[2021-04-20] COVID vaccine: first dose
Today, I received my first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine. I was excited. I had been looking forward to getting my first dose ever since I received a call from The Ottawa Hospital four days ago to book my appointment.
Every person I encountered in the process—from security guards to greeters to clerks to volunteers—was wonderful: polite, efficient and knowledgeable. They were part of a professionally organized process, the proverbial well-oiled machine.
Nurse Nancy, who administered my vaccine, was positive, calm and kind. She reminded me of the nurses who gave me chemotherapy. Perhaps, in both cases, their positivity stemmed from the knowledge that the needle they were sticking in me was giving me a drug that could save my life.
I'm happy that I am not as tired as I was when receiving chemotherapy. While my energy level has not yet returned to normal, it is better than when I was recovering from the most aggressive part of my cancer treatment. I'm told that the vaccine may cause me to experience fatigue, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain and fever over the next few days. But a couple of pyjama days is OK, especially as we are expecting 2-4 cm of snow overnight and into tomorrow.
I am scheduled to receive my second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine on May 18. As I explained in MRI and COVID-19 vaccine, I am eligible to receive my second dose according to the timelines specified in the product monograph because I'm a cancer patient. The shorter interval between doses seems to be needed to ensure the efficacy of the vaccine among people with cancer.
