I just had my second dose. I’m sure I’m going to feel like garbage tomorrow, but right now I just can’t stop smiling. RLG gets his second dose next week and oh what a relief that will be.
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In further updates, it appears this manufacturer was involved in making vaccine for both J&J and AstraZeneca, which both use viral vectors. Two different, non-interchangable vectors. Someone mixed them up and used the wrong virus in the J&J vaccine production.
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Washington is opening to everyone 16+ on April 15.
DD is on spring break so I booked us appointments in Yakima at the big mass clinic. There were hundreds of appointments available that far out, and even some for today/tomorrow so I feel fine taking them. Saves the Seattle area shots for those who can’t make the drive.
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Update: it’s been just about 48 hours and I had no side effects, hardly even a sore arm. I hope
it worked! 
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Really, I felt fine. My arm was about as sore as a flu shot, but a lot less than the shingles shot.
Dh said he was tired but he takes a nap every afternoon anyway so he may not be entirely neutral on that.
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My sister-in-law in Michigan is getting vaccinated this week. She said she can count on her hands how many people she knows locally even want to get vaccinated, so I’m really glad she’s getting it done.
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Haha, I guess I should admit that I also had a nap the following afternoon, but it’s 50/50 whether it was due to the shot or just being 8.5 months pregnant.
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A columnist in the Tribune wrote today that she’s fully vaccinated but the only change to her behavior will be that she’s no longer stepping off the sidewalk and into the street on her walks, when she sees another person. She’s not going to shop in person or leave her house still except for solo walks. Because of the variants.
It’s making me really second guess my plans to grocery shop and otherwise run errands in person every couple of weeks, once we’re fully vaccinated. Not to mention the fact that I went to the garden center yesterday (entirely outdoors including the cashier, maybe 6 or 7 people total in the very large plant yard). Is she paranoid or am I reckless?
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She’s being paranoid.
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It’s too early to be sure, but the preliminary data from Pfizer shows it is likely somewhat effective against the variant. (All 6 documented cases of the South African variant in the trial were in the placebo group.) Source here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pfizer-says-trials-suggest-covid-vaccine-works-against-south-african-n1262710
So I personally think she’s being paranoid, but I also went into stores with a mask before I was vaccinated so my risk tolerance is somewhat higher to begin with.
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I saw that - we both got Pfizer so I was happy to read that.
I don’t think she said which she got.
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I am 66 with asthma and have totally resumed my life a few weeks after my last dose. I shop in stores, eat at restaurant and visit friends.
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honestly I hate to say it but at 8.5 months pregnant I’m not sure I would have noticed the vaccine side effects, I felt like trash all the time anyway. 
pregnancy is beautiful 
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I think she’s being overly cautious, and potentially harmful in sharing that message. What is her purpose in telling people that? I hate to say it, but messages like this convince fence sitters of there being no value in getting the vaccine and add fuel to the fire for politically motivated decision makers to give themselves more permission to do the wrong thing. It tends to make cautious people seem ridiculous.
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Yeah. When I’m fully vaccinated i plan on following CDC guidelines about it, which allow for a lot more return to normalcy while still being a reasonable person.
I’m more than fine going with the CDC.
Eta the CDC link
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Yes! I finally got an appointment for my husband. They fill up so dang fast! Scheduled for Pfizer on Wednesday 
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There is a huge pile of privilege in being able to not go places. I have been working in person since last summer serving the public and am now expected to be back full-time (I am taking one day a week of unpaid leave). That means I needed to let at least one kid go back to school in person–my husband can manage the older one on his own but two was really pushing it.
And, I mean, I already have a ton of privilege relating to the pandemic, but “never go anywhere” was not among our choices, and it isn’t for a lot of people.
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I think that going into a store, well masked up, was not terribly risky on the customer side, though considerably more so on the employee side. It turned out to be pretty easy for me to not go into stores for long periods of time, so I mostly didn’t. I feel like it was better for me to just take myself out of the mix, rather than that it was a horrible risk exposure for me.
So I didn’t go into the store in January, when numbers were high and lots of people in my area weren’t very compliant, but I feel okay about getting groceries every other week now. I’ll probably continue to get curbside pickup on the alternate weeks because it’s just so darned easy.
I think bars and gyms are and always have been the riskiest places, and I won’t be returning to those (or inside dining) until numbers are in the negligible range - but those are super easy for me to avoid.
I don’t know quite how I feel about public transit at this point, but the buses are far from crowded here - there’s a fairly good chance that I’d be the only passenger mid-morning.
And we’re going back to inside church, which will have heavy restrictions- limited numbers, social distancing, masks, no singing, no touching…
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The local yoga studios have been opening up. I honestly think it’ll be at least a year before I’d feel comfortable going into an indoor group exercise class, not until we have a better understanding of how things shake out when the majority of the country is vaccinated.
We’re moderately risk tolerant, and I think we’ll probably fly to the east coast this winter to see family, but there’s something about group exercise classes that make me nervous, and I used to love my heated yoga sessions.
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I mean, it depends? Our stores are cramped and you can’t social distance while in line, and there seemed to be always someone coughing and incorrectly masked. I do agree that it was largely “I can do this, so I will do this and not contribute to spread.” But I was worried about us too.
I am definitely not doing gym or bar or indoor dining, for some time. I don’t actually need a gym in the summertime, and bar and indoor dining would make me feel like kind of a jerk for putting restaurant staff at risk so they could bring me my food. And honestly just doesn’t feel safe to me yet. Outdoor dining… maaaaaybe, depending on whether they actually distance the tables.
We’ve decided yes to occasional public transport at off-peak times and not on Cubs game days, if the destination is truly not walkable. Boyfriend is going to drive downstate to see his dad, who along with his stepmom is fully vaxxed, and stay with our friends who will be fully vaxxed by then. This feels OK to me as long as they don’t dine indoors, which, it’ll be summer when he goes so that should be do-able.
I just… feel like so much of this, for me, is not just following the science but gut feeling? Erring on the cautious side. Like, the CDC might say something like air travel is safe but I’m still ehhhhhhhhh on that.
Bad news: the 2 Starbucks closest to me are closed due to covid cases.
Good news: my friend who has very severe health issues but still was not eligible for vaccine in her state, got a call for a dose that was going to waste today!
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