I had an appointment with a banker yesterday. We were both vaccinated.

[MineralMan]

The topic of COVID-19 vaccinations came up. The banker had received the J&J one-shot vaccine, and I had the Moderna. I had no noticeable aftereffects from mine, but he said he felt crummy for a couple of days after his.

It seems to me that there is no way to predict whether or not you will have aftereffects but, as the banker said, feeling crummy for a couple of days is a lot better than maybe ending up in the hospital for a couple of weeks or something worse.

I have to say that I agree with that. Interestingly, we were both masked during the entire appointment, anyhow.

[Chainfire]

1. I believe that it is all about genetics.

My wife and I had the Moderna vaccine at the same time. I would have never known that I had the thing. I didn't even have a sore arm. Twelve hours after the shot my wife got flu-like symptoms for 24 hours before they gradually passed. I have talked to people who got so sick after the shots, that they claimed that they would not have taken it if they had known in advance.

It is the person, not the vaccine.

[Rebl2]

8. I think so too

A friend of mine that is an oncology nurse was vaccinated in late December with Moderna and it laid her out for days and she had a migraine that lasted more than a day (which she’s prone to). Her husband on the other hand got Pfizer no side effects not even a sore arm. My sisters and I had Pfizer and all we had was sore arms that’s all. My parents (in their 90’s) had Moderna and had no ill effects except tiredness. Strange how it effects people so differently.

[TexasTowelie]

22. I'm not certain that is the case either.

I don't recall where I read it, but there were two identical twins that received the same vaccination. One of the twins had minimal side effects while the other twin had a serious reaction to the vaccine. The twins were young Black ladies.

[Wounded Bear]

2. I'm still pretty much masked indoors now...

visiting my bro's house being the notable exception. We're vaxxed, too, including his SO. Stores, etc, definitely. Restaurants when not eating, though I was a little nervous at breakfast Sunday. Our local IHOP set up their own little super spreader event, it seemed.

[Evolve Dammit]

18. You're brave to do the IHOP eating out. We might try an outdoor dining, but not ready for inside yet

[Quakerfriend]

3. I'm always interested to hear about people's experience with vaccines

I know 2 nurse managers who were fully vaccinated in Jan. But, both got COVID in April.
Another nurse who was not diabetic ended up in ICU with blood sugar > 800 following Moderna vaccine- her blood sugar returned to normal and she needs no medications now. HgA1c now 5.6.

[multigraincracker]

5. I've had my two COVID shots and my first Shingles shot in the last few months.

Never felt anything in my arm after the shots. I vigorously rub my arm for about 5 minutes after each shot at the location of the shot.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. Did the two nurse managers have symptoms?

Did they have to go to a hospital?

If they didn't have symptoms, what prompted them to get tested?

Maybe I'm not as invincible as I thought (second Moderna in early April).

[Quakerfriend]

9. The good news is no, they did not have symptoms

The hospital is now doing once weekly testing (PCR) on all employees- This is how they found out.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

10. It really strikes me, and this is just from a layman's perspective, intuitively

That there has to be another factor involved. Like people who have had it before and people who are vaccinated and get it again were at higher risk if they were very close to other people. Especially close to people with covid?

So it all goes back to the same issue we had at the start. Being around lots of people.

[keithsw]

4. My wife and I

Both got the J&J. Our daughter got the Pfizer. My wife felt like crap for two days. It just made me tired for one day. Our daughter felt sick and had a fever for two days. The third day she woke up and felt fine

[lagomorph777]

6. I got the 1st dose of Pfizer on Friday.

Felt OK until I got up Saturday. Had a headache, chills, sweats, and puked for a few minutes. Took one acetominophen. Then I gradually got better and was OK from about noon onward, except for a bit of fatigue.

If #2 is like that, I'm OK with it. Even if it's somewhat worse. At least I won't die.

[deelee]

11. I'm very comfortable being unmasked indoors around other vaccinated people

It's time to start allowing the vaccinated to move forward to total normalcy and leave those choosing otherwise to remain masked, quarantined etc. That will be the only incentive for them to get the vaccine as apparently fear of the disease isn't enough

[gopiscrap]

30. welcome to DU

[geardaddy]

12. Glad you were both masked.

Me and Mrs. Geardaddy got the Pfizer shots and had no noticeable after effects except a sore arm and a little bit of fatigue.

