Pfizer #3 48 or so hours ago. It came without side effects.
Pfizer #3 a week ago. I have had the very mildest of symptoms - a slightly sore arm at the injection site. I was a bit concerned about this one, as my 2nd shot had been followed with nausea, chills, and swelling of my upper arm. So even though I was anticipating a repeat of these strong reactions, I went ahead and got the shot. Piece of cake!
Pfizer #3 on Tuesday afternoon (health care worker, not 65+ or otherwise immunocompromised). I didn’t have any major side effects from the first two shots (maybe a little tired the next day), but this was bad.
Over the course of the six hours after I got the booster, my shoulder went from achy to sincerely painful if I extended my upper arm around 45 degrees from my side. Several years ago I slipped on a wet patio and landed on my left elbow with my upper arm almost vertical; the pain I felt moving my shoulder around was reminiscent of that.
Max doses of Tylenol didn’t help much; I had to call out of work Wednesday and just sit around the apartment. I was pretty much okay Thursday, though.
Morning after Pfizer#3 - the upper arm is sore, like it’s been bruised, but otherwise I feel fine.
I got my booster yesterday at Walgreens. It was a clusterfuck. The pharmacy was extremely busy, the computer wouldn’t take my Medicare info (even though I’m in their system) and I ended up spending an hour in a confined space with maskholes and a bunch of children.
Today my arm is sore and I’m exhausted. My arthritic knee is hurting and feels swollen. The same thing happened with shot #2. At that time, I couldn’t say the shot was the cause but apparently it is. This is the first time my knee has hurt like this since I got shot #2. I expect it will be fine in the next couple days.
I don’t know why they would even need your Medicare info; the vaccination’s totally free. I didn’t even show ID or my insurance card to the pharmacist when I received my booster. My existing vaccination record was enough.
a lot of places are trying to capture you as a future patient, when you do have something reimbursable they can give. I just refused to give the info, still got my vax at Walgreens.
I know about that, and it really bothers me. The Wall Street Journal ran an article (paywalled, of course) about this. The COO of CVS said to the WSJ, “Every one of these customers is coming through our digital front end, so we have their email, we have their text message, and we have the ability to communicate with them regularly.” The article said about Walgreens, “Anyone receiving a vaccine at Walmart must set up a patient profile in the company’s online system, adding legions of new customers to those rolls.”
No sense at all that this might be inappropriate or at the very least creepy.
The problem seemed to be that the computer wouldn’t accept the info it needed to print the consent form. When I made the appointment, there was an option to fill it out online, print and bring it with you but I don’t have a printer. They were having the same problem with another woman. So some IT fuckup? I got my flu shot there two weeks ago and the consent form printed just fine.
It’s not just that. If you have insurance, it pays for the vaccine. It’s only paid for by the state of you don’t have insurance. So they are supposed to ask for your insurance info if you are insured.
Or sooner.
I’m pretty much back to normal tonight after 24 hours, which is quicker than with #2 for me. I used the slight run down/achy feeling as an excuse to take today completely off, get caught up on my rest, do some reading, spend too much time on the internet…
Got mine where I work. It’s not like my employer doesn’t already have all that info on me.
Walgreen’s, CVS, and so forth are acting sort of… predatory about the whole thing, wanting folks’ information and e-mail - no doubt so they can start blitzing them with advertising.
I just learned last week (when I went in for my flu shot) that as a teacher, I’m in the eligible category. We’re “may get it”, rather than “recommended to get it”, but from seeing both the level of mask compliance and the case numbers at my school, I think I probably ought to.
What I wonder, though: All of the recommendations and eligibility and so on are for people who’ve already had two doses of Pfizer. That includes me, but my mom and uncle, both of whom would be recommended to get it based on age, had the Moderna vaccine initially. I’d imagine that both of the mRNA vaccines have similar diminishing-effectiveness curves; is there any guidance for them?
Moderna is currently only approved for an additional dose for those who are immunosuppressed. Booster shot authorization is still pending.
The FDA is meeting later this week, Oct 14&15, to discuss boosters for Moderna and J&J. They will also discuss mixing& matching.
I’m not sure when the CDC will meet to discuss the FDA’s recommendations.
But we’ll know more at the end of this week.
The preliminary data indicated that Moderna wanes, but more slowly than Pfizer.
The data on J&J seems mixed. Many fewer people got it, and they got it later. (A lot of the mRNA studies have been of health professionals who were vaccinated very early in the pandemic, mostly before J&J was approved.) I’m seeing claims that it wanes more than Pfizer, and also claims that it holds up better.
Everyone agrees that people who got j&j and then get a booster have improved immunity, though. And it doesn’t get a ton of press, but the initial efficacy of J&J was a lot less than for the mRNA vaccines.
But… We’ll learn more soon.
Various reports have indicated that the Moderna vaccine has had a longer lasting protective effect than the Pfizer vaccine. This may be because of the difference in dosage: each dose of the Pfizer vaccine delivers 30 µg of mRNA, while each of Moderna’s contains 100 µg. Incidentally, this may also be why some people reported greater side effects with the Moderna vaccine.
So it looks like a booster for those who received the Moderna vaccine may not really be needed at this time (other than for immunocompromised people). It also looks like they may recommend a smaller dose for the Moderna booster when they do approve it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/22/health/covid-moderna-pfizer-vaccines.html
Sorry to be late to the party.
My wife (age 60), mother-in-law (85), and I (65) all got Moderna boosters back in August, 5 1/2 months after our last regular shots (Moderna for me and my wife, Pfizer for my MIL). We just went on the CVS website, gave our details (no lying) and were given appointments without any questions.
I had a sore arm for a day after one of the first two shots but no other side effects, but I felt fatigued for most of the day after the booster. My wife was the same. MIL had no side effects from any of the shots!
Just got my third dose (Pfizer, the original two were AZ). The UK is offering third doses to clinically vulnerable people who will then get a fourth, booster dose 6 months after. I wasn’t expecting to have it today but I was visiting Guy’s hospital for a clinic related to my blood disorder (hence my “vulnerability”) and my doc suggested I could go down to book the dose straight after.
I was directed to an ancient, but beautiful, room in some very old part of the original hospital building with plaques commemorating people back in the 18th century, framed portraits, crests decorated on the floor and the whole works. All filled with perspex-partitioned booths with telephone operators, hand gels etc etc. It was a scene the earlier users of this room could not have possibly envisioned. Within 10 minutes of walking into that room I had the jab in my arm. Good stuff.
If you got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as your first COVID-19 shot, a booster dose of either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine apparently could produce a stronger immune response than a second dose of J&J’s vaccine. That’s the finding of a highly anticipated study released Wednesday.
And if you started out with either Pfizer or Moderna, it probably doesn’t matter that much, the research suggests, as long as you get one of the two mRNA vaccines as a booster.
Six months to the day. Got the double-barrel - flu on one side, Pfizer in the other. A little unexpectedly the flu arm hurt more at first, but that mostly faded out and I now I have a solidly painful case of ‘Pfizer arm’. Plus light-headed and headache (weird combo, I think that might be a first time symptom mix for me), shoulder and neck aches, general tiredness and malaise. A moderate-level symptom smorgasboard. No fever, chills, coughs or congestion - yet, anyway.
Called in to work to be on the safe side, but apparently they’ve got a new 48 hour post-vaccine symptom isolation protocol. So regardless how I’m feeling tomorrow, I’m still out. Which I can live with 
.
Getting mine this afternoon. Got flu shot last week, so covered there. I forgot I’m on call today so really hoping any side effects don’t kick in until tomorrow morning.