How life changes after you receive both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine

Dating during the pandemic is becoming less complicated and risky for attorney Shelley O’Connor.

Luis Parocua Jr. is no longer awakened by COVID-19 nightmares, caused by the devastation he saw in his former hospital job.

Gone is the “growing anxiety” that Alice Liston says she felt when going to her health work at home using public transport.

These three Californians – along with more than 5.5 million others in the state who received at least one dose of vaccine – are entering the post-inoculation world of the pandemic, where some vaccinees plan to travel by plane, eat in restaurants, hug family members and have a sex life with other vaccinated people.

None of the interviewees planned to throw their masks up – as the Franciscans did (prematurely) at the end of the first year of the 1918 flu pandemic – or to book a cruise ship tour.

Some don’t even plan to relax their habits. Many have become accustomed to the frightening waves, the twists and turns of each new variant and the ingrained caution in a year of warnings and increased death toll. They want cases to drop and more people to be vaccinated before they actually let their guard down.

“It doesn’t end until it’s over,” said Liston, a 30-year-old Berkeley home health assistant.

Vaccines have reason to be cautious, experts say. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have been shown to be about 95% effective, which is reassuringly high, but not 100%. Preliminary encouraging data suggest that most vaccinated people do not transmit the virus. Even so, it is possible that inoculated individuals, without showing symptoms, spread the virus. That’s why they must still wear masks.

Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, 73, a medical epidemiologist at UCLA and an infectious disease specialist, received his second dose of the Pfizer vaccine last week and should have maximum protection 14 days later.

Even so, said Kim-Farley, he will mask and distance himself from his grandchildren for his safety and when he goes out in public. But he goes to the supermarket every few days, instead of twice a month.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that such precautions should continue because of uncertainties, including how long the vaccine will last. The group continues to advise against unnecessary travel and federal rules require that even vaccinated travelers test negative for the virus before returning from abroad.

But health experts who have been vaccinated say they would feel comfortable flying, especially after case rates have dropped. Fully vaccinated people can eat together, have sex with each other and socialize safely, said Dr. Robert Wachter, 63, a professor and head of the Department of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco.

“I think life can get back to normal when you’re talking about what two vaccinated people can do together,” said Wachter, who received both doses and now does the shopping for the whole family.

Like many essential workers, Parocua spent much of 2020 fearing he would be infected with the virus. He saw the pandemic up close, working as a sterilization technician for surgical instruments at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, before retiring late last year.

Now fully inoculated, the Monterey Park resident said he was sleeping better and even had dinner outdoors at a steakhouse after receiving his second injection.

“This is good. If I go there and get sick, at least I know I am not going to die,” said Parocua, 65.

Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease specialist who teaches at UC Berkeley, has been holed up in his East Bay home with his wife for a year. Both are in their 70s. With men more likely to die of infectious diseases than women, his wife, a few years younger, did all the shopping, wearing a mask and face shield.

Swartzberg became his wife’s hairdresser. Instead of risking the virus in a beauty salon, she chose her hair color and applied it at home. Swartzberg painted his back on her. “She said I lost my calling,” he joked.

Now he is fully vaccinated and his wife will soon be. He said he would only take “baby steps” towards freedom.

“I’m not going to completely relax on the last leg of this,” he said. “You don’t want to be the last soldier to die after the armistice is declared.”

Among the concerns of the inoculated ones are new variants of the virus, which spread more quickly and are more resistant to the vaccine. Many health experts believe that vaccines will need to be reformulated to provide longer-lasting immunity, with booster vaccines administered over the next six to 18 months, said Wachter.

Although many in California suffer from “vaccine envy”, not all eligible people are eager to gain immunity.

Alma Rosa Calvillo, a 58-year-old janitor who works for several clinics in South Los Angeles, was reluctant to receive the injections. Half of his family thought it would be too risky. But she gave in when she came to work one day and the clinic had a place for her.

“I said, well, if the doctor is taking it and the medical assistants are doing it, so can I,” she said.

After receiving his second chance on February 4, Calvillo immediately called his daughter in Burbank, who gave birth to a baby girl seven months ago. “Now that I have both vaccines, I can go and visit!” she said to her daughter.

But her daughter feared it was not yet safe. She said Calvillo spent a lot of time in the clinic and in public, and the girl could be infected. After moving from skepticism to exaltation, Calvillo now recognizes that vaccinations can only change slightly.

“You know, Latinos help their children raise them,” said Calvillo. “I just saw [the baby] once, and I didn’t even carry it. I feel bad, because I feel that they are rejecting me. But I have to respect your thoughts. “

Nidia Salas, 68, a retiree who lives in Burbank, said she suffered from depression and gained weight when the pandemic closed the world for the first time. Now that she and her hospital janitor son are fully vaccinated, they plan to visit Las Vegas to celebrate their birthday in April.

Salas said she would continue to be careful, wearing two masks and cleaning often, but her old life is slowly resurfacing. She and a friend vaccinated last week went out to eat and shop together: “I think we need to live life.”

For some of those vaccinated, it is time to schedule postponed medical and dental appointments.

Makda Ghebreyesus, 29, a teacher who lives with her mother in San Leandro, California, plans to travel to Mexico for dental treatment after receiving her second dose. The procedure she needs costs $ 4,000 in California, she said, but only $ 1,000 in Los Algodones, known as Molar City, a border town that serves Americans looking for cheaper dental treatment.

For others, like O’Connor, the vaccine will allow for more romance. The Walnut Creek resident, 67, signed up for online dating in December, but she was only able to meet her dates for hiking with masks.

Last weekend, she went for a walk and a picnic with a university professor who, like her, had received her first dose of vaccine. At the next meeting, the two will be fully vaccinated. She will visit her son, who lives in Salt Lake City, on Mother’s Day.

For many in the San Francisco Bay area, the pandemic hit home last March, when the cruise ship Grand Princess was forced to remain at sea because of sick passengers and crew. The cruise industry then shut down, encouraging people like Clarissa and John Barry to cancel a planned boat trip to Alaska.

The retired couple, who live in the East Bay suburb of Alamo, want to travel again, possibly to Europe, but do not want to take a cruise now.

Said Clarissa, 73, a retired administrator: “It will be a few years before we do this.”