63 Comments on “Second Shot Down”

1. Good luck! I had no reaction to shot one but number two flattened me.

2. It was a good 18 hours before I had my (mild) side effects from my second Moderna shot. I’m pretty sure I had a fever. Definitely had chills.

3. We had a big pod today and they couldn’t fill it. Oklahoma has plenty available but I’m afraid that the extreme evangelicals aren’t going to get vaccinated. I’m fully vaccinated now. I got my second on March 15th. I did get side effects with the second one. It took about 18 hours but it pretty much knocked me out for about 8 hours after that.

4. My husband got his 2nd shot today. I get my first shot tomorrow. All my siblings and parents now have at least 1 shot. My adult children qualify in 2 weeks. I can not WAIT to have the family done. This is one of those things you don’t realize how much you’ve been worrying about until you don’t have to anymore.

5. Would love to get a vaccine except our rollout has been terrible and it’s impossible to get an appointment. But our governor has time to get the all star game. It’s bad enough that we have people constantly harping that we should get a vaccine when it’s not possible. I guess you’ll be on the bandwagon next for vaccine passports. Time to stop moralizing and politicizing every issue maybe.

6. My second (Pfizer) shot is coming Thursday afternoon. With luck, any effect won’t hit me until after my work day is done (I’ve been working remotely for the last 13 months).

   Sure am looking forward to getting together with the family again (my mother, and all of my sisters and their partners, will have had all their shots by mid-day tomorrow). It’s been a very long 13 months…

7. Congratulations!

   Got fully vaccinated a week ago. Final shot made me hurt for a couple of days, but everyone seems to react differently and maybe that’s just our bodies producing antibodies, which is a good thing.

   My wife cannot get vaccinated due to severe allergic reactions. All this talk about mandatory makes me nervous for her, because that just doesn’t feel right. But we do understand being able to travel might just have to come off the list until this settles down substantially.

   Anyway, stay well!

8. 12 more days to my second one and today my kids’ high school was shut down- uncontrolled transmission ) -and not in school because masks are mandatory) – it is a few weeks after school break and the narcissists had to go to Florida, come home, and take off their masks in groups. My elementary kids were already quarantined. I’m pretty secure none of us have it- we double mask- but the sheer effrontery of people calling to open schools and the mass mingling and infecting makes me crazy angry. So mischievous fir SATs and PSATs again.

9. I had my second one as well. I worked in a retirement community, and the nurses were on our cases about getting the flu shot. I have been overly aware of being asymptomatic and giving it to someone vulnerable. Yes, it is good for me, better for others, and the best for us all.

10. Congrats on the second dose!

    My (Pfizer) side effects occurred around dose2+17h, and lasted about 90 minutes.

    As best I understand it: Any side effect means you are one of the 19/20 people where the vaccine works (since your immune system mounted a response to the spike protein your body just created)…. so: celebrate the (temporary) side effect!

    As to the anti-vaxxers: I have been gently chatting with a few of them, as I happen to encounter them… trying to convince them to dose it up. One of them told me that they would not get the dose since their life insurance does not cover them if they die from an experimental treatment.

    I am not making that one up.

    I am creative, but I am not that creative….

11. 2nd shot last Saturday and no reaction to speak of; I didn’t really expect one. My dad had no problems and my first shot was no problem.
    For all the dick-heads who are arguing against the shot, I refer them to my dad who got to have a visit with all 8 of my sister’s grandchildren (his great-grand children) at one time for the first time in a year.
    You morons are delaying that for people.

12. I was sore from head to toe the morning after my second shot, particularly knees, hips and elbows. Then by noon, nothing. My wife had Covid Arm and was a little itchy, but nothing else. Our adult kids have now had their first shots. Things are moving right along.

13. I had my second Moderna 4 days ago; barely noticeable injection site tenderness (can’t call it “soreness”).

    My daughter is now eligible here in Michigan but all appointments are difficult to come by except in the militia parts of the state. However, we can drive 41 miles to Sylvania, OH to get her a shot and will do so Saturday. Closer, and less crazy.

