Seriously thoughtful The Covid Vaccination Poll

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Victoria

I’m a bit needle phobic

This one is not bad. There are a few types of shots that are sometimes minorly painful, but this vaccine is NOT one of them. Not the Moderna for me, not the Pfizer for my wife. I don't know anybody personally who has had the J&J, but I have not heard any negative reports on it.

If you are needle phobic, you may tend to tense your arm muscle. Don't. That can cause a bit of pain from any shot. Give them your limp noodle arm, totally relaxed. Not just the arm - go limp on your shoulder and neck muscles too. You want to be like that cooked spaghetti noodle - too whimpy to be picked out of the pot for a doneness taste test.

You'll do just fine.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by haertig

This one is not bad. There are a few types of shots that are sometimes minorly painful, but this vaccine is NOT one of them. Not the Moderna for me, not the Pfizer for my wife. I don't know anybody personally who has had the J&J, but I have not heard any negative reports on it.

If you are needle phobic, you may tend to tense your arm muscle. Don't. That can cause a bit of pain from any shot. Give them your limp noodle arm, totally relaxed. Not just the arm - go limp on your shoulder and neck muscles too. You want to be like that cooked spaghetti noodle - too whimpy to be picked out of the pot for a doneness taste test.

You'll do just fine.

Such great advice, thank you! I’ve never heard that before. The image of a limp noodle is perfect, easy to strive for

[haertig]

Being able to relax your muscles on demand is worthwhile for so many things. From getting a shot, to performing a piano recital, to long range target shooting. It actually takes practice to learn what it feels like. So when you're sitting at your computer or whatever, take a second to relax. When you think your arm is relaxed, then start thinking about your shoulder, then your neck, then your back. You often times find out "I'm not relaxed at all!" when you start concentrating on how your body feels. Once you know what it feels like to be relaxed (many people don't!), then you can work on achieving that feeling on demand. This is not easy for people like me, who are intrinsically "unrelaxed". But it is something that can be learned.

[janrey]

I am too late to answer but I had both shots since Feb 8th. As soon as I heard 65 and older after returning home from the New Year I booked it. Had to go to a major city, but well worth the early rising.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by issybird

Don’t look. You probably won’t even feel it. I think the common reaction is that people are so happy to be getting it that it overrides what would be only the mildest and over-before-you-know-it prick in any case.

My wife didn't look, she didn't feel it, and an hour an a half after getting the shot worried that she might not have been given the actual vaccine. It worried her for the rest of the day and into the night. The next morning she awoke with a sore arm and was quite pleased.

[mlewis78]

I did not feel the first shot go in (Moderna) and they did not put a band-aid on it. I felt it seven hours later when I had the pain in that area though. I felt the 2nd shot go in and the pain in the arm was many hours later.

I don't mind needles if they are quick - just a quick sting is what flu shots are for me (but I've had bruising from flu shots and the same arm pain for a few days).

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Victoria

Such great advice, thank you! I’ve never heard that before. The image of a limp noodle is perfect, easy to strive for

Yep - grab your wrist with your other hand, go noodle-arm, wiggle your toes, and maybe hum or t-t-t with your mouth. Any other sort of action and stimulus helps.

And if you're full-on fainting-needlephobic, PLEASE tell your vaccinator in advance. Depending on the setup, they should be able to lie you down for vaccination (and a period afterwards) or at least keep a closer eye on you.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

My wife didn't look, she didn't feel it, and an hour an a half after getting the shot worried that she might not have been given the actual vaccine. It worried her for the rest of the day and into the night. The next morning she awoke with a sore arm and was quite pleased.

Originally Posted by mlewis78

I did not feel the first shot go in (Moderna) and they did not put a band-aid on it. I felt it seven hours later when I had the pain in that area though. I felt the 2nd shot go in and the pain in the arm was many hours later.

These echo my own experience. 48 hours after my second shot, my arm had passed soreness into actual (not severe) pain, but it subsided thereafter. I was happy. The happiness of the vaccinated is palpable. The odd thing for me is that after a year, my knee jerk reaction to slightly dicey situations remains one of aversion and worry. I haven’t dialed it down yet. Obviously my behavior won’t alter in the immediate future.

Still trying to decide what my “celebration” of my new status will be. Like pooh, a haircut? I definitely need one; I look like a cross between a thatched roof and a Lhasa Apso. But that’s not something I enjoy. For one of my neighbors, it was hugging his son (an EMT, so also vaccinated) for the first time in a year. For another, it was buying a plane ticket to visit his 95-year old mother in Santa Monica this summer.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by issybird

Still trying to decide what my “celebration” of my new status will be ... For one of my neighbors, it was hugging his son (an EMT, so also vaccinated) for the first time in a year. For another, it was buying a plane ticket to visit his 95-year old mother in Santa Monica this summer.

My celebration is going to be a trip to Hawaii to visit my daughter. She moved there about a year and a half ago (just prior to covid), and I haven't been able to see her since.

[DiapDealer]

A haircut not done myself is right up there for me.

