David Flores, emergency room nurse at UCSD, received the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Thursday. Unlike the first dose, it had side effects.
“My hips broke me,” said Flores. “That made it difficult for me to sleep. I couldn’t feel comfortable. My back, knees and ankles hurt. “
Flores said many of his colleagues shared similar experiences.
“It’s something we’ve seen in clinical trials,” said Dr. Edward Cachay, infectious disease specialist at UCSD. “When people get that second dose, they get the second booster to try to achieve maximum efficacy. So by strengthening the immune system, people generally develop joint pain and a mild fever that usually lasts for 24 to 48 hours. “
According to Pfizer, about 3.8% of the participants in the clinical trial experienced fatigue as a side effect and 2% experienced headaches.
Moderna says 9.7% of their participants felt fatigued and 4.5% developed headaches.
But regardless of the side effects, Dr. Cachay that it is extremely important that patients receive the second dose of the vaccine.
“Whenever you get the first shot, you’re only about 51% protected, so you need that second dose to get that 95% against COVID-19,” he said.
Despite the joint pain, Flores says there is no doubt that he made the right decision to go ahead with the vaccine.
“It’s the lesser of two evils,” said Flores. “Just being sick for a day or so and either dead or sick for months or days is a pretty good trade off.”
Dr. Cachay adds that patients do not achieve maximum immunity until 10 to 14 days after the second dose.
They have already given the vaccine to about 10,000 workers, according to UCSD officials. Many of them have already started receiving the second dose.
They add that only 3% of workers have rejected the vaccine.