Thankful to have received both my jabs of Pfizer BioNTech in April, as soon as I was eligible!
I had no hesitation about getting the COVID-19 vaccination. I started working to schedule as soon as I was eligible. Took a few tries to get appointment, as there was a lot of demand at the time. Fortunately, Birmingham / Jefferson County offered a drive-thru clinic near the airport. When I got the call on a Friday evening around 5:30 that the pop-up drive-clinic would be available for appointments on a first-come, first-served basis starting Monday, I immediately went online and was able to schedule the drive-thru appointment for the following Monday at 2:00 p.m. I had no idea which vaccine I'd get, but I was open to any available. I had family members who'd had both Moderna and PfizerBioNTech and none of them had experienced any side effects of any note.
As it turned out, the drive-thru site was administering the PfizerBioNTech vaccine. I had no side effects from the first dose, other than (perhaps) a 5-minute headache. I had nothing on my schedule for the afternoon of jab, so I came home immediately and began transplanting tomatoes. It was a bit warm. A couple of hours after the jab (and after 2 hours of being in the hot sun), I kind of felt a mild headache but it went away about as soon as it came on. My arm never got sore.
Once I had the first jab, I cancelled the other appointment I'd scheduled at a county health department near my parents' home. That was the closest and earliest I could get at the time–before the drive-thru clinic became available.
I received my second dose of PfizerBioNTech 3 weeks after my first dose. No meaningful side effects with second dose either. My arm was a big sore on the afternoon of second dose. As with the first round, I had nothing planned for the afternoon of second jab. Spent the afternoon, again, transplanting garden plants. This time I got a bit more fatigued than first time, so I actually sat down and took a 10-minute break each hour as I worked through the afternoon in my garden. But nothing else.
I slept well both nights after the jabs and was well-rested and felt great the second day. My arm soreness after 2nd jab was mild and had dissipated by morning of second day.
Fun Fact from My Past: Back in Fall 2001, after 9/11 attack, I volunteered for a small pox revaccination program that had been launched to help generate antibodies in case of biowarfare. To participate in the program, volunteers must have received a small pox vaccination earlier in life and had no complications from the first round. I met that, and the other, criteria to be a participant in the program. I got the second smallpox vax and produced antibodies for many. months thereafter. Eventually, the program ended. I was told at the time that I was the last study participant at that study site who was still producing antibodies and it was not cost-effective to continue with just one person (or something to that effect).
