More side effects for second doses of covid-19 vaccine

AN EDITOR SHARES HER OWN SECOND-DOSE SYMPTOMS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO GET ‘PUNCHED’ BY THE SECOND DOSE by Lorrie Lynch The second dose is worse than the first. That's what I'd been

reading about the second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. Yet, none of my friends or colleagues who'd had both rounds had found this to be true, so I was expecting my own second shot of

the Moderna vaccine to cause me no more trouble than the first — a sore arm and slight fatigue. My immune system had other ideas. The second dose delivered a punch that knocked me out. As a

resident of the District of Columbia, I was qualified for vaccination in mid-January when the district widened eligibility to people 65 and older. I had a smooth first appointment from

sign-up to post-injection and the second appointment, set for 12:30 p.m. on a chilly February day, was going just as well. The prick of the needle was so light I barely felt it. “That's

it?” I asked the pharmacist. "That's it,” she said. I rolled down my sleeve, waited 15 minutes, as instructed, for any potential adverse reaction, and drove home with a clear

plastic Band-Aid on my upper left arm. About 10 hours after the jab, I climbed into bed and trailed off to an easy sleep — until 3 a.m. when I awakened sweaty, shaky, with a headache, nausea

and an arm so sore I couldn't lift it. It was 14 hours after the injection and I had symptoms that sure felt like the flu, including a low-grade fever and that intense fatigue that

makes you feel as if you will never get out of bed again. I didn't — get out of bed that is — for 30 hours. It had been a long time since I'd been felled by illness, so this took

me off guard. But I am grateful that the vaccine showed me its strength. That's how I look at it now. I could have had no reaction, which is more common in folks my age because our

immune systems tend to be weaker the older we get. But dose No. 1 of the coronavirus vaccine had done its work to help my immune cells recognize enough of the virus's DNA that they were

ready to do battle when dose No. 2, with the same trace of COVID-19 code, entered their orbit. People ask if I now feel as if I have a golden shield or a plastic bubble around me because I

am fully vaccinated. I do not. I continue to wear masks and wash my hands frequently and stay out of public places as much as possible. I still am not seeing dear friends but for walks

outside, or going to work in an office or flying cross-country to see family. Science tells us that those who have been vaccinated could possibly remain potential transmitters of the

coronavirus, and I don't want to get anyone sick. The one protection I DO feel, however, is pretty key. I believe that if I should somehow get COVID, I'm likely to survive — and to

enjoy a future full of those good things we're all asked to put on hold just a little while longer. _Lorrie Lynch is an executive editor for AARP, covering health care, caregiving,

Movies for Grownups, travel and other topics. Previously she was senior editor and columnist for _USA Weekend_ magazine and a news editor for _USA Today_. She is the author of the journalism

textbook, _Exploring Journalism and the Media_, which is used in high schools around the country._