My Vaccination Experience!

On March 18th, I headed to the Reggie Lewis Center down in Roxbury to get my first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. I almost couldn’t sleep the night before because I was super excited to finally begin the process of getting vaccinated. The site itself is about a 10 minute walk from IV so it was extremely convenient. Everything was labeled clearly and the staff was kind and helpful! You walk into the site, show them your confirmation email, sanitize your hands and put on a blue disposable mask on top of the one you’re already wearing. Then, you get in line. There were over 30 individual vaccination stations so the wait was not long at all. The first nurse I had was super kind and she was young too! She made me excited to continue in my nursing career so I can soon be in her place (hopefully there won’t be another pandemic though).  

The shot itself was quick and painless – and of course I recorded myself getting it. The nurse said she gets that request very often. Once the hard part was done, I had to go to the 30-minute observation area to sit and wait. I was placed in the longer observation area because of my severe egg allergy but most people are told to wait in the 15-minute area. It was nice to have this time to myself though. I loved sitting and watching everyone else get vaccinated because it gave me some hope that our lives could go back to being our old normal.  

Besides a sore arm for the first two days, I was completely fine. It felt like I had just gotten my flu shot. I went back for my second dose three weeks later (April 8th). This time, there was little to no line! The second nurse I had had the prettiest color of scrubs and we bonded over how funny it was that my last name was only two letters. The process was painless again and I went back to the 30-minute observation area. My mom had done a deep dive on YouTube and warned me that a lot of people feel worse symptoms for the second dose so I was in the mindset that I was going to feel pretty awful later that day. But, besides a mild headache in the afternoon (I was probably dehydrated or something), and a sore arm like last time, I’ve been fine. Symptoms are supposed to kick in about 12-24 hours after the shot and so far it’s been nearly 23 hours. I’m hoping this will continue!  

This was my vaccination experience and I hope everyone will have one of their own too!