My COVID Vaccine Experience

I got my first vaccine shot on April 15. My mom and I drove for about thirty minutes in on-and-off traffic to the vaccination site on the Los Angeles Southwest College campus. The site was in a parking garage, which my mom and I thought was odd, considering the sprawling expanse of the college campus. Nevertheless, we were vigorously waved up the flights of the garage by volunteers. 

As we drove further up, we noticed the system: one side of the garage on each level was sectioned off, and a few tables were lined up across the width, which was where the shots were being administered. On the third floor, we were told to park and head over to the line. Surprisingly, it wasn’t much of a line, considering that the 16 and up section had just been opened for vaccinations that day. We had been advised to register way in advance. 

The wait wasn’t long, and pretty soon, we were sitting down, ready for the administration. The woman at the table was sweet and asked me the standard questions, like if this was my first shot, or if I was allergic to medicines. Then she pulled out the vaccine. I was a little nervous about which one I would get since we weren’t told in advance. 

I got the Pfizer vaccine, which I was grateful for because it’s been shown to be the most effective. It was quick and painless, and before I knew it, we were done! Well, almost. We had to do a fifteen-minute wait in our car, just in case we experienced any negative symptoms. (While I waited, I read “The Magical Fish” by Trung Le Nguyen. It’s a beautiful graphic novel; you should check it out!) 

I was experiencing some fatigue as we rode home, but I didn’t have any other side effects. As we pulled up in the driveway, I couldn’t help but think about how odd this experience had been. If you had told me a year ago I would have to go to a college parking garage to get a vaccine to be immunized against an international virus, I would probably have been too nice to laugh in your face, but I definitely wouldn’t have taken you seriously. 

I got my second dose three weeks later. I’m so glad I was able to do my part in stopping the spread of coronavirus, and I hope that soon, we will be able to reach herd immunity.