A Tale of Two Shots

A selfie of me in the car wearing a mask and holding up a "I got my covid-19 vaccine!" sticker.

This week, I got my second dose of the Moderna vaccine, so now I’m fully vaccinated! 🎉

I was in group 1B, but with a lot of the country expanding eligibility to everyone, I thought I’d tell you about my experience so you know what to expect if you haven’t gotten your shots yet.

I got the first shot about a month ago and it gave me a sore arm for a few days. The first twenty-four-ish hours were really sore, then there were a couple of days of just lingering soreness. Otherwise, I didn’t have any other symptoms. Easy peasy.

Shot two was a whole different beast. If you don’t have a flexible work schedule, I recommend getting the second shot when you have the next day off. I got my shot Wednesday afternoon. By Wednesday night, my arm was once again sore, but this time the pain was bad enough to interrupt my sleep.

So Wednesday night I didn’t sleep well. By Thursday morning, I was feeling achy, but I got up and tried to work. I spent two hours staring at my computer in a fog, wrote a grand total of seven words, and decided that maybe the couch was a better option.

I spent the rest of the day dozing. I ran a low-grade fever (the highest was 100.3F) and my bones ached. Specifically, my thigh bones and hip joints. Why those? Who knows! In the evening, I went for a slow walk with Mr. M, then promptly returned to the sofa.

By 9:30, I decided to move to the bed, “to read.” By 9:35, I was asleep, which is kind of a miracle on its own. I slept eleven hours and woke up this morning feeling pretty good. My fever is gone, I can no longer actively feel my bones, and while my arm is still sore, it’s a lingering pain, not an intense one.

Could I have powered through it yesterday and worked anyway? Probably. And if I was on deadline, I might’ve tried harder. But I’m doing my best to be kind to myself this year, so I took the day off.

Would I get the shot again if I had it to do over? YES, YES, A THOUSAND TIMES YES.

I hope everyone gets their shots. Selfishly, I want to be able to return to normal and go out and see my friends and travel and do things.

But I also don’t want anyone else to die. I don’t want the virus to have enough hosts to continue to mutate into something that will once again kill hundreds of thousands. I want to be able to stop worrying about my parents, and my friends, and my brother, who is on the front lines as a fireman.

If you can get the vaccine, please do. And encourage those around you to do it, too. :)

12 thoughts on “A Tale of Two Shots”

  1. That was about what happened to me. I woke up in the middle of night soaked, fever broke, so I changed and fell back to sleep. Much better today.

  2. I had a similar experience with Pfizer’s vaccine. Standard sore arm for the first shot. Fever (101 something (F) at one point)and fatigue for the second shot. No bones aching though at least. The oddest part was it took about 12 hours after receiving the vaccine for symptoms to kick in. Fortunately, I’m one of those people that konks out when I’m hurt or “sick” (or tricking my body into reacting like I’m sick with a vaccine) and I slept through most of it. Totally worth it and recommend everyone who can gets it though.

  3. I got first dose of Moderna on Tuesday. It was fine for first few hours but then I couldn’t lift that arm above my head and had hard time taking off bra that night. Same next morning but by about hour 36 it was fine. It wasn’t that dissimilar to tetanus shot reaction. I did have joint aches on the same side of my body as the shot. But I get asymmetric pain anyway so it could have been unrelated.
    Not looking forward to second one but am looking forward to being able to see friend without worrying both of us will die.

  4. So glad to hear you got your shot!
    Also, I want to thank you for the book recommendation for the Annette Marie books.
    I’ve read the first one already and started on the next. I’m really liking them.

  5. I get my second Moderna shot next Friday. Scheduling just happened to work that way, so I have the weekend for any symptoms. For first shot my arm ached the next day and the day after that was fine. Still waiting for my older husband to get scheduled. He is waiting to be contacted by his service provider. My contacted me the Sunday after my first shot. I told him he should not be waiting.

  6. I got the Pfizer. First dose a bit of tingling in my arm. But they said to move it as much as possible throughout the day so I did so.

    Second shot is Monday. I am prepared for a fever or other symptoms (well, as much as one can be.)

    My parents each had the Moderna and no side-effects for either of them.

    I had to laugh as when I scheduled my first appointment the website said they were only giving Moderna at that location. I didn’t care, I took the first available appointment they had. But when I got there they were like “Congratulations, you are getting the Pfizer.”

  7. Just a reminder, you’re not fully vaccinated until 2 weeks after the last shot. Stay safe everyone!
    I’ve now gotten 2 shots of Pfizer and had sore arms both times.

    1. I’ve been using “fully vaccinated” to mean both shots, and “max immunity” to mean both shots + two weeks. But others may be using it differently, so it’s a good reminder!

  8. I’m an anomaly. Had both doses of Pfizer and no sore arm. First dose, I was achy and fatigued for a couple of days then had a headache for 3 days. Second dose, I was tired for a day then fine.

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