LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Some Kentucky healthcare workers are scheduled to begin receiving their second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine this week.
Dr. Katrina Hood, a pediatrician with Pediatric and Adolescent Associates, said signing up for the vaccine came with some nervousness and much excitement.
“I was happy and thankful in all the things that came about just to get the vaccine,” Dr. Hood said. “But the apprehension was certainly there, not so much about the vaccine, but what I might feel.”
The most common side effects from the COVID-19 vaccines are fatigue, headaches and muscle pain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Hood received her booster shot on Monday. She told LEX 18 News she experienced some fatigue and a small fever, but two days later is back on her feet.
“Totally back to normal. Even my arm, which was pretty sore for a few days after the first one, I can tell where I actually had the shot, but it's not it's sore in movement and no redness,” she said.
UK Healthcare respiratory therapist Lisa Wright also received her second dose on Monday.
“Monday night was great. Yesterday, late morning, I got a little tired, ran a kind of low-grade fever, slept it off most of the afternoon and woke up feeling 100% today,” Wright said.
Though Wright did experience some of the flu-like symptoms others around the country have reported, she said the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the short-term discomfort.
“I'm really looking towards the long game, where this is our path out of the pandemic, and back to a normal life,” Wright said. “I felt a little bit like the French must have felt on D-Day when the Allies showed up. It felt like there was still a long way to go to the end of the war, but this was the beginning of the end.”
Both Wright and Dr. Hood are encouraging Kentuckians to trust in the science that developed the COVID-19 vaccines and make the decision to be vaccinated.
Reports of severe allergic reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine are rare, according to health officials. The CDC is recommending those who have had severe allergic reactions to any ingredient in the currently available vaccines in the past, or those who have had a severe allergic reaction to the first dose of the vaccine, should not get the second dose.
