The day I became one step closer to being protected against COVID-19

I’m not a fan of injections at the best of times, but today I would like to share my account of receiving the vaccine. 

I know that there are still quite a few people who are vaccine hesitant - questioning the speed of the vaccination and whether it is safe, but if you read my previous blog, you will know that all the scientists and researchers focused all their efforts on one platform, which is the vaccination against COVID-19. 

As the Centres of Disease Control (CDC) pointed out, in order to end the global pandemic and return our lives to something approaching normal, vaccination is important. Speaking to different people during this week, I know they are some people who till this day, still deny the existence of COVID-19. I can’t change their mind. I also know that the mainstream media tends to concentrate more on the deaths per day and the lockdown. Comparatively, there is less focus on why we need a vaccine and how it can help us. 

Here is my account of it. I am hoping it will help you.

It was Wednesday 6th January 2021. I woke up at my usual time for a Wednesday as I would be working at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington and needed to be there for a team meeting at 8.45am.

As I got up, I remembered that this was the day I was going to have my vaccine. There was already a text reminder from ‘NHS NoReply’. 

I looked out of the window and the weather looked miserable and chilly. All the cars on the road had a thick layer of ice. I knew I had to dress warmly but at the same time, I needed to wear something appropriate for my arm to be exposed for the vaccination without having to remove all my millions of layers! 

I could not say I was excited at the thought of receiving a jab. In my head I knew this was the way forward to overcome the pandemic and I had to do my bit!  So I had to buckle up and face my biggest fear! 

As a child, and from my previous blogs, my father had to coax me with a chocolate, and then only, I could just about manage a finger prick for a blood test. This did not improve, and even as a teenager, I remember when I first arrived in London, some 30 years ago, I had a severe bout of flu and did not feel confident about going to my GPs on my own. My sister had to basically drag me into the GP’s clinic. The doctor gave me the once over and sent me packing with some medication, but my poor sister ended up having the flu vaccine – I was absolutely cracking up and although she protested, he was not having it and vaccinated her. I don’t think the GP would be able to get away with it now!

As you can imagine, she was not best pleased and never chaperoned me again!

I am glad to say over the years, I have become more of a comfortable with injections and have faced my fears. 

I seem to be much better with a blood test (i.e. drawing out something from my body) but when it comes to vaccinations, my stomach has butterflies and I seem to have only one thought, that I can actually feel something entering my body.  When someone mentions side effects, I emphatically feel all of them.

I even took my own strip of paracetamols too – ready in anticipation for this vaccine.

I digress, so let’s go back to the day of my vaccine.

My vaccine was booked at 5:10pm but I felt I could not wait this long. Once I arrived at work, I enquired with our Sister in Charge who had already been vaccinated if I could turn up earlier than my time. She said no harm in trying but really we should attend at the actual time as the whole Trust would be participating in the programme and have allocated times.

I thought I would try around midday, once our clinic was underway and we were cracking on with patients list – I did not want to leave the clinic unattended as we were already short staffed. But I think someone up there was thinking about me and how I was dreading the moment! And to my amazement, we had an email sent around mid-morning that they actually had more vaccinators so you could attend any time. So off I went!

I arrived at the vaccination clinic in the building next door. I checked that I had all my identification details with me (my NHS number and my personal ID number) as requested previously. Initially, you are registered by the clerk outside. 

There was a small queue ahead of me but it appeared that they did not have all their details so I was escorted to the clerk inside. She asked me some personal questions. I was given my Blue COVID-19 vaccination record card. Once all the formalities were completed, there was a nurse just waiting to usher me into her room. I did note that they had more vaccinators than patients waiting to receive the vaccination! I was impressed by the pace. It was well organised. So far so good! My stomach was churning but all I said to myself, put one foot in front of another and follow the nice lady!

Once inside the clinical room, the nurse introduced herself.  She was very calm and extremely professional. I think she could tell by looking at my face that I was not keen for the vaccination. She put me at ease by asking me what I did and how I was feeling. We chatted for a few minutes before she went on to complete some other formalities. 

She informed me that I was going to have the Pfizer vaccine and explained the side effects (she also handed out a leaflet which I would read later on) and that I would need to wait in the observation area for 15 mins before returning back to my clinic. I was also offered a packet of paracetamols to take if I needed them. This made me giggle as I already had my strip of paracetamols too. I really did think that the vaccine knew how I would react so was ready for me.

During this time, she was trying to gauge whether I was worried about the actual process of injection or was it the COVID-19 vaccine itself. I informed her that I just did not do well with the actual injection process but I was very clear on the aim of this vaccine. It will train my immune system to fight COVID-19 virus by introducing a synthetic replica of the COVID-19 virus (like a mirror image of the virus) into my body in a diluted and weakened form. This will alert my immune system that we have a foreign body and the white blood cells will respond and aim to build immunity towards it. Thus will allow my body to be able to fight off the virus should I come across it again. This synthesised version will disperse from my body within 3-5 days.

I knew I wanted the vaccine in my left arm so that I could still have full use of my dominant arm. The injection was given intramuscular and was pretty painless process. As I said before I could feel the actual substance entering into my arm and the injection site bulging out. The area was mildly sore but nothing too much. I was all smiles as it had been a pretty good outcome or I had come out of it pretty unscathed. I sure the Queen would not have whimpered either! The nurse asked me to follow the directions into the observation area. This was a ‘L’ shaped corridor with chairs placed 2metres apart and you could see all those who had been vaccinated either on their phone or reading the side effects leaflet, hoping that the next 15 mins pass quickly. It was a little bit like a bus stop, people came and went but all in all, everybody looked like they were feeling ok. Some of them had smiles and others looked in some mild discomfort.

I managed to finish my day with great ease and headed home. The arm was getting heavier but I had been taking regularly paracetamols. However, once home, I felt a little light headed and tired. I put this down to the anticipation of the vaccine. I tend to feel overwhelmed. I did not think much. All my colleagues had reported that same thing. However, as night time came on, my left arm was very heavy. I could not lift it up very high. I had some joint pain. I had some fever and the tiredness became worse to the extent I could not sleep. 

The next day, I had to cancel my exercise class and managed to get to work but it seemed I was tired, light headed and did not really feel myself. I had a foggy brain. I managed to work and it seemed to help as I focussed on my patients rather than me. However I was happy to get home. By Friday, I was back to my normal self. All these reactions were minor and temporary and I recovered within 36 hours.

It appears that I experienced some side effects but it needs to be looked upon in a positive way. It means that your body is reacting to the viral reaction and it has the ability to fight it off. It is beneficial and provides you with assurance. So if you have a reaction, don’t worry. And remember it is temporary. Now I await my second dose.

I hope this helps some people. 

Good luck to all those awaiting vaccinations but do remember that the vaccine protects the individual but what we don’t know if you can still be a carrier and pass the virus on even though you might have been vaccinated. Hence, adhere to government guidelines of the three words that have been used throughout the last few months – Hands, Face, Space until stated otherwise.