Just had my first COVID shot

[Emrys]

My wife had hers a couple of weeks ago because she has (well-controlled) asthma. I'm in my early 60s, so it's evidently the turn of my age group round here (west of Scotland, near Glasgow). We've both been given the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine

In both cases, we received a phone call from a practice nurse a couple of days beforehand and fixed up a time slot. We were advised to check the practice's Facebook page before setting out in case there'd been a problem with the supply of the particular batch.

The village health centre car park was as full as I've ever seen it. Everything was well organized. I was booked in for 11.15 am and was out by 11.18. Like my recent flu vaccine, the shot itself was painless. They asked me to sit in my car for five minutes afterwards in case of any immediate reaction, and handed me a card explaining possible side-effects - soreness and redness around the injection site, a day or two's fever etc. My wife suffered no serious ill effects from her jag, just some residual soreness in her arm, so here's hoping.

I don't know how this experience compares to others elsewhere in the UK. I hope any of you, whether you have special need of the vaccine or not, have been able to access it with no delays or problems.

[Soph0571]

1. How cool

I got my text yesterday - first shot on Wednesday next week. I am younger than you but underlying health issues... in London

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Congratulations

[Emrys]

3. Well, our two-GP, two-nurse practice managed to vaccinate 340 people today!

That should make quite a dent in the national percentages if it's being mirrored elsewhere.

All our immediate neighbours seem to have had their first dose now. Hopefully the lower age groups - which include people in occupations that make their need greater than mine - will follow soon.

I did some moderately heavy work in the garden this afternoon, so I suspect the resulting aches will mask any side effects from the vaccine!

[LeftishBrit]

4. Just got mine today

At our GP's surgery (they were open Sunday morning specifically for this purpose). All very well-organized.

[Emrys]

5. My reactions to my shot so far, though these will vary from person to person:

On the evening after, I felt chilly and a bit wabbit, though I wasn't running a fever. That passed in a few hours after I put on an extra fleecy jacket, and I was fine the next morning.

The muscle where I got the injection is still a bit tender and sore on being pressed - comparable to lactic acid pain after over-exertion (I did do some moderately heavy garden work in the afternoon after my injection, but my other shoulder doesn't have the same problem).

Other than that, no issues to date.

[LeftishBrit]

6. I had slight fatigue and slept very late the following night/morning

Otherwise, no noticeable side effects

[Emrys]

7. Cool, I hope that continues.

My shoulder's nearly back to normal, and nothing else out of the ordinary's happened (tempting fate ...).

[Emrys]

8. Had my second shot today.

Again, my wife had hers a couple of weeks ago. That puts the gap between the first and second doses at around 12 weeks, which will hopefully produce the optimal response.

The village health centre was bustling again, and I was in and out in 5 minutes. The nurse asked about any adverse reactions to the previous shot, and I told her about my short-lived mild chill and lassitude. She said most people seem to have less severe reactions to the second dose. She said a symptom of more concern would be a headache that doesn't resolve within 3 or 4 days, in which case to contact the health centre. So far, so good.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. 11 weeks, in fact. My 2nd is on Tuesday, which will be exactly 10 weeks

The numbers show they're gradually getting the gap shorter - average 73 days, now. I think the decision to not use AstraZeneca for under 40s has meant they feel they can give more of those now as a 2nd shot, and with the new variant, getting more people to the full dose faster makes a lot of sense.

[Emrys]

10. Right, 11 weeks. I must have run out of fingers!

Most people we know around here have now had at least their first shot. It's taken a while to get down to the healthy 40s age range, though - our neighbour who I think is in that group only got his first shot a couple of weeks ago. I don't know which vaccine they gave him.

[LeftishBrit]

11. Had mine on May 26th

Again no side effects beyond slight fatigue

[Emrys]

12. Just had my booster, a few days under six months after my last shot.

Pfizer this time, having previously had the AstraZeneca.

This time, the Health Board has decided to organize matters, rather than the local surgeries, which has caused some ill feeling among medics. There was no phone call to set up a slot, and it was a drop -in service at our village hall rather than by appointment at our medical centre. Nevertheless, I was in and out of there in about quarter of an hour, despite it being a brisk time of day (car park was full).

