Getting the COVID vaccine

Sheridan Media reporter Pat Blair has decided to share the story of an event in her life this week. Here it is.

I guess my story starts with a call to the hospital a few days ago, telling the front desk people that I wanted to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

No problem – I’m in the over-70 crowd. They put me through to the vaccination clinic the hospital has set up, a time was scheduled and, at the designated time on Wednesday morning, I walked in the door of the Sheridan Memorial’s outpatient clinic, was screened and sent up to the second floor.

They did tell me to wear a short-sleeved top, which I did. Speeds the vaccination process.

The vaccination clinic is in a large room – signs point the way – and I was one of over 20 or so people there at the time. There are two desks set up where people register, they give you a card on which the current vaccination is recorded and the date for your second vaccination is written down. The vaccination is a two-shot process, a second shot scheduled three weeks after the first.

The shot is quick, then we were asked to stay for 15 minutes, a timer is set by each chair, and during that time, hospital staff stopped by several times to ask if I was all right. Everything was great. I was given a couple of pages answering my questions and concerns, and though some people have apparently reported side effects, I’ve had none so far.

Oh, by the way, the vaccine they used for my shot was Pfizer, and according to the information provided, the vaccine can’t give you COVID because the vaccine doesn’t contain the COVID virus.

Needle-phobe that I am, I can’t say the vaccine was totally painless, but it wasn’t bad. Now I’m just waiting to get the final shot in three weeks.