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I should start off by saying I did get the vaccine several months ago and well before the news of the very small percentage of blood clotting in some patients.
I live in an ethnic neighborhood – mostly Black and Latino. While Pasadena’s Covid rates haven’t been spectacularly high, because we are in L.A. County, we were grouped along with everyone else. It sucked because what would be going on in Downtown L.A. or Santa Monica wouldn’t necessarily reflect Pasadena at all.
Still, like most people, when the thought of a vaccine was out, I thought about if I wanted to get it. Now, let me make it perfectly clear – I’m not anti-vaxx. In fact, I think those who are anti-vaxx are somewhat idiotic but that’s another post for another day.
While I don’t necessarily disbelieve it takes a long time to come up with a vaccine, I also don’t know what side effects, if any, there will be. Would it impact my fertility? Will I go blind or deaf? Would it cause any other health problems I wouldn’t necessarily have? Yeah, I totally sounded like an anti-vaxxer.
I decided to put my name on the list for a vaccine. Because I used to do food delivery, I was automatically qualified to get the vaccination earlier than most. And when I say earlier than most, it was literally a week after I signed up to get it.
The church up the street was offering vaccinations so I took advantage of it. I waited in my car and got my J&J shot. I had to fill out paperwork stating if I had allergies (I have one) and show my I.D. Then I got the shot. I had to wait a bit longer than most because of my potential allergic reaction (30 minutes while most people were free to go after 20) and that was it.
Now, the side effects did kick my ass. I was up peeing met of the night and I could never get quite comfortable. I was thirsty as all get out! I slept for several hours the following day and by the second day, it was like nothing ever happened.
Would I do it all over again? You betcha.
As much as I love quarantining (and by the rate things are going on in the real world right now, staying at home seems to be a reality more and more), I do want to get out and enjoy life. I will probably wear my mask longer because while our Covid infection rates are going down, Covid is still very much real. And also, people aren’t necessarily as clean as you think they should be.
This isn’t a ‘You Should Get the Vaccine As Well!’ post and it shouldn’t be interpreted as such. I did want to share my experience as a Black woman, who did get the vaccine. My husband also got his vaccine and so did our neighbors (though they got the Pfizer and Moderna ones).
I hope you make the best choice for you and your loved ones.
