A few days ago our housemate Paul, acting on the sage advice of our friend Kathryn, scored his first shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Rite Aid right down the hill from our house.
Dara and I basically went !!! at this, and as soon as my work hours that day were over, we zipped down to the Rite Aid to tell them “hey we would like to be on your list of vaccine doses, please!”
They were happy to accommodate us. And yesterday they called me to say “would you like to come in tomorrow for your shots?”
YES, I said, YES WE WOULD.
So tonight we went down for our first shot of the Pfizer vaccine. They were doing brisk vaccination business down there–there was a pair of older gentlemen waiting ahead of us, and a woman maybe our age or a little older as well. And another woman got into the queue for her shot after we’d turned in our filled-out forms and were waiting.
It went a lot like getting a flu shot, really. And since I’ve gotten my flu shots the last couple years at this exact Rite Aid, I applied the same advice I’ve gotten for those before–which is to say, move the arm around for a little while after getting the shot. So Dara and I did that, while we were hanging out for the 15-minute window for checking whether we’d have any adverse reactions at all.
No adverse reactions happened, so we rode our bikes back up the hill to the house!
Rite Aid told us we could come back for the second shot to get it with them in three weeks if we want, and we’ll plan to do that. It is super convenient to be able to get the shots right down the hill from our house.
Paul says he didn’t notice any effects until the next morning after his shot, at which point his arm felt like somebody had punched it. As of this writing my arm feels fine. We’ll see how I feel in the morning!
All the reports I’ve seen say it’s the second shot that really kicks your ass, anyway. And with that in mind, aside from the general relief of fuck yeah I finally got a shot, I’ll be relieved that my three-week window will be past the release my team at work is supposed to drop this weekend. Because yeaaaaah I don’t really want the second shot of this thing to be kicking my ass close to when I’m supposed to provide SDET support for a release to production…
(But that said? I’d absolutely tell my team “look I just got the second COVID-19, non-zero risk of me feeling like ass, let’s plan accordingly” if there were a risk of it interfering with the release schedule.)
Anyway, that’s sorted! And I’ve set myself a reminder to check back with them in three weeks, and I’ve notified my primary care physician that I’ve gotten the first shot and would they please update my records accordingly?
Whew. Things are still not normal, not by a long shot. But as of tonight I feel like I’ve taken a step in normal’s direction. The journey to normal is beginning.