It is time of the month when I usually update AVI family net worth status. However, some thing more important happened for AVI family in the past month that deserves its own post.
The adults in the AVI family got their second dose of Pfizer vaccine and I want to share our experience through the vaccination process. Hopefully, for folks who are preparing for getting the vaccine, you may find the information useful (especially if you live in the state of WA) and for folks who have already been vaccinated, you can find some similarities with your own story and are encouraged to share it with the world!
TL/DR
- Check Department of Health (DOH) website in your state (WA for us) on regular basis to determine your vaccine eligibility
- Do not depend on DOH website to find locations where vaccine appointments are available
- Patient portal from your health-care provider (or hacks) may be the best option to look out for vaccine appointments
- Side-effects from dose 1 and/or dose 2 of Covid-19 vaccines may vary. Either can knock you down hard.
Eligibility
Mr AVI is a late stage gen-Xer and Mrs AVI is a an early stage millennial. Mr AVI is employed in the technology sector and Mrs AVI runs a home based childcare service.
Through Mrs AVI, we qualified for vaccination, when on Mar 3rd, Mr Inslee, the Governor of Washington state announced that teachers (pre-K through 12) and licensed childcare providers are eligible for the vaccine. Officially, we qualified in the Phase 1B tier 1 of vaccination drive (see here).
As soon as I got the wind of this news, I went to the WA state department of health (DOH) website,to confirm that Mrs AVI was indeed eligible and through her Mr AVI could be eligible as well (as staff in a home based daycare).
Appointment
The DOH maintains a vaccination site locator website where individuals can enter their zip code and find out sites in (around) their zip-code area where vaccine appointment are available.
As of this writing, I am not sure what the reliability of the recommendations provided by the website,however, back in early March, when I tried to use the vaccine locator website, most suggestions for locations with available appointments were pharmacies such as CVS and grocery stores such as Safeway.
I got contact information for a few of these places and tried calling each. Whenever, I spoke with some one, the message I got was “please visit the website, we do not take appointments over phone”. It was frustrating to say the least that the information on the website did not match the reality on the ground! I was making no progress!
Luckily for us, we found out from an acquaintance of ours that folks who use Multicare Mychart patient portal to track their health records, can find an appointment for vaccination through the portal. Indeed, that was the case.
I was able to log into my patient portal and find vaccine appointment at a Multicare center, about 40 minute drive from where we live. It is important to note here that, appointments were available to everyone who had multi-care patient-portal account. The appointment scheduler did not ask for any information on vaccine eligibility! I found this to be strange at the time, but did not give it much of a thought.
We got appointment for our vaccine shot on Mar 12th 2021 at 2:00 PM for Mrs AVI and (2:20 PM for myself).
The Day of Appointment
On the day of appointment, Avi family (with kids in tow) made the 40 minute journey to the vaccination site. As we entered the parking lot of the facility, we saw a long line formed outside the entrance to the site. We were not really sure as to what to make of the line. Our appointment was at 2:00 PM and by the time we parked our car, it was 1:50 PM. Would we make it on time? Would they send us back? Too much anxiety….
I instructed kiddos and Mrs AVI to wait in the car and with trepidation, I approached the line to find out what was going on! The guard at the entrance to the site informed me that if I have appointment, I do not have to stand in line and that he was also unsure why the line was there! Huh…..
Curious, I approached the person in front of the line to find out more. As it turns out these folks were not eligible for vaccine and they were taking a chance on being lucky to get a shot should extra shots become available at the end of the day! I left towards our vehicle with mixed feeling… On the one hand, I felt, darn, are we lucky or what, and on the other hand, I felt elated to see first hand an instance of “juggad” that happens in the market place whenever there is a supply constraint on an item of high desirability.
Happily, I returned to our vehicle, asked kids to wait in the car (with iPad in hands) and Mrs Avi and I walked into the clinic with an air of pompousness (I know, I know but truth be told that was the feeling as we walked into the clinic). We were ushered to the registrar counter, where the sweet lady behind the counter confirmed our appointment and then, some what unexpectedly, asked me for paper work to show our eligibility!
Remember, to take the appointment, we were not required to submit any paper work! Luckily for us, Mrs AVI was prepared, she showed her state issued license her facility and confirmed that I was her staff at the daycare! Convinced, the lady ushered us into the waiting room!
Back in March, the two most popular vaccines in the Market place (atleast in the US) were the ones from Pfizer and Moderna. Some sites were also offering JJ vaccine or the Astra-Zeneca vaccine (from anecdotes). In a way it is a lottery, on which vaccine one gets. There is no choice offered at the site or when appointment is taken. In our heart of hearts, we were rooting to get the Pfizer vaccine. Why? I dont know! If I have to guess, its probably has to do with the psychological concept of Familiarity Huerestics.
At the site that we chose, the only available vaccine was, wait for it…. Pfizer! In general, at the site there was festive environment and every one was cheering each other for being one of the early ones to be eligible for the vaccine and the choices made to get the vaccine. Within a few minutes of us entering the waiting zone, we were called out to a room occupied by a single registered nurse (RN). After going through the formalities of confirming that none of us have any allergies etc.. she proceeded to ask, which one of us wanted to go first. Being the gentleman that I am, I volunteered for myself to be the first one to go, (if anything goes wrong, Mrs AVI would be warned). As the RN prepared for the shot, Mrs AVI wanted to find out if it was OK for her to take a video of the occasion. The RN obliged, with a quip, “she is now a hand celebrity”!
The actual process of getting the vaccine was rather mundane. As Mrs AVI was getting her shot, I could not help but marvel at the ingenuity of human mind and the speed at which vaccines for a completely novel virus were made available to common joe such myself.