    Anecdotally, a lot of people here in Ann Arbor are getting shots in Ohio.

14. Congrats on shot #2!

    Got mine on Thursday, and my husband got his first yesterday (I’m an essential worker, so I qualified earlier), and I’m so relieved we’ve both at least got partway there.

    The sorest arm I’ve ever had after a shot (and I was a Peace Corps Volunteer, so I’ve had a lot of them), and a bit of fatigue and joint pain, but nothing too serious. Definitely better than COVID!

    Now I’m hoping they can get the shots for kids approved…

15. I was worried about NOT getting symptoms myself. Might that mean the vaccine is less effective for me?

16. Congrats! I’ll have either my first shot on Friday or my one and done. Depends on which vaccine my provider will have on hand on that day. I have not seen my parents or anyone else in my extended family for 16 months. I may have had covid in April-May last year but since I’ve heard people can get it again and even die the second time around, I am not hesitating for a minute. I was sick for eight weeks last spring, no thanks on doing that again. Don’t know for sure, of course, because there was a lack of testing available back then. Hard to believe we’ve been living semi-isolated for about 14 months now. As long as I can hang in there until my shot!

17. I’ll get my second shot as soon as they’ll give it to me!

    I called today to ask if I could schedule my second shot (it’s been two weeks plus a day since I got the last one), and the person on the other end said, “Oh, no, you had the Pfizer shot – that’s three weeks between injections! Call back next week….”

    I just want a clean bill of health so our friends (all of whom have had both shots already!) can come over for dinner and a movie again.

18. I got the J&J on Friday at 10:15 AM. At 9:45 PM, while I’m playing in our weekly game via Zoom, it’s:
    Me: “It’s a little cold in here.”
    Spouse: “No, it isn’t. It’s warm.”
    Me: “Then I have a fever.”
    Two minutes later, when I tried to continue writing up the notes for the log of the game, I couldn’t. I couldn’t compose a sentence; I didn’t know what we were talking about. As “brain fog” goes, this was a London pea-souper. I was frantic. Five minutes later, I went back to taking notes.

    I can live with that.

19. Good job getting your second shot. The data seems to show that even one shot gives you quite a bit of protection after just two weeks, so while you’re two weeks away from the very best protection, you’re not at zero — it’s not something that turns on like flipping a switch. (Probably you know that, in which case sorry for saying things you already know.)

20. J&J made me overly sleepy for ~3 days, but I do enjoy sleeping so I went with the flow of naps. It’s also possible my subconscious used it as a placebo to sleep. The good news is I’m done being vaccinated for awhile.

21. I got my second shot Monday morning and had chills and fever last night for several hours (and a miserable night not sleeping) and then a second bout for a couple of hours this evening, as well as a headache and shoulder ache.

    On the other hand, I am now immune to a deadly disease that has killed half a million Americans and countless others and almost definitely will not transmit the virus to anyone else.

    Though I’d certainly be fine not to have these side effects, this is a trade I’ll take all day.

22. First shot of Moderna today. Mild side effects, minor headache, occasional brain fog so far. Husband had more significant side effects but he’s almost 70.

    My small rural county was administering 300 doses today. We were already at 25%, last I heard, on par with Portland. Yay. Very smooth operation, in and out in a timely manner.

    Weirdly enough, I’m noticing that I’m actually feeling better in some respects than I have been. Which makes me cast a hard side-eye at a nasty flu-not-a-flu I had a year ago, before testing was really even possible.

    And I seriously roll my eyes at vaccine passport complaints for several reasons.

    1.) Mandatory documentation of immunity/vaccination for measles when you enroll in a public college in my state, especially if your birth date falls in a certain bracket of years. No verification, no enrollment.

    2.) Mandatory documentation of vaccines or vaccine exemption in public schools.

    3.) Know too many people who have traveled places where carrying vax records is mandatory (um, like yellow fever type of concerns).

    4.) I’m a horsewoman. Anyone who works with horses knows about the need for documenting vax when crossing state lines (or attending shows in some states). And then there’s the requirement for Coggins tests for Equine Infectious Anemia (which is truly nasty and does not have a cure OR a vax).

