Hope your dad is well soon. Jaydub. Today it was announced that those 42 and up can book for their vaccine so it sounds like I'm still a couple of months or so away from getting my first dose. One good thing though is that work finally gave us home testing kits yesterday. Been working amongst the great unmasked throughout but I suppose the expense of getting kits for over 100k of us outweighs the risk.
I've been able to order the kits to home since the schools went back. I know they aren't 100% accurate, but I feel the family all testing twice a week gives us a chance in reducing transmission. 2 months in and I still haven't got a hang of how to do this more efficiently (without the gag reflex).
Thanks, guys. He tested negative for COVID, but will remain in hospital for a few more days at least. It seems that common side effects from the vaccination simply aggravated a preexisting and previously unknown medical condition.
Had my vaccine (AZ) day before yesterday at 10.40 am. All very efficient and conveyor belt like. Out within 10 min barely felt a scratch. Was perfectly fine until about 8.00pm them BOOM! shivers, sore arm, mild flu like symptoms. Woke up the next day with what felt like a hangover. Nothing paracetamol's couldn't fix but definitely had symptoms. Others I know who have had the vaccine have had very little post vaccine symptoms if any. I'm fine totally today, no symptoms but still feels someones hit me with a crowbar in the arm.
I haven't started using them yet (the boss has said to use them if we think we have symptoms before booking a proper test) but I'd rather have a false positive that's proven negative than the opposite. I've done a couple of the NHS tests (one drive through, one walk in) and didn't have much trouble with them. I have problems with cotton wool and swabs to start with (yeah, sounds daft but it's part of another thing) but fought through that for the tests. I'll see how I go when I start the self tests.
Re LFT tests: If you enjoy obscure maths articles The obscure maths theorem that governs the reliability of Covid testing It's the same reason why the Iwatch heart rate monitoring doesn't check for bradycardia in the UK or Europe, because the false positives would overwhelm the system, despite being 99% accurate, that doesn't mean it's right in 99 patients out of 100. It's both interesting, and the opposite to what you would expect.
So reading a well known SBG coaches facebook full of covid misinformation and honestly just the exposure to the sheer nonsense and the fatigue of lockdown is making me go "oh covid is not a big deal anymore". I think the weird guidance in the uk (we can eat and drink at restaurants again) is really confusing me and obscuring if covid is still a big deal, not just for me but everyone I talk to.
Had my second Moderna injection last Sunday. Minor symptoms that lasted a couple days, but nothing problematic. Im starting to consider trying to get a local training group going in the park, for people who can show me they have been vaccinated. I will admit that the newer variants that seem to hit children more readily (I have a seven year-old son) has me a bit nervous yet since the vaccines are not yet approved for them. There is legitimate concern that the anti-vaccination folks could keep enough active cases in the mix that newer mutations and variants could render the current vaccinations useless. We could end up back at square one with nobody protected, starting all over again. please folks, keep up the responsible behavior even after you have been vaccinated.
Cases and deaths are currently very low, because of the partial lockdown and good vaccination rates, we have to wait for more people to be vaccinated before we reduce the lockdown any more. Unfortunately there's a lot of twaddle merchants about who think they know about epidemiology/virology/etc because they're good at a completely different physical skill, and convinced themselves they have a universal skillset.
Well, week 3 was up yesterday. So after the J&J I was all set antibody wise a week ago and as of yesterday I am past the blood clot concerns...although I really had no concerns to begin with.
I just received my second Moderna dose about 5 minutes ago. Just in time to have a sore arm for the long weekend!
My town has been flying through them, so I got a text to say that I could book in! I've got my first one on Wednesday, very excited!
Been Pfizer'ed today at the local mass vaccination centre and I have to say they have a good setup going in there. Wait in the car until five minutes before the appointment time, stand in the queue to get in (admittedly it was a slow moving queue), book in and get split off from those having their second jabs, go into a big office space with the left hand side of the room for firsts and the right for seconds. A few questions about if I've had any blood clots or similar, or any serious allergic reactions, or if I've had a recent positive test. One person keeps you talking and looking at them while a second asks which arm then stabs you then go and sit at the end of the room for fifteen minutes so you can post a photo of your card to Facebook. In the hour I was at the centre they probably got through a hundred of each dose. 6 hours later and no side effects or sore arm yet but I'm off work until Friday evening to give some time to recover if needs be. Next dose is booked in for early August.
Pfizer is generally the one that doesn't cause reactions. My AZ left me with flu like symptoms and feeling washed out for a day. I have the second jab on Wednesday, and I've heard some say the reaction is worse, some say it's better, so we'll see. I have hayfever, mild eczma, so my immune system is too sensitive, which may explain my reaction to the last one. That or my obvious youth Get the jab as soon as you can everyone
Ah, there's the sore arm part of it. A bit sore when I lift my arm to the side but it's certainly not the worst I've had. I've definitely been kicked in the arm harder.
My second AZ jab I had no symptoms, arm was a little sore the day after, but not for long. Hopefully whatever symptoms pass quickly.
They are relaxing mask wearing for vaccinated folks in my area of the USA. Kind of nice not to have to wear that thing all the time
