My Experience Getting The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine

I received the first shot of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine on March 24 and the second shot on April 23 at the Chaparral Medical Group in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. After each shot I had to wait next door, in a room full of socially-distanced people who had just received their shot, to see how the shot affected me. Everyone had to wait at least 15 minutes before leaving.

I was lucky in the sense that I was able to get the vaccine sooner than the COVID-19 Phase C Rollout since my sister's boyfriend works at the Dr.'s office and they had extra vaccines. It is important to note that you do not need insurance to get the vaccine. I have insurance but I still put 'No Insurance' because I was too lazy to fill out my Insurance information while making the appointment.

After my first shot my arm was sore for the next 1-2 days. I made the mistake of not moving my arm around right away. At its worst, I couldn’t lift my arm up over my head. I could only lift it up about half way. It felt like I had lifted too much weight and worked out my arm/shoulder waaaay too much.

As recommended, after my second shot I made sure to move my arm around a lot. While I was waiting that 15 minutes, I did arm circles and moved my arm up and down. This really helped with my arm soreness because yes, my arm was (and still is) sore but I could move it much more freely than after the first shot. As for the flu-like symptoms, HA, that hit me like a ton of bricks.

I received the second shot at 1:15pm. Around 8pm-10pm I started to feel slight body aches but nothing too bad BUT right when I laid down for bed at around 11pm, that sh*t hit me and it hit me hard. I was FREEZING. I could not get warm. I had on two blankets, fuzzy socks, long pants, a shirt, and sweatshirt. The second half of the night I became HOT. I was sweating, I had to sleep with no blankets and I took my pants, sweatshirt, and fuzzy socks off. My stomach also hurt throughout the night.

Luckily, by morning I was a comfortable cold but I still had slight body aches and my stomach still hurt. By the afternoon, I started to feel warm again but by 3pm-6pm I started to feel better and my body temperature started to balance out. Between 5pm-8pm my head and stomach started to hurt but the body aches had subsided. By the time I went to bed around 10pm-12am, I was completely fine and back to normal.

As you can see, the flu-like symptoms lasted a full 24 hours.

Even though that second shot had me f*cked up, I still encourage everyone to get the COVID-19 Vaccine. One day of sickness is worth the chance of getting COVID, which could last at least 3-7 days with possible long-term side effects. Also, since it is expected for people to get sick after the second shot, you can make sure to plan ahead. I made sure to take my second shot on a Friday so I would have the weekend to recover without having to worry much about work.

I did take Tylenol Extra Strength every 4-6 hours up until around 1am-2am. Then I started taking Advil because the Tylenol was doing absolutely nothing for me. Yeah, I know, they say anything other than Tylenol (acetaminophen or ibuprofen) reduces the effectiveness of the vaccine but lord knows I took my chances with that one.

In addition to saving lives and decreasing the chance of you, your loved ones, and others of getting COVID, the vaccine also offers a calmer state of mind. For me, after the first shot I felt much more comfortable being around people and being out and about. I was more confident that I was not going to get COVID and I felt like it was one less thing I had to worry about.

After this second shot, I am actually back to feeling a bit more hesitant about going out and being around people but I think it’s because I got sick from it. I’m sure within the next week or so, I’ll get back to that relaxed mindset I was at after the first shot.

Side note: I hear the vaccine affects women more than men. I'm not sure if that’s scientifically proven but my dad did not get sick and my sister’s boyfriend did not get sick after the second shot. I wouldn't doubt that it does affect women more because of course it would affect women more than men. Of course it would!

Get the vaccine, y’all.

Cover Image via iStockPhoto/Inside Creative House