    So vaccine passports? Meh.

23. My wife and I have had shot number one, and are scheduled for shot number two in a couple of weeks.

    My mother got her second shot about six weeks ago, and that has made a huge difference to her. For somebody her age she is in excellent health, but she is in a high risk age group so I was delighted when she got vaccinated.

    I don’t usually mention my scientific publications in social contexts, but just in case anybody who is vaccine hesitant happens to read these words, below is evidence that I have been publishing Infectious Disease Research papers in peer-reviewed journals for many years.

    I have stood in line with fellow Infectious Disease Researchers for Flu Shots many times. Those of us who know the science trust vaccines in our own bodies and the bodies of those we love.

    https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6439-5038?lang=en

    As for the fear that vaccines might accelerate viral evolution:

    I’ve done LOTS of work on Direct-Acting Antimicrobial & Antiviral drugs (including helping put five drugs on the market), for which the evolution of resistance is a huge issue. Many people mistakenly think vaccines pose a similar risk, which they do NOT. Direct-acting drugs impose a NEW selection pressure on bugs that natural immunity does not. Vaccines evoke the SAME immune mechanism as does natural infection. For SOME diseases, natural infection creates stronger immunity; COVID vax make stronger immunity than the virus does. Vaccines are MORE effective against the new viral variants than is having had the disease, so they should SLOW DOWN evolution of resistance. We need to vaccinate the entire planet ASAP. AND, even if we do need to make updated booster vaccines to cover new variants, strain-chasing with vaccines is MUCH easier than making new Antibiotics and Antiviral drugs. We routinely make new Influenza shots every year. We can do that with COVID-19 even faster using the new mRNA platforms. With or without vaccines, the most likely future for COVID-19 is another type of common cold virus; the difference is vaccines will get us there with far fewer deaths.

24. Congratulations! I’ll be interested to see how you feel tomorrow. I felt pretty much the same the day of my 2nd shot: no real side effects and no pain at the injection site or anything.

    I did have some soreness due to swelling of the lymph nodes in that armpit the following day, though.

    So, please let us know how it goes for you! :)

25. Congratulations! I have been fully vaccinated since January ( healthcare worker). I had more of a reaction to the first dose than to the 2nd dose. I had a fever, aches and the worst damn headache of my life. The 2nd dose was a breeze compared to that. The nurses at work said I probably had more of a reaction the first dose because I had Covid at the end of Oct, begging of Nov. It was a no brainer for me getting it because I had Covid and never want to go through that again and am still having lingering problems.
    I don’t know what to say to antivaxers anymore. I am afraid that nothing anybody says is going to change their minds. I keep thinking that thankfully this wasn’t some new Ebola like disease with a 90% fatality rate because we would have been fucked.

26. I always feel a bit like I am bragging about my AKC Royal Championship blueblood registered 5th generation purebred when I tell people I have had both my shots, but goshdarnit, I don’t give a … I was so relieved when I qualified to make my first appointment, I cried!

27. Congratulations on joining the fully-vaxxed!

    My spouse got his second shot of Pfizer this past Saturday, and reported a sore arm + feeling more tired than usual on Sunday and Monday, but no other side-effects. My first shot of Pfizer last week Thursday gave me a sore arm and a serious case of the sleepies on Friday; it’ll be interesting to see what effect the second one (scheduled for April 22) has afterward.

    For what it’s worth, those of us who are “of a certain age,” as the saying goes, are less likely to have a strong reaction than those who are in their 20s or 30s. The body’s immune system is more robust in a younger person than in a codger, so vaccines are likelier to spark a reaction in a younger person. That’s why the flu shot you get starting at age 65 is a higher dosage than younger folks get; it takes more vaccine to generate the same response.

    But you know, I wouldn’t care if the reaction to this shot was a three-day fever and a splitting headache and the runs simultaneously – all of that together is better than dying. I’ll take the vaccine any day.