For those who may be wondering about the J&J vaccine; mine involved what I would call a mild reaction. The usual "pinch", a dull (but entirely tolerable) aching arm for a few days. Felt fine the day of, that evening, and the next morning. The next afternoon and evening, I felt like a very small truck had gently run over me. Fine by the second morning. To be perfectly honest: I was ecstatic that there was a palpable reaction to being vaccinated.

[poohbear_nc]

These echo my own experience. 48 hours after my second shot, my arm had passed soreness into actual (not severe) pain, but it subsided thereafter. I was happy. The happiness of the vaccinated is palpable. The odd thing for me is that after a year, my knee jerk reaction to slightly dicey situations remains one of aversion and worry. I haven’t dialed it down yet. Obviously my behavior won’t alter in the immediate future.

Same here. Right after I got the 2nd jab I was absolutely euphoric - I wasn't going to die a horrible death! I could go out of the house and back inside stores. But I was still afraid to do anything outside of my 'safe' routine that had kept me alive so far. I finally decided to get a haircut because my stylist was also vaccinated, and the salon had very good covid precautions - we were the only people inside during my appointment.

And I remembered the variants ... which the current vaccines are "supposed" to be effective against. And I truly don't anticipate any major changes in my routine yet.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Same here. Right after I got the 2nd jab I was absolutely euphoric - I wasn't going to die a horrible death! I could go out of the house and back inside stores. But I was still afraid to do anything outside of my 'safe' routine that had kept me alive so far. I finally decided to get a haircut because my stylist was also vaccinated, and the salon had very good covid precautions - we were the only people inside during my appointment.

And I remembered the variants ... which the current vaccines are "supposed" to be effective against. And I truly don't anticipate any major changes in my routine yet.

Yeah, even after I get vaccinated - whenever that may be - I will still avoid going anywhere there are likely to be large crowds or unmasked people. I don't know how long it's going to take for enough people to have either had Covid or been vaccinated for there to be herd immunity, but I'm sure it's not going to be very soon.

[haertig]

Herd immunity protects the unvaccinated. It doesn't protect the vaccinated part of the herd. Probably in about two months, everyone who wants the vaccine will have been offered it. So if they are still in the unvaccinated part of the herd, it is by choice. There are some people who cannot be vaccinated due to medical conditions - I'm not talking about them.

Once we hit the point where the unvaccinated part of the herd is that way by choice, I will no longer go out of my way to protect them. This is not fair to the people who cannot be vaccinated. But as sad as that is, it is still not a justification to force vaccinate people. Or make everyone wear masks forever. You just can't do that. It's somewhat like people with peanut allergies. We can certainly try to be sensitive to their needs, but banning peanuts outright is a step too far. You can't force people to be good and caring - it doesn't work. So there will still be some cases where an individual strongly wants to be vaccinated, cannot be, then gets covid, and dies. Very sad, but it cannot be 100% prevented.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by haertig

Herd immunity protects the unvaccinated. It doesn't protect the vaccinated part of the herd. [...]

Of course it does. That's (almost) the entire point of it. It protects people for whom the vaccine did not work (no vaccine is 100% across the whole population), people whose vaccine has worn off, people who couldn't get their hands on the particular vaccine effective against X new strain, people who are immunosuppressed, etc etc etc.

As well as people who were too young to be vaccinated, people whose doctor won't vaccinate them yet because they're pregnant (hopefully that won't be the case for long with new data out), people who genuinely could not afford a vaccine in countries where it is not fully and freely accessible, and so on.

The vaccines still aren't approved for children, but there are many kids who may be more susceptible to COVID - those with Down Syndrome, SMA, immune conditions etc. My strong hope is that they will eventually be vaccinated, but this isn't going to happen in your two months time scale.

You can't force people to be good and caring - it doesn't work

You can't force that, no. You can however foster and encourage a culture where it is expected, encouraged, and ok to be so. The enormous variation in different culture's reactions to COVID precautions shows that to be so. You can also do things like have paid sick leave (and a culture of staying home when ill) so people aren't forced to work when they are infectious. There are a lot of non-vaccination measure a society can take to reduce the spread of infectious disease.

Tangenting off that, we (and I assume your country also) are LONG overdue for a massive overhaul in building engineering and indoor air quality standards. Yes we're starting to vaccinate from this airborne virus, but what about the next one(s)?

Very sad, but it cannot be 100% prevented.

I'm getting a strong whiff of "maybe I'll kill a few pregnant people, disabled kids, or folks with cancer, *shrug*, whatever, can't be helped." Which I can't imagine you actually meant.

To your peanut analogy, I eat peanuts in my own home. But I don't go out in public with peanut butter smeared on my hands. Simple measures to reduce risk to others. To the same end, I've been strongly encouraging anyone who wears gloves to shop to choose non latex gloves.

In other news: I got an appointment for Monday, the very first day of 1b here. Fingers crossed it works for me; though that's a toss-up, and I'll still have to rely on the precautions that others take.

[cromag]

Got my first shot of the Moderna vaccine today. My shoulder is a bit sore -- more so than when I've had flu shots.

And today my youngest brother, who is not yet eligible for the vaccine in our state, was just diagnosed. He's now isolating at home.