Cape Town – Twenty-seven days after her first dose of the Moderna vaccine, South African born Melissa King, has received her second dose .
King said she hoped her openness would help people understand and trust the vaccines were safe.
“My appointment was this morning, 27 days after my first dose and as of right now, 3 hours later I feel good. My arm was a little tender again if anything. I was told by the nurse administering the vaccine that I may show flu/cold symptoms within the next two days as my body builds an immune response,” she said.
According to King, from what she had seen and asked from others who’ve had their second dose, the symptoms have varied from nothing at all to flu/cold symptoms.
“Personally I’d rather feel a little sick for a day or two than battle through uncertain effects of having Covid both during and long term. I hope that being open about the process helps people understand and trust that's okay,” said King.
King works as a medical assistant at Randolph Dermatology and Mohs Micrographic Surgery in New Jersey, where they perform minor surgeries of benign tumours and malignant skin cancers.
“Instead of worrying about what side effects the vaccine might bring about, think about how hard our bodies are working to create the antibodies to fight the virus that has taken away our freedom. We’ve got to trust science and health care, professionals,” she said.
According to data compiled by the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, as of Monday afternoon, 26.5 million Americans had received one or both doses of the current vaccines.
About 1.34 million Covid-19 doses have been administered daily. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, 26.3 million people in the US have tested positive for the disease, and 443 000 have died.