My wife had her booster at the beginning of the month. She'd had no major reaction to the AstraZeneca (unlike me, who had a chill reaction to the first dose, nothing noticeable after the second), but had a fairly severe one to the Pfizer booster - short-lived (mercifully) flu-like symptoms and feeling off her food, and quite a bad sore arm for a few days.

No one knows how I'm likely to react, but it's a relief to get the booster anyway, as it looks like this pandemic isn't going to be over any time soon.

[Emrys]

14. FWIW, as everybody seems to react differently,

my only noticeable reaction has been soreness in the shoulder muscle where I got the jag, which may last for a while longer given my wife's experience.

I was a bit slow the next day, but that could be down to any number of things (including the time of year).

[LeftishBrit]

13. Having my booster on Dec 9th

[Emrys]

15. Just had a further booster this morning

plus the flu vaccine. The COVID shot was the Pfizer/BioNTech version.

So far, the COVID injection site's a little sore, but no other side effects. My partner was knocked out by the booster or flu jag for a day or so when she had them a couple of weeks ago, but she'd also had a bout of COVID (which I miraculously escaped, possibly thanks to stringently following the recommended precautions plus a good deal of luck) about six weeks earlier, followed a few weeks later by some sort of non-COVID (according to the LFT tests) virus that floored both of us for about a week. My partner said it made her feel worse than the COVID.

I wasn't very impressed with the organization this time. The local papers advertised the clinic in our local village hall, but the Scottish government site's questionnaire said my demographic wouldn't be eligible till 24 October. There was confusion about how to figure out getting vaccinated. For past vaccinations, our GP surgery has phoned us to book us in. This time, thanks to information we only found because my partner has a Facebook account, it ended up that I had to email the national administrators, but in the end they replied with an appointment impressively quickly.

When I turned up at the village hall, there was a masked guy outside checking whether people had an appointment, as they couldn't cater for walk-ins. I then queued inside the door, where an unmasked woman took my details, then told me to go into the main hall. It's quite large, but inside there were three rows of about ten seats each spaced quite closely together where we were expected to sit and wait our turn. I'd say only about half of the 15-20 of us waiting were masked, and of the other officials who were buzzing around, only a few were masked. It's the closest I've sat to a bunch of strangers for any length of time in over two years, which made me uncomfortable.

The nurse who administered the shots was great, and I was out of there within about 20 minutes of arriving.

I'm glad to have the shots, but I'd rather not have had to risk a COVID spreader event to get them!

[Emrys]

16. I had my COVID Omicron booster yesterday,

along with a flu jab.

The COVID booster was the Comirnaty mRNA version.

There had been some problems locally a week or so ago with people being booked in for vaccination but the COVID shot not being available yet. Everything went smoothly with my own vaccine, from booking an appointment by phone after receiving an email to the day itself, when I was out of the hall in about 20 minutes.

I've had soreness at both vaccination sites on my arms overnight and this morning (COVID in my right arm, flu in my left one), but that's passing now. I may have felt a bit shivery late last night, but much less so than I experienced after one of my previous shots.

[LeftishBrit]

17. Had my booster too

Some health issues that give me some priority; AND a very efficient GP practice. Many practices are much less efficient.

[Emrys]

18. Had my latest COVID and flu boosters today

It was all fairly slick. An email about six weeks ago giving me an appointment on 30 November, then another a few days ago moving it forward to 30 October. I guess they're hostage to when supplies of vaccine come through.

There wasn't a long queue at our village hall, and I was in and out well within five minutes, then had a gentle wander outside for ten minutes or so as advised before I drove home.

I had the flu booster in my left arm and the COVID one in my right. The flu injection site was a bit sore an hour or so after the shot, but the COVID one didn't start stiffening up and aching until pretty late in the evening. The nurse advised paracetamol (can't take ibuprofen as I'm allergic to it) and ensuring I stay well hydrated. No idea what brand the COVID shot was.

[Emrys]

19. OK, I woke up pretty sore in a variety of unlikely places this morning

That could partly be down to the jabs and partly the heavy digging session I put in the day before them. My wife's sore at the injection points, but OK elsewhere.

It's eased off now I've been moving around a bit and taken a couple of paracetamol. Everyone's different, but I'd just say if you have some moderately strenuous activity planned, maybe don't assume you'll be OK to do it for a day or two after the boosters.