Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

Yesterday I got my pneumococcal shot - the vaccine against pneumonia. I'm at T+20 hours now so maybe it's a little premature to say but my side effects from the shot have been mild to nonexistent. I've got a dull ache in the upper arm where the shot was administered; that's it.

This is one of the additional two shots I thought I needed this year after the combo of the Covid-19 booster and flu shot. The other shot I was planning to get is the RSV vaxx, but CDC seems to have changed the guidance on that sometime back so it's only recommended for older (65+) adults. The CDC recommends the pneumococcal vaxx for all adults 50+, children under 5, and certain others with risk factors.

It seems strange to me that there are vaccines now for older people. When I was a kid I thought they were all just for kids. Y'know, one-and-done sort of things. I had a bunch of shots when I was little kid, a few more before I started kindergarten, then one or two more when I went to college because apparently they missed a few when I was a kid or maybe a few more had been added to the list. There was no obviously no Covid-19 to get shots for back then. Annual flu shots weren't even a thing. <Cranky old man voice>Back in my day, we just got the flu every year!</voice>

Well, I'm much happier now with an annual flu shot instead of an annual flu.

Today I got my flu & Covid-19 booster shots. I took one in each arm. I'd have also gotten the pneumococcal and RSV vaccines but I only have two arms, not four. 😅 I'll get those shots in another few weeks.



I thought it would be amsuing to take a selfie while getting my shots. I last did that— a shot selfie, not the shot itself— back in 2021, in the heady days of getting vaccinated. Back then getting a shot was like hearing the starting gun on a race track, the signal that it was time to get back to living life normally. Alas Covid went from a pandemic to an endemic, a now yearly booster shots are a thing... much like the flu shot I got moments later in my other arm today.

The pharmacy where I went for my shot wasn't very busy administering vaccines. I still had to make an appointment two weeks in advance to reserve a time that fit my schedule, but that appointment thing seems to be mostly so the pharmacists can fit this task to their schedules. It's not like those heady days in Spring 2021 when clinics had nurses working full-time administering shots and people lined up out the door to get them. Or when people were doing crazy stuff like driving 100+ miles to get their first shot.

As for those other vaccines, RSV and pneumococcus, I'll make an appointment soon to get them in about two weeks.

There's some value in spreading out the shots. For one, it avoids overtaxing the immune system by asking it to mount a response to too many viruses at once. Two, it spread out the severity of side effects. Last year I experienced a day of full body achiness and fatigue from the Covid shot. As I've said before, I will happily take a day of aches and fatigue over having even a mild case of Covid-19.

Since getting my Covid booster and flu shot yesterday I've been feeling side effects. In the past I started feel achy 24-28 hours after the shots, so I figured I'd feel crummy this evening on through midday tomorrow. Nope! This time I got the side effects sooner. They kicked in around the 12 hour mark this time.

I woke up early this morning with body aches all over. I felt like yesterday I did... something strenuous, and way too much of it. I tossed and turned trying to get back to sleep before dozing off until 10:15am. To be fair, 10:15 wasn't as late as it sounds considering I was up until almost 1am from the night before.

I had aches all over once I got out of bed this morning. I tried a few pills of acetaminophen with breakfast. The pharmacist recommended that yesterday in case I had muscle aches as a reaction. The pills did nothing. I gradually canceled all the plans I had for today, opting to stay home instead. It's not like I had a lot of plans; but it was still a bummer to have to call out sick on them.

Around 1pm I went out for lunch and a few errands. With lunch I popped a handful of ibuprofen pills. Those worked much better than the acetaminophen. Within an hour I was feeling a lot better. I wasn't like, "Oh, boy, I want to go out and do stuff all day!" but at least I wasn't thinking, "Ugh, I just want to lie in bed and groan."

The aches came back late this afternoon as the pills wore off. I was achy and tired and thought about settling down for a nap. Instead I found a quiet activity I could do. That kept me occupied for two hours. Then I fixed myself a small supper. With another few ibuprofen pills in my system now (I only take them with food as they've caused upset stomach on an empty stomach before) I feel halfway reasonable again.

At this point I hope the side effects have largely run their course. I'll continue taking it easy tonight, get to bed at a reasonable hour, and aim to have a normal weekend day tomorrow.

BTW, as not-fun as this day of aches has been, I'd rather go through this several times than suffer even one mild case of Covid.

