My immune system is not as strong as the others because of my history of radiation for cancer treatment. I stay every day with my niece and nephew almost every day and without fail, I get sick every time one of them has a cold. So I was very relieved when I got the full inoculation after the first two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. But after innovation cases began to escalate this summer, my anxiety increased, even though fully vaccinated people rarely get sick enough to end up in the hospital or have severely adverse outcomes.
In my reports, I’ve talked to long-haul COVID carriers who have debilitating brain fog or extreme exhaustion. A few weeks ago, in a panic, I sent a text message to one of my best friends who was also chronically ill. Was she as worried about catching the Delta variant as I was? How could we include additional symptoms in our long lists? “I can’t stand more brain fog on top of the brain fog I have,” I said. “Yes,” he agreed. “I don’t really know if I can catch another episode of illness for something new.”
As of August 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that people who were “moderately to severely immunocompromised” receive a COVID-19 booster vaccine at least four weeks after receiving its second dose. The Biden administration has said it would recommend a third shot for the general population eight months after a second dose, but that guidance has yet to be approved by the FDA and officially recommended by the CDC, both in charge of reviewing data a bit. limited on the effectiveness of the vaccine over time.
Considering my health history and eligibility for a third shot, I took action and got an appointment for August 22nd. Getting an appointment for reinforcement was totally different than getting an appointment for the original shot. The first time, I spent hours painting the websites of different pharmacies to find an open appointment. For reinforcement, I casually chose a Sunday afternoon after examining my options for five minutes.
Still, I felt more anxious to get to my reinforcement than with the two original plans. It is difficult to identify the source of my anxiety: in part it was a shame that they needed a reinforcement shot in the first place (hello, capacityism); one part was that he only knew another person who had achieved reinforcement; and part of it was concern about how my body would react. This anxiety did not subside when I showed up for my booster and the pharmacist said I didn’t know what to tell me to expect as it was the first person I had given the booster.
After years of chronic illness, I don’t rub my needles, so the actual vaccination was easy. I waited at the pharmacy for the required 15 minutes to assess for possible side effects and then returned home. When I went to bed on Sunday night, I felt overly lethargic and a little sore. I slept perfectly. I would put on a sweatshirt because it was cold, and then I would undress her with all the blankets because I felt hot. I woke up in the morning as if I was experiencing the onset of a flu, symptoms that are paired for the course with COVID vaccines. My body was still sore, my head ached and the chills I had during the night persisted.
I worked a few hours and then fell head over heels in a three-hour nap. When I woke up, my symptoms were slightly worse. Luckily, my sister had made her famous homemade chicken noodle soup, which was the only one I ate that day and the next day. Monday night I went to bed early, and when I woke up on Tuesday I felt better. The pains and chills of the body had subsided. I was left with only a vaguely hangover feeling: I was tired and had a headache, but it could work. On Tuesday afternoon I felt almost normal. On Wednesday, except for the slight pain in which he had received the shot, he felt nothing.