What It’s Like Getting Both COVID-19 Vaccines

Source: Brothers91 / Getty

After one, you’re locked in

My husband and I just jumped at the chance to get our vaccine. We felt like we’d hacked life. How could we say no? A vaccine could mean we could return to our normal lives. We didn’t hesitate and had needles in our arms within 30 minutes of getting the call. And then, stories started to come out about problems. One friend developed a respiratory infection in response to the vaccine that lasted a month and put him in the hospital. He’s okay now. One friend fainted. We understand these stories are rare, but we also hadn’t heard any of them until, conveniently, after getting our first shot. This isn’t to say that if we’d heard them before, we wouldn’t have taken the vaccine. But it was this “There’s no going back now…” feeling. I did get a little worried. The shot was in my system now. And, in theory, I was going in for a second one. If any fears about side effects hit you after your first dose, you do feel a bit trapped because you’re already in this thing.