28. Two more weeks before full efficacy. And most people have their reaction to the second shot the next day.

    And while a lot of other people have said it, 1) the side effects (except very rarely) are worlds better than even a minor reaction with C19 and 2) it’s light years from having to be sedated, having a tube shoved down your throat and then being pronated by the nursing staff.

    Get the goddamn shot.

29. Congratulations!!! We are both fully vaccinated and completely marinated! John got Moderna, I got Pfizer. Sore arms and the need for long naps the day after were our only side effects. Our daughter and her husband tested positive last week, they live in another state and aren’t eligible yet for their shots. We haven’t seen them since early September. It’s so unfair because they’d been so careful. I wish I lived in the same state so I could drop off soup and cookies. It boggles my mind that people aren’t taking this seriously and think the vaccine is a hoax, or placebo or a governmental conspiracy.

30. I got my second dose of moderna on Sunday. Yes, on Easter. Didn’t realize when I made the appointment a month ago, not that it would have made much difference.
    My parents finished theirs a few weeks ago, my sister got her first Pfizer a few days after my first, so she beat me to getting the second. That only leaves my 12 year old niece still to get vaccinated, hopefully they get approved soon. She’s been in school at half capacity 2 days a week, for a few weeks, and now they plan to go to full capacity full time next week. I really think they are pushing too hard when they are on the verge of being able to vaccinate the kids. Just a few weeks of holding at the same restrictions would probably drop spread enough to make a big difference, but every drop in spread is followed by a drop in restrictions.

31. I can’t be vaccinated, so I’m begging for everyone who can to do so. Maybe they will come up with a vaccine that won’t kill me, but until then, I am still housebound, locked down, and vulnerable. It’s lovely being .001% of the population. Truly. 😣

32. eridani: I had no side effects after my Pfizer shots and so did lots of people I know. I had the same concern you did about the vaccine being less effective, and did some research and found that no side effects doesn’t mean the vaccine is less effective.

    From an article I found on the Cleveland Clinic website:

    “Some say these side effects are good because they prove that your immune system is working. But if you don’t experience any symptoms, does that mean the vaccine, or your immune system, isn’t working?

    A: Everyone’s hearing about side effects with the COVID-19 vaccines, especially the second dose of Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccines. So, people are worried.

    But when you actually look at the statistics from the trials, most people didn’t have side effects. A little over 50% didn’t experience any side effects at all and remember, they were still 94% protected after receiving the vaccine. So, you don’t need to worry if you don’t have any symptoms after your COVID-19 vaccinations.”

    (The URL to the article was incredibly long so I didn’t copy it. But if you google, you can find quite a few articles saying the same thing.)

33. Thanks! that’s a real relief to hear.

34. Heck, I’m adding the “Free Krispy Kreme Donut” for the rest of 2021 to my reasons I give folks to get the damned shot.

    Think about it 270 free donuts! (as of April 6th)

    JohnO

35. Second shot scheduled for next Tuesday.

    Getting tired of the lame rationalizations for not getting the shots. Just do it.

36. Bravo!

37. From what I understand, it is best to refer the vaccine-hesitant to their doctors to address their concerns. Which, we’re not MDs, so, sure.

    With my students, what has been helping is everyone else doing it and saying what to expect and making it easy for them to sign up. A lot of them are not hesitant so much as meaning to get around to it. I don’t have any covid-deniers this semester like I did last semester, so I don’t know what is going on with that group.

    I am concerned about next year– currently the university is saying we will be back at 100% capacity, all in person, no social distancing, no masking… BUT they won’t be requiring the vaccine for students until it has regular approval and not experimental. Which is mildly terrifying.

38. Didn’t read all the comments so don’t know if it was mentioned . . .

    NPR poll mentioned this morning showed that one in three Americans say they won’t get vaccinated. And it’s not just evangelicals, but that’s across the spectrum.

    Strange how some folks (don’t) think but that’s how it is.

    Reminds me to check with my wife as to how she’s feeling. She got her second yesterday.

39. Got first Pfizer last Saturday, with only minor side effects (and less than I get from my annual flu shot). I am checking on taking the day off work when I get second Pfizer as a precaution, though. Most of my family got Pfizer and reported exhaustion after the second shot.

