With the rise of the pandemic and vaccines made more accessible people are scattered over the board of Corona. Whether they’re thinking it is a hoax, it is man made, it is going to take over yadda yadda I felt it important to go ahead and take mine. Now this is a blog post. Not a news story so please keep that in mind. I am also not trying to “fear monger” or discourage anyone to not be vaccinated. I am not an anti-vaxxer however, when it comes to Covid-19 vaccinations as of right now, I believe it should be a choice. Not forced nor pressured. I am not going to talk about politics in this blog, just why I chose to be vaccinated and my experience with the J&J vaccine. WHICH UPDATE: They have put a pause on the Johnson and Johnson Vaccine. I feel so reassured. (LOL) Below I will tell you why I chose it, How I signed up to get it and how it felt and what side effects I had.

My Why

The reason I decided to get vaccinated was because and I’ll be honest. It was 1 shot and done if I chose the Johnson and Johnson Vaccine and even though they put a pause on it, I’m still happy I chose that vaccine in particular. I am deathly afraid of needles so in my mind, one shot that’s it was all it took to convince me and I wanted to get it over with in case places and planes started making it mandatory. I didn’t take it to “obey” I also didn’t take it to “do my part”. I just wanted to. I also have family and friends that are susceptible to this virus so I felt I had a duty to help slow the spread their way. Now people have argued with me that I can still spread it and even if I still wear my mask. You can call me a crazy liberal or a pro-masker I don’t really care cause I’m neither. Again, I am for choice BUT wearing a mask is really the least anyone could do to stop the spread or slow it down anyway. I hope for a life someday where things are back to normal. That is another reason why I chose to be vaccinated. Again, it should be your choice and nobody else’s.

How I Signed Up to Get It – How You Can Too

One day I was honestly just curious about the vaccines and did my research and I knew I wanted the J&J if I needed it. I knew I couldn’t get the vaccine at my doctor’s office which was unfortunate as I would have felt so much more comfortable in that setting with my doctor whom I trust, but in the end getting it done at Kroger wasn’t all that bad.

When googling where I could get the vaccine in my area I found this website, https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/reporting/vaccinefinder/about.html and I scrolled down to the middle of the page and it looked like:

So I simply followed the steps. So if you have no clue where to get vaccinated I would highly suggest using that tool. You can also call around which I actually called Kroger before scheduling online just to see what vaccine I’d be getting so If you do schedule online and you have a preference then definitely also give that pharmacy a call to make sure that is what they’re giving at that time. At this moment there is a pause on the vaccine I chose, Johnson & Johnson so I don’t believe anyone is scheduling those at this moment. Who knows, those of us who took J&J may be entitled to compensation one day. (I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t joke but this is how I cope cause it is kind of scary how these vaccines came out so fast and now there is a serious pause on the one I just took so, I joke to cope I hope I don’t offend anyone as that is not my intentions.)

So after I signed up I arrived on Thursday April 8th 2021. I went into my local Kroger pharmacy and I checked in I gave my ID and insurance card to her and she gave it back I can’t remember if I signed anything but I’m pretty sure I did. I didn’t read it though. She told me to have a seat and wait in line. Of course I had my mother with me. When I called prior as I was setting this appointment up I made sure to ask if my mother could be there by my side as I do have a phobia of needles. She said that was totally okay; they did allow my mom to go back with me. The shot was actually super quick, it felt like a pinch it didn’t really hurt until the needle pulled out of my skin. (That phrase just made my skin crawl lol) It was over in 3 seconds. afterwards, my arm started to feel heavy and sore.

How It Felt and The Side Effects

I have been honest thus far and will continue to be brutally honest. It felt like doo-doo. I actually kept tabs on Facebook because like the basic chick I am.. of course I posted a #vaccinated selfie to feed. In the comments is where I kept track of my symptoms and what times they occurred. As you can see below:

So here where my symptoms in order:

• 8:30 am – Took the J&J vaccine – Arm was sore immediately after.
• 12:45 pm – Soreness and I started to feel super drowsy.
• Between 1 & 4 pm – Headache developed. Whole body started feeling sore.
• 4:23 pm – Headache and Soreness, Area where they punctured was swelling and very sore. Still very drowsy.
• 5:30 pm – Chills, sensitive to touch, nausea, couldn’t really move my arm without pain worsening, headache worsened. Was unsure of fever and I was very cold.
• 6:59 pm – It was getting harder to breathe and still had all those other symptoms mentioned earlier.
• Around 7 pm – Mom and dad came over because I was crying on the phone with them, they brought a thermometer and at that time I had a very low-grade fever some Tylenol was kicking in.
• Between 7 pm & 8 am NEXT DAY – I barely got any sleep but I felt a little better when I woke up.
• 8:08 am – I started to feel better Still had body aches and head as well as the arm were throbbing.

Saturday April 10th 2021, I was 99.9% feeling myself again and much better. It was rough. I cried a lot cause the pain like, I am not at all pain tolerant. It was just very traumatic. I will say that if they invalidate the J&J vaccine, I’m not taking another. However, I am still happy I chose to get vaccinated. It is now over with for me and I will just continue to wear a mask and be hopeful that things will be normal again some day. I refuse to call all this the “new normal” It will not be normal until masks are no longer required, until people quit dying, until we can look back in that rearview mirror and throw a middle finger up to the pandemic. It isn’t normal until it is over. We got this though!

Articles Relating to the Pause on the J&J vaccine:

• NEW YORK TIMES – https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/us/politics/johnson-johnson-vaccine-blood-clots-fda-cdc.html
• CNN – https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/13/health/johnson-vaccine-pause-cdc-fda/index.html
• FOX – https://www.foxnews.com/media/media-across-the-spectrum-slams-fda-cdc-for-jumping-gun-on-johnson-johnson-vaccine-pause
• WKYT KY – https://www.wkyt.com/2021/04/13/fda-cdc-recommend-pause-in-johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine/
• LEX18 KY – https://www.lex18.com/news/coronavirus/gov-beshear-pauses-johnson-johnson-vaccine-use-in-kentucky

Thanks so much for reading this blog post! This isn’t normally what I would write but so many had asked me to do so; I wanted to respect those wishes! I just want to say that I respect you no matter what you choose to do. You don’t have to take the vaccine, it is fully your choice. So please respect me and my choice that I made. Thank you. Please consider subscribing to the blog! I normally blog about: Self-Love, Fashion, Beauty and All Things Local & Kentucky! I’m also on Instagram! Check out my Instagram by clicking here and consider following for more! I would love to connect with you! I will also keep everyone updated as I plan on having a check up since there is a big issue with the J&J vaccine with ages between 19-48. I’m 22 so of course it is making me anxious. I am not regretful though.

Feel free to comment anything you wish below it could be your experience, why you chose or why you didn’t choose or won’t choose the vaccines or whatnot. Just be respectful. I love having adult conversations!