Even now with us both being past the two week "vaccinated" period we both mask up with other vaccinated people.

[MineralMan]

13. Yes. The masking thing is still important.

[deelee]

15. Why is "the masking thing" still important if both are vaccinated?

From a medical standpoint it makes no sense. The vaccine data - with now tens of millions of data points - say it's unnecessary.

Or are we now just placating those that choose not to vaccinate?

[MineralMan]

17. Well, I like setting an example, for one reason.

That's probably my primary reason to continue masking.

Further, I will probably mask up next flu season, too. Those masks are one of the reasons the flu did not get going this past year. Enough people were wearing masks and sanitizing that it didn't have a chance to become the usual epidemic it is. I also had no colds in the past 12 months.

There's something to be said for masking up in public places, I think.

[Evolve Dammit]

19. Agreed. Even the flu kills aroud 20,000 per year. This was the first year we haven't been sick.

Usually get sick even though we get flu shots and try to be careful. But working remotely, masking, washing and sanitizing made a huge difference. Time will tell soon with all the states that are opening up full throttle, whether it's going to bite them. Then there's the variant strains which seem inevitable.

[BumRushDaShow]

23. The "data points" say nothing of the sort

These vaccines are not "magical shields" that keep people from being infected. The stats indicate that they are 90+% effective against "severe" illness (which can include hospitalization) and/or death, from many of the known variants. But you can still contract it.

And until a high percentage of the population is vaccinated, even those who are could still unknowingly get it and pass it along. The vaccine mainly reduces "the viral load" that might get shed and helps the body mount a defense to it if contracted.

And unfortunately with the hesitancy and most likely what will later evolve to be some individuals "lying" about being vaccinated, it's prudent and common sense to give it some time until we can reduce the general "community spread".

[MineralMan]

26. +100

[geardaddy]

28. Thank you!

[geardaddy]

27. We don't know enough

about how the vaccine protects against the variants. Minnesota is second in the nation for one or two of those variants, and frankly, as an immunosuppressed person, I don't want to take a chance.

[Grasswire2]

29. You can still catch Covid. If you do, you can still transmit it.

....And if you do, the person you transmit it to (though vaccinated) can pass it to someone who is not vaccinated.

Break the chain.

Just mask for now.

[BobTheSubgenius]

14. There is nothing wrong AT ALL with continued caution.

The tide may be starting to turn, but we've been at much lower numbers than we currently see. Our Chief Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, has said that we won't got back to "fully normal" until everyone (or at least all those that are ever going to) has had both shots, and a couple of weeks after that.

But she also made a point of saying that it's now "weeks, not months." It's almost hard to believe life was ever different than the little foreshadowing of post-apocalyptica we've been living through.

[HipChick]

16. This may force me to make some job choices, I plan to stay masked..

If my company chooses not to remain virtual
if my company wants me to do physical customer site visits, I still plan to stay masked during any meetings on site...
As much this is my dream job, if this becomes an issue...I'm out

[spinbaby]

20. I was on a plane yesterday

Packed Southwest flight. The first thing all three people in my row did was compare vaccination status. We were all vaccinated.

[MineralMan]

25. Yes. I've noticed that people are asking about that and telling others

that they have been vaccinated. It helps put people's minds at ease, for sure.

[The Mouth]

21. One of the toughest people I know

went down hard with the one shot. And I mean this person thrives on challenges.

I got Pfizer and felt generally crappy for a couple of days after each one.

[Pugee]

24. I only had a sore arm both times (Moderna)

My son got his second one today at work (a food factory). He has to work tonight, so came home and went to bed. We will see when he wakes up this evening how he feels. My daughter is an RN who has worked on the first and main Covid unit at a university hospital since this first started, so she got her shots very early. She had no reaction at all, but her theory is that the reason the nurses on the unit had no reaction is that they all had nano bits of the virus all year and maybe had already worked up some immunity to the virus. (she had an terrible year worrying with rooms and overflow ICU patients on their unit in addition to 45 beds on a unit meant to have 30. She was terrified her family or friends would end up there, lots of stress)