40. Got my first Pfizer a week ago Friday, should be able to get the second one next week or the week after. Two weeks after that I’m getting a haircut as I’m starting to look like a old hippy, plus the hair keeps falling if front of my eyes blocking my vision and, also, long hair in Virginia’s humid summers is nasty.

    Then a pepperoni pizza with the cracker crust at Rocco’s.

41. I can’t wait for April 20th to come so I can get my second shot. If it goes like the first one I’ll be happy to deal with a couple of days of being tired.

    Re: Idiots.
    I just don’t get it. Get the vaccine! Protect the people you care about and the ones you don’t know. Science works. Your intuitions, thoughts, feelings, etc… Not so much in this case.

42. Congrats, John, on your second shot, and thank you for doing your part to keep other Americans safe and on the path to normalcy.

    Covidiots gonna covidiot; nothing anyone can do about that, but they’ll hopefully hit the “can’t participate in activities x, y or Z until proof of vaccination” wall and crack their heads on it.

43. Had my first Pfizer shot on Good Friday. However… here in Canada, they’ve decided to try & build up herd immunity by getting as many people as possible to have their first shot (while waiting for more doses to arrive), so I will have to wait 16 weeks (112 days, officially!!) for the second shot. Not happy!

44. Congratulations. I got my 2nd Pfizer on April 5, with only a mildly sore arm to report. I worked it, by doing a bit of digging in the garden, and my usual weights routine. No sleepiness, but my 20-something niece also Pfizer was very sleepy. The second day I felt better than I had the day before. Two siblings were knocked out by Moderna #2. Everyone’s different. I think telling yourself, if you have bad symptoms, that it proves it’s working, is good self-talk.

45. No worries, the first shot is 80% effective, and you won’t get seriously ill if you are in the 20%.

46. @Paul S:
    “I guess you’ll be on the bandwagon next for vaccine passports.”

    Don’t know about John, but I certainly am.

    If folks won’t do the right thing when it comes to public health, they’ll get treated like the kicking, screaming, pout-lipped toddlers they are.

    It’s a shame that grown ass adults have to be forced todemonstrate self-preservation skills and that these same “adults” refuse to protect that which they accuse their political opponents of discarding; the “pro-life” advocates look especially clownshoe condemning innocent people to death in the name of freedom and bodily autonomy.

    Part of why the US performed so terribly when it comes to Covid was anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers and anti social distancing “murican” freedom fighters infecting people as part of a political statement.

    Now their partisan incuriosity regarding vaccination threatens to put us behind in the race against mutations (look up how those develop) and keep us battling something that most other developed countries have managed to deal with effectively.

    Sick to death of the willfully ignorant, terrified, status anxious, uninformed and freedom obsessed factions endangering lives in the name of politics and the ownership of their political opponents who, by the looks of the 2020 election results, have done the actual owning.

    Oh, and before the yawn-worthy “but what about the blacks and their hesitancy” trick gets trotted out, this is being addressed rather effectively and is resulting in success.

    Most of us don’t take our cues from failed presidents, QAnon newsletters or reality averse media personalities though, so…

47. Well put. I just cannot understand, no matter how f#cking stupid you are or how much in denial, that you don’t get it. I do notice the whole “that many people die from flu every year” thing hasn’t been said in a while, even by Tucker Carlson.

    Like you, I had no reaction at all to the second shot, not even the slightly sore arm I had with the first one, so it’s all good. And at least in our neighborhood, we’ve noticed on our daily walks that mask compliance is way up from where it was last year, to the extent that some days everyone is wearing one. Other days, not as much, but overall I can’t complain.

    Too bad all neighborhoods and other states (I’m looking at you, Texas and Florida) can’t be the same.

48. It’s also worth noting that masks and social distancing have made the regular flu almost disappear this past year.

49. As for Canadians having to wait four months for their second shots, that’s what Canadians call an entire population experiment, to test if such a wide spread between shots is still effective. The reason for an entire nation as guinea pigs is that they don’t have enough vaccines being shipped in.