We've had an easy weekend around home. Again. It's now our fourth in a row!

When we stayed home last weekend I wondered if I'd be itching to go somewhere this weekend. The answer turned out to be No— and for the same reason I wasn't antsy last weekend, either. I was/am glad to relax after a busy workweek.

In addition Hawk got her Covid shot and flu shot Friday afternoon. She was achy Saturday and Sunday, so it's good she didn't have any plans to go anywhere. ...Actually she had loose plans for lunches with friends and postponed those to stay home.

No-Sun Sunday

Crummy weather Sunday contributed to me wanting to stay home and lay around like a slug. It was gloomy and drizzling in the morning, then got sunny for a bit after lunch, then back to gloomy all afternoon. Though the temperature was pleasant it looked like winter outside, so I internalized "It's winter, stay inside."

The gloom and drizzle are a reminder that the seasons are changing. Last weekend's unusually warm weather was likely the last hurrah for summer-like temperatures. Now it's going to be more like winter than summer for the next several months.

Last week I complained that it's not really clear what's going on with Covid right now. Well, while meaningful, comprehensive measures of disease activity and risk are still unavailable ("unavailable" meaning deliberately defunded, removed, and/or barred by government hijacked by disinformation peddlers and conspiracy theorists at multiple levels) we at least now have clarity on who should get another shot of the Covid vaccine and when it will be available.

The FDA on Monday approved the boosters formulated for the XBB.1.5 subvariant. Example news coverage: NBC News article, 11 Sep 2023. There's a two-step dance between the FDA and the CDC in the US. The FDA determines it's safe, then the CDC issues recommendations or guidelines on who should get it. The UK's NHS recently issued very narrow guidelines, recommending the shot only for persons aged 65+ or working in high-risk environments or with severe illness. Thus it was a bit surprising when the CDC came out on Tuesday with a broad recommendation that everyone over 6 months old get the booster. Example news coverage: Washington Post article, 12 Sep 2023.

Furthermore, to the question of when is it available, the answer is almost immediately. CVS Pharmacy evidently had good contingency plans for this positive decision and announced it would have shots available at 1000s of its pharmacies this week. Other pharmacy chains should follow soon. I will likely get the shot in October and pair it with a flu shot.

It's been almost 24 hours (technically 22 at the moment) since I got bivalent Covid booster and flu shots yesterday just before lunchtime. I wondered how series my side effects would be as this time I got the Moderna shot, which anecdotally my friends have said hits harder than the Pfizer shot. Well, now I know... and the answer is the side effects are noticeable but still way, way better than catching even a mild case of Covid.

By 9pm yesterday evening I was starting to feel body aches. It was unclear, though, how much of that was booster shot side effects vs. normal 9pm achiness from getting older. I went to bed around 9:30, having cleared yesterday evening and this morning to be able to take it easy.

I slept well at first but then awoke at 1am. My arms felt heavy and useless like two pieces of wet lumber (I got one shot in each arm) and were sore, and I had dull body soreness as well. I then tossed and turned until almost 4am with body temperature regulation problems. Once I got back to sleep I slept in 'til almost 8, well after my 6:45am weekday alarm. Yeah, I slapped that snooze button a lot.

An hour later, I've rousted myself from bed, showed, dressed, eaten a small breakfast, and checked my temperature (it's close to normal). I've still got some residual achiness but I'm looking forward to getting back to normal today.

The bivalent coronavirus booster shot has been available for a few weeks now. It's updated to provide better protection to the omicron strain. I've made an appointement to get my booster shot late next week. This will be my 5th shot overall. I'll get my annual flu shot, too, while I'm there.

As with my previous coronavirus booster I thought about whether to "run or walk" to get the shot. Like last time, I decided the right course was the middle path. I guess that would be "Walk quickly"? 😅

My thinking about when to get the shot came down to timing. I had a business trip last week— yes, the one that got canceled partway through by Hurricane Ian— but it was too early to get the shot a few weeks ahead of that. It takes a few weeks for the body to mount peak defenses after a shot. I have another business trip planned for late October, so I decided I'd get the shot in early October.

