David Flores, an emergency nurse at UCSD, received the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Thursday. Unlike the first dose, it came with side effects.
“My hips were killing me,” said Flores. “I had trouble sleeping because of that. I couldn’t get comfortable. My back, knees and ankles hurt. “
Flores said many of his co-workers shared similar experiences.
“It is something we see in clinical trials,” said Dr. Edward Cachay, an infectious disease specialist at UCSD. “When people receive the second dose, they are receiving the second boost to try to achieve maximum effectiveness. Therefore, when stimulating the immune system, in general people develop joint pain and mild fevers that usually last from 24 to 48 hours.
According to Pfizer, about 3.8% of participants in their clinical trials experienced fatigue as a side effect and 2% had a headache.
Moderna says that 9.7% of the participants felt tired and 4.5% had a headache.
But, regardless of side effects, Dr. Cachay says it is extremely important that patients receive the second dose of the vaccine.
“Whenever you get your first injection, you are only protected about 51%, so you need that second dose to get that 95% against COVID-19,” he said.
Despite the joint pain, Flores says there is no doubt that he made the right decision to move forward with the vaccine.
“It is the lesser of two evils,” said Flores. “Being sick for a day or two and being dead or sick for months or days is a good trade-off.”
Dr. Cachay adds that patients do not reach maximum immunity until 10 to 14 days after the second dose.
According to UCSD officials, they have already given the vaccine to approximately 10,000 workers. Many of them have already started receiving the second dose.
They add, only 3% of employees refused the vaccine.