Once they recommended we all get boosted again this year, I’ve been keeping an eye out for an appointment for Denisa and me to get our shots. This basically consisted of going to the Walmart pharmacy site every day and seeing if they had openings. On Wednesday, they suddenly had a bunch of openings for yesterday (the first time I’d seen our local Walmart with them), so Denisa and I signed up.
In case you’re wondering: yes, getting the booster still made me feel sick the next day. It’s not nearly as bad as the first COVID shot I got. That was one full on awful. This one made my arm hurt, made me really tired, and just gave me a general icky feeling. So nothing to really write home about (or to justify writing a blog post about, really), but enough to make me call in sick and take the day off.
At the same time, going back into COVID mode (even just a little) made me think back on how things were then and how they are now. Quite a big difference. I got this shot mainly for the same reason I get the flu shot every year. I don’t like feeling terrible, and I’d like to do what I can to help other people not feel terrible too. (This is shocking, I know.) But back when we all first went into lockdown, it felt like many people were reassessing how they approached work and life in general. “Being sick” was a very good reason to stay home or skip a meeting. Even an important one.
Now? It feels like that’s changed back to how it was before. If you’re sick and stay home, there’s the feeling people might think less of you for it. (At least, I assume this. I’m basing it on how many people I see out about coughing or sneezing or just generally looking less than well. Personally, I’m still trying to stay home when I feel sick. I’ve got the sick time, and it makes sense to me to use it. I also want to model how I’d like other people to behave when they’re sick. But even then, I’ve found myself feeling like I was slacking off if I stayed home. I really don’t like that feeling, but perhaps it’s unique to me.)
In any case, the good news is that I’m already beginning to feel better (I think). Tylenol still goes a long way to helping you get over the reactions to the shot. If you’re looking to get the shot, I hope you can find it easily, and I hope you have a mild reaction.
Walgreen has openings all day. We just had a little soreness in the arm. No other complaints
Must be all that clean living. 🙂