Two days ago I went to CVS and I got my fifth COVID-19 vaccine. Based on some of the reactions on social media from my readers, not everyone seems to approve or understand why I made this decision.
First, I want to be clear: whether or not you get vaccinated is, as I have said numerous times, entirely up to you. It’s a personal choice. I am extremely uncomfortable with vaccine mandates.
As for the particularities of my own situation: I am, objectively, a high-risk pulmonary patient. I have had swine flu, pneumonia more times than I can count, COVID-19 twice, bronchitis literally dozens of times, and last but not least: asthma. My lungs are my Achilles’ heel. I value the protection that the COVID-19 vaccines provide, not against getting infected in the first place, but becoming seriously ill to the point of requiring hospitalization.
Studies make pretty clear that the mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna tend to lose their efficacy in about four or five months. Therefore I am determined, unless things change and a superior product is released, to get vaccinated every six months.
My first four shots were Pfizer. The fifth one was Moderna. The side effects have been exactly the same each and every time: fever, aches, chills, fatigue, weakness.