After receiving the vaccine, we were asked to wait in the waiting room for 15 minutes, just incase there were adverse reactions. We were given instructions on what to do next, i.e., book an appointment for second dose and register (optional) to the national registry of vaccine adverse effect monitoring program (https://vaers.hhs.gov).
Side effects of the 1st Pfizer Dose
AVI family is quite diligent in taking the annual flu-vaccine and are in general well prepared for minor side-effects that vaccination entails. What surprised both Mrs AVI and I is that how differently each of us responded to the first Covid-19 vaccine shot. For me, other than minor site irritation, I experienced no side-effects. For Mrs AVI, it was a different story. The night of, Mrs AVI started to feel shivery, fatigued and was having body aches! Fatigue and body aches lasted for the better part of the week for her since receiving the vaccine.
Given that I, did not exhibit any symptoms at all, it was easy for me to not really understand (and therefore dismiss) complaints from Mrs AVI that it had not been easy going for her, my sincere apologies Mrs AVI. All the reports in media seem to suggest that for most folks, side effects from second dose are quite severe relative to the first dose and I seemed to fall into that category perfectly, potentially a classic example of information bias!
Second Covid-19 Vaccine Appointment
There is currently debate going on whether, it is prudent for governments to vaccinated larger cohort of their respective populations with the 1st vaccine shot or should they follow the CDC recommended protocol on maintaining the time-interval between 1st and 2nd shot for folks who are eligible and prioritize folks getting their entire course of vaccine shots instead.
Questions such as above are a social dilemma with no right answers! I have a renewed respect for folks who are in the seat to have to make these decisions with incomplete information! While everyone would love data on what if, decisions get made based on available information in real-time and we will never know what the in-sample outcome will be in a counter-factual world where one decision is made over the other!
For the system of government that we find ourselves in, our leaders have made the decision to prioritize on CDC recommendation! As such, the onus was on us to find appointment for the second vaccine shot. Being a risk-off value investor at heart, with natural inclination to weight bad-outcomes more than good, as soon as we reached home, I hoped onto the Multicare Mychart portal to find out if we can schedule an appointment for second Pfizer vaccine dose.
Again, as luck would have it, we found an open appointment slot for both Mrs Avi and I at the same site where we got our first dose, and within the 3-week time interval recommended for the Pfizer vaccine. Our second appointment was for April 3rd 2021 at 2:10 PM for I (and 2:40 PM for Mrs AVI).
The Day of Second Vaccine Dose Appointment
On the day of, AVI family, made the 40 min journey again, to the same vaccination site where we got out first vaccine shot. A few thing were different this time around at the site. For starters, there was no “juggad” line of folks hoping to get vaccine shot at the end of the day. However, there was a line and the line was full of folks with appointment for vaccination in hand. The vaccination drive is clearly accelerating with more and more folks now becoming eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
The second difference was, we were not required to show proof of eligibility, but only the CDC issued card that everyone gets with a vaccine shot. And the final difference, the site was now offering Moderna vaccine to folks receiving their first dose and Pfizer vaccine was reserved for folks who were receiving their second shot. This time though, we decided to bring our kids along to the site rather than asking them to wait in the car!
As soon as we entered the waiting zone, we were ushered into the Pfizer room. The RN, confirmed our names, birth date and the fact that we were here for our second Pfizer dose and proceed with the question, who wants to go first? I volunteered to go first again.
As compared to the first time round, when I atleast had the sensation of the needle penetrating my skin, the second shot was absolutely painless, to the point where I was doubting whether the RN ever delivered the injection or not! Mrs AVI confirmed, that indeed the shot was delivered :). Mrs AVI got her shot, and much the same way as happened with the first vaccine, we were ushered back into the wait room, asked to wait for 15 minutes and the leave. All the way back home, neither Mrs AVI nor I felt any side effects, not even mild irritation at the site of injection! We kept wondering, either we got a placebo or we were super-humans! Oh, how wrong was I….
2nd Dose Side Effects
If you are into reading all the information there is on any given topic on the web, you will invariable hear mixed messaged and opinions on the topic of interest. Not so with discussions on 2nd Covid vaccine side effects. For starters, it is reported that for majority of folks receiving their second Pfizer or Moderna dose, the side effects are stronger than those observed for the first dose and for those who get the side effects, fatigue, body ache and shivers are most common, with instances where people also fever level body temperature. It is also reported that these symptoms typically start within the first 6 to 12 hours of receiving the dose!
I can say from experience, that is exactly what transpired for me. Around 7:30 PM in the evening, I started to feel shivers and minor discomfort. Soon, I was having full blown body aches (no fever though). I have spend the entirety of the night now, curling around my bed dealing with this pain and it is ugly! It was the same story for the better part of next day. However, almost 2 days after the shot, my symptoms are starting to subside. The body aches have all but gone except for some soreness at my injection site.
Strangely though, the symptoms for Mrs AVI, again, could not be more different. She experienced mild-swelling at the injection site, but none of the feverish symptoms that I am having for the last day and a half! I really wonder why the difference in the reaction, and why is it that I am a proto-typical individual in the sample whereas Mrs AVI seems to be an outlier.
Pure conjecture here, I think Mrs AVI probably was asymptotically Covid positive at some point in the past (we will never know for sure) and her body had developed Covid anti-bodies and so when the vaccine was delivered the first time round, her was able to detect the foreign body and was prepared to attack!
So there you have it. Hopefully, our story resonates with folks out there and it can weigh into decisions that individuals and families can make in their quest to getting vaccinated.