Moderna Review
Vaccine card
April 27, 2021
When I found out Indiana was opening up vaccines to those 16 and above, I was through the moon. So, on March 30th when the clock struck midnight, I made sure I was on my phone so I could book an appointment to get my vaccine. Miraculously, I got one of the last available appointments through the Kroger pharmacy off of Fall Creek Road.
On April 10th, I got my first dose of the Moderna vaccine. I had some concerns going in, but nothing related to fear. We were opening “Anastasia” the same week I had scheduled my shot, and I was worried about any potential side effects. Several family members of mine had some pretty serious side effects, and I did not want anything to hinder my performance. I also have done a bit of research, and there were more reports of side effects and arm pain with Moderna than Pfizer. People with antibodies also react more to the vaccine, and I am quite positive that I still have antibodies from when my entire immediate family contracted COVID-19 in December 2020.
A few days before I got my first dose, my mom and my little brother got their first doses of Pfizer. With recent antibodies, they had little reaction to the vaccine, so I was relieved and feeling pretty good about getting my first dose. However, that relief did not last long.
I got my first dose on April 10th. I got my shot around 11:30 A.M. and got home around 12:15 P.M. I was feeling fine, and only had a little bit of pain and inflammation in my left arm. Around 12:45 p.m., I started to feel really fatigued and my arm started to hurt more. I laid down to take a quick nap and did not wake up until my boyfriend came to pick me up at 3:00 P.M.
I was pretty out of it while we were at the mall. I had a pretty bad headache and was feeling all of my early symptoms of COVID-19 all over again. When my boyfriend and I got back to my house, I was asleep within 45 minutes of him arriving. I did not wake up until a little over an hour later. By then I had slept just about 3 hours out of my day.
We went out to see some friends from 7:30-11:00 P.M., and I was feeling generally okay while we were out. Near the end of the get-together, I started feeling really sick, and we ended up leaving early. When I got home, it was nearing midnight and I went straight to bed to try and sleep off my nausea. I ended up suffering through major pain in my arm, a short-lived fever, and cold chills not even 4 blankets could cure. I felt just as I did when I first came down with COVID-19, and was tossing and turning for hours trying to fall asleep. When I woke up the next morning, I felt much better and most of my symptoms faded by the end of the day. All of the pain in my arm was gone the next day.
The vaccine has some pretty wonky side effects, and it made a lot of my friends a little weary about getting it. But it’s truly nothing to fear. It’s perfectly safe. I am currently two weeks into my first dose, and I feel completely fine. The side effects suck, but thankfully they only last a couple of days at most. If you are eligible to get vaccinated, I highly recommend it. Do your duty to stop the spread, to and keep yourself and others.
