The COVID Vaccine Side Effect Lottery

Photo by Spencer Davis on Unsplash

I got the first dose of the Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, April 20. I was very pleased to be able to get it as quickly as I did (I was anticipating well into May).

I got my usual vaccine arm soreness, 48 hours of it. I get that with every vaccine so I’m pretty sure it’s a reaction to the needle.

Then on Wednesday morning I realized my arm was itching. And red. The rash was warm to the touch and rapidly spread to larger than the palm of my hand, but no larger. Under other circumstances I would be trying to work out what bit me.

Photo by Belinda Fewings on Unsplash

“Vaccine” Arm and Awareness

As you might already have gathered, yes, it’s a side effect. It’s still there, although it’s faded slightly. Still a bit itchy, though. Not quite bad enough to warrant doing anything about.

And of course…I’m joking that I rolled badly on the side effect chart then well on the severity, because this is, as far as we can tell, pretty rare. The guess is 1 to 2 percent (it’s probably closer to 2 percent, because I suspect a lot of people haven’t reported it. I haven’t yet, because it started after my last day of daily v-safe check ins…