And that's where I decided not to "run". Finding appointments for, like, this Thursday or Friday is really hard. I'd have to drive... 20-30 minutes... and be there at a bad time of day! Of course, that's nothing compared to driving 105 miles for my first shot, in March 2021. Compared to that I'm lazy now. I'm willing to wait an extra week to get one at my neighborhood CVS pharmacy, less than 2 miles away.

Over the last week I've been pondering whether to run or walk to get my second Covid-19 booster shot. Vague to non-existent guidance from the CDC and FDA have not helped. Recommendations from experts interviewed by the media (typically leading academics in medicine and public health) are to consider one's own risk level within the category of being age 50+. Then decide whether to "run, or just walk" to get a shot.

I chatted with a few of my friends about it. Most of them aren't yet to the 6 month interval from their first booster so they've got to wait a few weeks anyway. I'm eligible pretty much now. (Actually my last booster was 11 Oct 2021 so I'm supposed to wait a few days... but clinics don't seem to care.) What crystallized the decision for me was being voluntold by my company to support an in-person conference in early May in Georgia. I'll want a booster before heading into anti-mask conspiracy theoryland.

On the spectrum of "run, or just walk" I decided I don't need to run. I did check for appointments today and tomorrow, though. The closest is a 30 minute drive away. Would that count as "run"? I guess after I drove 105 miles each way for my first shot that set the bar pretty high. Maybe driving out of my way over a long lunch break would be just "walk quickly". 🤣

Next week we're in Hawaii. I thought of trying to get a shot in Hawaii but decided not to cloud my vacation with worries about getting a shot— or losing a day of vacation to sleeping off the side effects. I booked an appointment for a week from Monday, right after we get back. And it's only an easy 4 mile/10 minute drive away.

Monday I got two vaccine shots. Not, not the Coronavirus vaccine— I got those months ago. These were the shingles vaccine and pneumococcal vaccine.

"I got all the vaccines when I was a kid," you might think. That may be true; there are a bunch of vaccines recommended in early childhood. I got all the standard childhood vaccines, too. But there are various additional vaccines and boosters recommended for adults. See the CDC's Vaccine Information for Adults plus additional Recommended Vaccines for Adults based on age and risk factors. The shingles vaccine is recommended for adults 50+. That's me, now.

Sometimes vaccines cause side effects. With the Coronavirus vaccines mild body aches and sleepiness within a 24 hour period were common. When I got the booster 3rd shot I had swelling around the injection site. A similar thing has happened this week after the shingles vaccine jab.

I've got a bruise on my arm around the injection site. It's about 3 inches across, discolored, and slightly swollen. At the moment I'm deeming this to be within the range of normal side effects, though I've sent a message (including this picture) to my doctor asking her opinion on whether I should continue toughing it out or seek clinical attention.

BTW, for any who point to side effects like this as a reason to avoid vaccines: I would much rather have a 100% chance of a bruise like this that goes away in a few days than a 1-in-3 chance (CDC info page) of getting shingles.

UPDATE: My doctor's clinic replied to my text message with a link to the CDC's page, "What you can expect after getting Shingrix" (Shingrix is the brand name of the vaccine). Front and center is a picture of swelling around an injection site that looks very similar to the picture I sent. I don't know if they intended that response to be mildly humorous, but it was to me.

The CDC approved Covid-19 booster shots for the Moderna and J&J vaccines Thursday night. Approximately 100 million Americans are now eligible for a booster. Example news coverage: CNBC article 23 Oct 2021; CNN.com article 21 Oct 2021.

Eligibility differs by which shot or shots a person got originally, though. For the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines it's:

• All people 65+
• People 18+ with underlying conditions that increase their likelihood of Covid complications
• People 18+ who live or work in a long-term care facility, homeless shelter and prison or other congregate setting
• People 18+ with front-line jobs that put them at higher risk of Covid exposure

For J&N recipients the list is simpler:

•  Everyone 18+.

Presumably this corresponds to the J&N single-shot initial vaccination having been less effective overall than the others' two-shot regimen.

Hawk started looking for an appointment to get a booster shot Thursday night. I got mine 2 weeks ago since I had the Pfizer shots initially. Hawk is on "Team Moderna". Clinics weren't offering Moderna appointments yet. I figure they need a few days to get organized around the new policy. I recall it taking several days after the Pfizer booster approval before clinics got their stuff together to start delivering additional shots.

Update: It took persistence but Hawk got her shot today. Previous updates to this blog entry are in this new entry linked.