    To my knowledge, there have been no smaller group trials on a four month spread, so the entire nation will be the first.

    …As for anti-vaxers, I should get a T-shirt that says, “Social Media Kills.” Strange how we live in a media age, supposedly, but many people cannot define ethical journalism.

50. Good luck with it John!

    My first shot (of Moderna) was a breeze, no side effects at all. My second one was a bit rougher, with chills, fever, and fatigue hitting about 12 hours after the shot and lasting almost 24 hours. Like having a moderate case of the flu, but a lot quicker to disappear. But the consolation was that I knew this was the vaccine doing it’s work and mobilizing my immune system to be ready in case it encounters the virus. It was working and that was all that really mattered. I can take being miserable for 24 hours for that benefit.

51. As for Canadians having to wait four months for their second shots, that’s what Canadians call an entire population experiment, to test if such a wide spread between shots is still effective.

    That is already settled science. You can go literally a decade between two course vaccines and the second shot is still effective. My son went 15 years between his first and second MMR. The doctor told me it didn’t matter. I found that amazing, and reassuring as well.

52. My favorite is when someone who couldn’t distinguish biology from biography cites “the science” as their justification for declining vaccination. “I don’t believe in evilution, and I’m in doubt about germ theory, but there’s papers on the internet from science nerds that say the science isn’t solid.”

    I hope these knobs don’t set us back, because if we just endured 18 months of this extreme olympic-worthy inconvenience for nothng, I’m going to be sad.

    May your side effects be mild!

53. @eridani

    For a data point (anecdote not evidence but a good addition to evidence), when I was 2 weeks after my 2nd Moderna shot I had a doctor’s appointment and my doctor ran a covid antibody test as part of my blood work. It came back over the top of the test’s ability to measure. I also had no noticeable symptoms after either shot.

    So, if you’re really concerned, ask your doctor to run an antibody test, but all the data point to it being fine. I’ve also seen a theory that you will have less side effects if you had covid or were exposed. This is possibly because your body can go straight to targeted immune response instead of throwing all the general defenses. This also tracks for me since my husband had covid in March 2020 and I’m an EMT so even with ppe I’m sure I was exposed at some point.

    A couple notes: I’m an EMT not an epidemiologist or public health professional, so take my info with a grain of salt. I can’t tell you where I saw that theory, but I follow reliable science channels on youtube and doctors and epidemiologists on twitter.

    Some of my sources:
    On youtube: scishow, health care triage, science get, doctor Mike, Mama Doctor Jones.
    On twitter, my main source is Angela Rasmussen. I often read the articles she links to. She’s an epidemiologist. I also follow several doctors with unrelated specialties who occasionally post links to articles that are relevant. MedTwitter can be very educational if used correctly.

54. Just got me first shot this morning (literally about twenty minutes ago). I feel perfectly fine for right now.

    Seriously, it was more of a hassle locating the place then the actual shot was (and the location was STUPID easy to find)

55. Congratulations on your second shot! My husband and I had Pfizer, and we are scheduled for the second dose in a week. I’m slightly concerned about my sons being able to get vaccinated, but they’re all in very low risk groups. My youngest went back to high school four days per week as of a week ago, but they are still masking and at low capacity which seems to be helping control the spread. Part of me is eager to get back to “normal” and another part is reminding myself that this has been traumatic, and it takes time after trauma for people to fully heal. Everyone I know has had losses from this experience; family members, friends, jobs, opportunities, the scale of the devastation really hasn’t been fully accounted for yet. If we’re going to recover from this, it is going to take re-educating the population on accurate science and biased media and I really don’t know how to even begin with that. But hey, vaccines are here! And there is hope.

56. Pfizer shots here (both now).
    Mild headache first evening. Sore arm – manageable but worse than any other vaccine before, on day two and three.

    Day three, I felt like I was channelling a young puppy. Plenty of energy, then suddenly “fell asleep over the food bowl” and needed a 20 minute nap every few hours all day. Body soreness akin to the day after a good workout. By day four, pretty much back to normal, with a very small bit of lingering fatigue.

