Pfizer: The First 48

Although not FDA approved, the Pfizer vaccine has been permitted for emergency use, and many have gone to get their first dose. Like many, I was hesitant and wanted to “wait and see” what happened to everyone else, but after testing negative for COVID-19, I figured: “what the hell — I’ll just get the vaccine and see what happens.”

The reality is this: Pfizer and other vaccines are not FDA approved and there are still clinical trials that are on-going. Basically, anyone who gets a vaccine at this time would be part of an “unofficial” trial, because no one knows how long these vaccines will last or if they will even work. The disclaimer I read on my info packet before receiving the vaccine read that there was no guaranteed protection against COVID-19 by getting this vaccine, yet the success rate for immunity is about 95%.

So getting this vaccine is a risk in itself. It could be awesome, or it could be a waste of time.

Who knows?

But I received my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine two days ago, and this is what I’ve experienced so far:

Getting the Vaccine

The vaccine was pretty quick and easy — literally less than three seconds.

After a few hours, my shoulder felt a little stiff and then grew to be a little tender, but everything was seemingly fine.

I went to sleep that night with no problems.

24-hour Update

So technically, what I’m about to describe happened in less than 24 hours, but I can’t give an update without explaining what happened leading up to the 24th hour.

As I mentioned before, the injection site was a little tender — which is normal for any vaccine — so I figured, all is well.

Until…

I was about to roll over in my sleep and my arm hurt. I could barely move it. It felt like how my arm feels after recovering from rigorous exercise. You know how your muscles “break down to rebuild?”

I started grabbing parts of my arm to locate the source of the pain, and determine if it was my whole arm or just one specific part. My forearm was fine. My biceps were fine. My triceps were fine. But the injection site? My deltoid (shoulder) muscle was giving me hell.

I slowly touched different parts of my shoulder until I figured out exactly where the source of my pain was. Most of my shoulder felt tender, but I could still touch it without jumping or cringing. Surprisingly, the actual point of entry wasn’t that bad; however, just a few centimeters away was the tip of the swelling point. I couldn’t really touch it to see how bad the pain was. As soon as my fingers landed on it, I had to bite my bottom lip from screaming the F word. But at least I found where the pain was coming from.

As you can imagine, this made it hard to go back to sleep; no matter how I positioned myself, I just couldn’t get comfortable and I somehow managed to move my arm even when I wasn’t trying to! It just hurt too bad, and I didn’t feel like going to my medicine cabinet, either.

I don’t understand why the primary source of the swelling wasn’t on the point of entry from my vaccine. My guess is that the fluid “traveled” once it was injected, and the spot where it landed is where the reaction occured.

So just to recap in layman's terms: the source of the swelling was the most painful part, and the further away from that point, the less pain and swelling there was.

By my measurements, the swelling was a little less in diameter than a tennis ball. The most painful area was the size and shape of a calmeria grape, and it was the only spot that turned red.

Of all of the vaccines I’ve had in my lifetime, I never received a reaction like this. Even when I updated my MMR vaccine, the swelling wasn’t this massive or painful (but then again, I’ve had the MMR vaccine before the update, so maybe my body was more prepared because it dealt with it before).

As I’m typing this, my arm is generally fine, but it’s stuck in the same position; ironically, it’s the position your arms are in when you’re typing while your Mac/Chrome/other notebook is on your lap! It’s been stuck in this position since I woke up (for the final time) and started my day. I can’t move it without grimacing, and I really hope the swelling goes down soon.

Even though my hand is fine, the pain shoots to my thumb occasionally, but it’s a dull pain. I guess it has something to do with nerve-endings because my thumb doesn’t hurt at all when I move it or touch it.

48-hour Update

Leading up to the 48th hour…

By the time I went to bed last night, the swelling had gone down and I was able to touch the center of the swelling (the red area). The swelling decreased to about the diameter of a golfball, and the red part increased in size/appearence. It still hurt, but not as bad as before, and I could finally move my arm.

By the time I woke up, the red area was itchy, and the swelling went from a semi-mushy texture to completely stiff, like a knot on your forehead after getting hit with a football. It’s still very tender to the touch, but it’s seemingly healing quite nicely.

Check back for Part 2!

Note: I recorded my experience for this article over the course of two days, starting at the 24-hour time mark.