I was in and out of the United Center today in less than half an hour. Say what you will about the IL National Guard, but they ran a hardcore operation over there. The only place I think I’ve had my info checked more times was airport security in Istanbul! They didn’t make me wait 15 minutes after the shot, though, which was fine with me - I had dragged my husband with me for the sole purpose of being available if I had an adverse reaction. And that was the largest number of people I’ve been under one roof with in more than a year! And apparently my sister and brother-in-law managed to get in at Walgreens today, too, which is certainly a relief - my brother-in-law has just about every high-risk condition there is.
Let me tell you, I felt a weight lifting from my shoulders as we drove home. So far the only side effects are a slightly sore arm. We’ll see how it goes.
In the UK and 51. Booked my appointment on Wednesday and got the first jab yesterday.
Wonderfully well co-ordinated. When the national window opened up for my age cohort I got email, text and a letter within days inviting me in. Didn’t need them as it happens because my wife was watching the website like a hawk.
It’s great that the USA is doing pretty well at getting people vaccinated but by christ it sounds like a free-for-all. Over here there is no queue-jumping, I don’t even know how you could do it.
So my jab was at 4:25 yesterday at a mass-vaccination centre. Arrived at 4:20, details taken by 4:22, Sat in the pre-screening at 4:23, sat in the vaccination chair at 4:25 on the dot and out by 4:27. Sat in my car for 15 minutes as requested (to check for allergic reactions) and then straight home. I made sure I praised everyone I saw for their excellent organisation.
The jab was less painful than my yearly flu jab and no sore arm this morning, just some low-level cold and flu type symptoms (but I find that rather reassuring).
Follow-up appointment was booked automatically for 11 weeks time (the UK is spacing them out to get more 1st jabs into people).
I was given the AZ vaccine and that’s fine by me. The results of the USA trials this morning just go to show how effective it is. A 100% protection against hospitalisation and death is pretty damn great but to be honest I’d have been happy to get any of them (and probably will when booster time comes around later in the year)
Texas started immunizing people in the 50-64 age group last Monday. Just after eight o’clock that morning my SO’s doctor’s office called us - he got an appointment and had his first Moderna shot Thursday afternoon. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes from the time he arrived until he walked out.
I went online and put myself on five different waiting lists, and Wednesday afternoon had two email notifications of appointment openings. I chose the nearest one(it was UT Health in the Med center, so I still had to drive all the way into Houston) and received my first Pfizer shot yesterday(on a Sunday!) morning. A long wait was expected because this seemed like more of a ‘cattle-call’ appointment, but I was pleasantly surprised. The line I was in was never standing still - the folks gathering info and giving instructions were walking along the moving line so nothing slowed the progress.
Using Google just now to measure the length of the line I was in, there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 to 110 people ahead of me. I stepped to the back of the line at 9:55 for my 10:00-10:30 appointment window, and walked out at 10:23. Total time: 28 minutes including the 15-minute waiting period after the shot.
I’m in class 1a. My mom and I finished our first doses for Pifzer and will do next one in a week. I took my mom first she is in her 70s and said she didn’t even feel the injection. Shee did at lunchtime, and she said she felt aches and chills at bedtime. I did then mine in the evening and took Tylenol at bedtime. I only felt the sore injection site ache a day later. Nothing else happened.
Will report what our 2nd doses will be like. I ordered a day off next day, and I hope I only get sick that day because we are penalized HEAVILY if we call in sick on short notice. I didn’t want to sacrifice more PTO as it is early in the year.
A little muscle pain in my legs the next day, and the injection point was sore if I touched it (so I didn’t), but really nothing to speak of. I know everyone is different and I know my second shot might have a different effect, but frankly, I’d even put up with feeling miserable for a week or two if it meant I could safely interact with other vaccinated people in the near future.
My trip was a little over 70 miles each way, mostly interstate and then highway. 1.25 hours there and 1.5 back due to construction traffic. It was midday so it wasn’t typical Atlanta traffic. As with the side effects, I’d happily drive much further.
I was in the Guard, and I got to sandbag in a storm once. I also got to participate in toy drives at the winter holidays. That was the extent of my service to my country. Well, that and a 4th of July parade. And DH and I (he was in the reserve, and is an Iraq vet) did sign up for colorguard at vet funerals, because we got emails from the VFA calling for volunteers. Haven’t been asked yet, though. But we went to clothing & sales at the nearest post, and bought dress uniforms that fit us now. I can believe the one I was issued at basic ever really fit. Looks like it was made for a stripper with a very specific clientele.
I’m sure all the Guard and Air Guard called up for this are very happy to have this service on their records. I called the recruiter and said if there was anyway for discharged members to volunteer to guide traffic or something, I wanted to sign up, and now that I was fully vaccinated, I was a good candidate.
That may happen if you get vaccinated at a pharmacy or hospital but for the city-run sites (and there are about a dozen of them), you set up your own. I did get a reminder last week that my second dose was due. Making the appointment is very easy on a user friendly website. I’m in Memphis and it’s all running very smoothly since the city took over the process from the county last month. It had been a nightmare until then.
I just got my 2nd Pfizer last week. No hassles, no waiting (other than the 15mins post-injection monitoring), about a 20 min drive to a central location. The nat’l guardspeople were very patient and helpful. There was abnormal pain at injection sight, some fatigue that faded after an hour nap.
After my first shot, I had heard reports on the radio that people were being accepted as late walk-ins, but that was discontinued. The story could be apocryphal (radio call-in show).
Mine was a county-run site (in California). The whole process from making the first appointment to driving away with the 2nd appointment made was all pretty easy. Every site should be making 2nd appts. at the 1st appt. Seems like a good system.
It’s plausible since most sites have no-shows with leftover doses that need to go into arms ASAP. Better to allow late walk-ins than to toss the leftover doses.
NY just changed the rules to 50+ instead of 60+. So I signed up at my local pharmacy at lunch time today, and I have an appointment for the first Moderna shot tomorrow. Then the 2nd shot April 21st.
It’s right down the street from me (a 2 minute drive).
There were/are a ton of available spots at the pharmacies near me. I don’t know if people don’t realize they are available and figure they would be full, or what.
I just got my first Moderna shot at a Walgreens as they were closing. I apparently had COVID-19 some time last year according to an antibody study I participated in. I’ve read that people who already had it react much more strongly to the first shot in terms of side effects. Guess I’ll see how I feel tomorrow!
The shot was the least painful shot I’ve ever had. Literally didn’t even feel a slight “pinch.”
Got my second Pfizer today. Now I’m starting to really think about my first steps back to “normal” life. It’s going to be weird after a year of being alone.
To follow up after my first dose of Pfizer, no arm pain, but I have slept an average of 13 hours per day for the last four days. It’s an ass kicker for me.
My first Moderna shot was easy peasy painless and I walked out wondering if I actually had gotten a shot at all. That night, I took the bandaid off and my arm hurt.
Second Moderna shot was about tetanus level painful and I was just fine until I realized that I needed to go to bed. Where I stayed for the next couple of days.