    Absolutely glad I got them.

    For any veterans out there, on March 24, Biden signed a bill allowing the VA to roll out shots to spouses and caregivers of veterans as well as veterans, as doses become available at VA facilities. So if it applies to you or yours, and you can’t otherwise get a shot, check with your local VA.

57. Week & a half out from #2, for me. Then another 3 for Full Emancipation.

    I’m one of those rare beasts who’s actually well-adapted to lockdown, so not planning on hugging anybody any time soon. I am, however, looking forward to grocery trips no longer being a calculation in existential threat, and also I really need to hit the hardware store.

58. “. . . apparently some people these days don’t mind being the person actively making it worse for everyone else and dragging things out.”

    I’mma go out on a limb here and say that this is more likely than not the latest iteration of some folks efforts at “ownin’ da libs.”

59. Side effects and such seem to be all over the map. As vaccinations rolled out, I’ve been noting reports of the range and seriousness, and I can’t see anything that looks like a clear who/what/why pattern–and I wonder whether there’s enough real (non-anecdotal) data-gathering going on for the epidemiologists and immunologists to map the various causes/vulnerable population segments.

    For example, my wife and I had no unpleasant reactions to the Pfizer shots (beyond the usual slightly-tender-vaccination-site)–nor do we get reactions from our annual flu shots (geezer-strength). But I finally got Shingrix #1 on Monday and spent Tuesday feeling very tired–not sleepy, just wanna-sit-down-and-rest tired. That feeling lifted by mid-evening. Shingrix, of course, is a notorious butt-kicker, and I’m not looking forward to #2 in three months. Tired, however, is preferable to a dose of shingles.

    I have been meditating on the varieties of denial and paranoid ideation for the whole year of isolation, but that’s a topic for another thread. All I’ll say now is that I wonder whether our species is too messed up to maintain a global civilization. Or even an annual picnic.

60. @Sarah Marie Your response to @Paul S was spot on! Thanks for saving me the trouble (and saying it much better!).

61. @Jeff in Houston:

    Absolutely right, though they’re barely renting the libs the way they’re going.

    They can spend every day and night ranting, raving and pushing nutty conspiracy theories about the mark of the beast, 1984’esque style societies and liberal pressures, but they’ll still end up cut out of things and places that require them to get a jab.

    It’s just that simple.

    I wish them all the luck in the world pulling the Karen and Daren routine at the airport or on a jobsite because people aren’t going for their “I ain’t gettin no gubmint injection” political chest-thumping; they’ll wind up in jail or unemployed, because they won’t be able to bully those officials like they do frontline workers at the grocery store.

    @Bob Dye:

    Thanks. 💐

    It’s very sad, and even more frustrating, that the same people smugly vowing not to get vaccinated would be jumping to do so had the former guy been upfront about the virus and pushed vaccines from the beginning.

    They’re not acting out of real concern but in lockstep with the folks to whom they’ve delegated thinking and decision making.

    Again, it’s…not a good thing that adults with the right to vote need to be made to do the grownup thing, but here we are. 😩

62. School in-class assignment: find a social media story that later proved false: Quite and easy.

    Second in-class assignment: find a traditional/ethical/regular news story that later proved false: Will take all class.

    The greatest secret weapon of the devil and Russian troll farms is people don’t believe they exist. But the Finns do, and they have a national program to educate their people about secret Russian social media, including Russian efforts to encourage anti-vaxers.

    Here is a six minute news video by The BBC about the efforts in Finland:
    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-48401922/how-finland-fights-the-fake-news-trolls

63. Where I live, various non-medical outlets offered shots as soon as (or, in the case of my particular HMO, long before) they were available at medical offices. I got mine at a supermarket, and didn’t even have to wait for the recommended 15 minutes of observation–“cleanup, aisle four, shopper down…”

    The newest wrinkle here is that one can get the one-dose J&J shot at Costco. The company is missing the chance to make a real difference against vaccine hesitancy (as well as getting terrific PR for itself) by not offering “a free rotisserie chicken with every shot.”