thing unless they hold me down and force it into my arm. No experiment done on me sorry.

I'ts been six days since my Moderna Covid vaccination. Absolutely no side effects, no injection site pain nor soreness. Nada!. Based on no side effects, I can't be sure I didn't get a saline-only injection. A couple of days later I removed a small round band aid from the injection site and there was a tiny speck of blood on the gauze center. Quite uneventful.

When I entered Army basic training in the 1960s, I wasn't given a choice in the matter.

Looking at my Military Immunization Certificate, I received the following immunizations:

Typhus
Cholera
Oral Polio
Smallpox
Typhoid
Tetanus
Yellow Fever
Adenovirus
Flu
Plague

I'm no worse for wear from any immunization I've ever received. I view it as good protection for me as well as those around me (the troops).

I too still have my “Navy” yellow book from the early 1960’s and have had most of the same shots listed and multiple occasions of each. I remember reporting to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in August 1965. A Navy corpsman took a look at my shot record, said it was obsolete and tossed it into the trash. I had to get them all over again, even though most had been received just weeks earlier. I was a new Ensign at the time so I think the Corpsman was just showing who was in authority, at least for that short interval of reporting for duty.

Got my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine 3 weeks ago as I'm part of a SAR team. No reaction apart from a slightly sore arm for a day or so.

Finally! After a long appointment wait and a 6 hour road trip, my wife and I got our first dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday.

Now, 24 hours later, we have no side effects except some slight tenderness at the injection site.

Is the Best !!!!!

Being an established patient, and in an older group, St. Luke's emailed us an invitation with a calendar to select the time we wanted. Went there and they were so well organized, that we were driving back home in less that 30 minutes.

We now have both doses and some time has passed, but being cautious to tilt the odds in our favor is still necessary. I have lost two relatives and two good friends from my high school days.

Don't shoot craps with your life folks. Wear a mask regardless of what politicians who aren't MDs say.

Does your stand mean you won't seek treatment if you get Covid?

That you won't use us a hospital bed that someone else needs
who tried to avoid Covid?

Elect to die so someone more deserving can get treatment?

There are people who's kids don't get shots for schools, also....

I don't understand the logic behind this... Doesn't make any sense!

But they are Adamant about it.... Even when their kids get ill!

Didn't I just hear Ex President got his shots on the sly, in early January and they hid it from the nation?

The worst thing any of us can do is lash out at someone for their opinion and their beliefs. That is what divides the country.

Well said, pwohlrab, too bad others appear to be reluctant to support such a reasonable comment

Let's keep comments polite. We can disagree, but no personal attacks.
We've had this problem with this topic a couple of times before and I've had to close discussions.

If the topic angers you it's best to walk away from the keyboard or skip the subject when reading through the open discussions.

~Angela

Has anyone who has gotten the shot in the USA opted in to the CDC v-safe daily survey?

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

Yes, it's a short daily survey for several days and if you're not reporting any difficulties it drops back in frequency and eventually stops. I'm expecting it to start up again after tomorrows 2nd dose.

I've been doing it since Friday, very basic questions

the news and my wife's friends, there isn't any shortage. The mechanism to use the vaccines is lacking.

It reminds me of when I was on this committee at my first job and we sold raffle tickets. I forgot to turn mine in and felt horrible, hundreds of people gave money and they won't be included in the drawing. I asked the chair what to do? She said not much you can do, throw out their tickets. Kinda like the vaccine (nobody has confirmed literally that's the case, but seems that it begs the question, it has a shelf life).

I’ve had both shots and was totally unaware of the existence of such a program.

...but I have been to busy to sign up. Might have to give it a try even though my first shot only resulted in a slight headache and some arm soreness. My wife didn't even get a sore arm.

Our area of Texas has been doing the Vaccinations very efficiently! Wife & I got our 1st dose the 2nd week in January and finished up in early February.

That being said ..... our Governor has now made the foolish mistake of opening Texas up 100% and no more masks!! This is so sad .... Now we can sit back and watch the numbers rise again!!!

All results are needed, good and bad, I'd imagine, to get a good read on the effects of the shots.

You are still welcome to wear one, and businesses can require them if they want to. And you can continue social distancing. It is just no longer a State mandate. I'd be more concerned about those coming across the border that have tested positive for 'vid but were still released into your state.

Both doses also from VA

...I got my 2nd Pfizer shot. (70+ year old)

No reaction to the 1st shot, and so far the 2nd is okay.

Now to wait two weeks for them to do their work...

is the VAERS site. It's a little tougher to get through but has a lot of data. https://vaers.hhs.gov/data.html

Very smart person, product of an elite education, very successful, does NOT wear seatbelts, no vaccinations for kids, and drives 120 mph on the mass turnpike even if it results in a summons.

p.s. when I got my new car in 2007 I let him drive it, as I know he could appreciate it's capabilities, and I was pretty scared due to being in a normal everyday scenario with other cars on the highway. Then I rode with him from Boston to Providence to another cousin's wedding and it was a frightening ride. I get he has the ability, just there are other cars on the road which could end up in a wreck...
For someone whose IQ is > 150, I don't know how to explain, and he's never explained too well why he has these beliefs. And again he's successful in the corporate world.

p.p.s. at his brother's wedding in San Francisco, he said f it to curbing the wheels, which is required in SF. To me, who cares if it's the law, do it out of common sense. Multiple tickets, rental car. No matter how steep the incline, he said he'll keep wheels straight ahead. If the car goes then there's a problem with the transmission and the pawl anyway.

Who can explain?

Comments here are becoming violently sad!

Paranoia and intolerance ....... this is 3rd world stuff guys ......get a grip!

...I got my 2nd Pfizer shot.

No problems so far. No reaction at all to the 1st one. The only side effect was a small, circular band-aid.

Going to get my second, next Tuesday. I get Wednesday off, because I'm a school bus driver and they are afraid they won't have enough drivers to run the buses if we feel bad the next day.

If they only knew how many of us routinely feel bad every day, but still show up to work.

I had no side effects at all with my first Pfizer shot and initially reported that I had no side effects on second dose. But about a day after the second shot, I had tiredness, then a few hours later mild joint and muscle pain. The second day, I had a mild headache and chills. None of this was severe and it was easily mitigated with a Tylenol. It is now four days since my second shot and I feel fine.

My wife and I both had similar side effects after our first Pfizer dose. We both experienced tiredness and joint pain on the second day. We both felt fine on day three though and haven't had any other side effects since.

I spoke too soon about having no side effects in an earlier post. It was made the day after the injection though when we both felt fine.