I received the Moderna vaccine on Jan 6th. I had some soreness at the site that evening, and was absolutely fine the next day.
A few months ago, I was skeptical and concerned about a vaccine coming out so quickly. I asked my oldest child, a biomedical engineer, what he thought. He’s all about the science and he answered all my questions.
1) The reason vaccines take so long to be approved is due to the FDA, funding, and bureaucratic hoops built into the system. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines did ALL the appropriate trials, for the necessary amount of time, with enough folks to obtain the required safety and efficacy (effectiveness) information. In the vaccine world, ‘long term’ side effects are limited to 2 months post vaccine.
2) The “new” technology used in the COVID vaccine is not experimental. It has been in development for years. This is just the first time it’s been on the market, for all the above reasons.
3) My brilliant child is super excited about the way the vaccine works. He hates needles, has never gotten a flu shot, and says he will get the COVID vaccine as soon as it’s available to him. He’s envious of those who have already received it. He had COVID in April and was sick as a dog for 10 days.
All the “info” out there about 5G tracking, infertility, and changing our DNA, is made-up nonsense, without ANY basis in fact or science.
But I do understand the fear and reluctance. I understand the total lack of trust. Especially for those of us who are Black and Brown. This country has a long ugly history of medical racism – Google Tuskegee syphilis trials, sterilization without consent, and Henrietta Lacks. Many of us have been taught “you go to the hospital to die”. We don’t trust medicine, we don’t take medicine, we’ve had the experience of our health concerns being dismissed and our illnesses ignored. That’s all very real.
However, at the end of the day, I got the vaccine for ONE reason. I don’t want to get COVID. I see children with COVID every day. I’ve heard too many first-hand stories about how bad it can be. Everyone is at risk of a poor outcome and I don’t want to be one of those who develops complications and ends up in the hospital. Because if that happens, I will be ALONE. I don’t want to grieve my life and not be able to say good-bye to my children and hold their hands. I don’t want to put my kids or my loved ones through that horror. I don’t want them to worry, be afraid, or be heartbroken and helpless. Because THAT is the fact of COVID.
There’s no way vaccine side effects can be worse than the reality of COVID-19.
– Michelle Patrick, M.S.N, C.P.N.P.
