Emmily McKinzie
A&E Editor
With the vaccine being distributed, our Covid worries are still present. Health care workers in Oregon hospitals have been chosen to receive the vaccine and are some of the first in our community to do so.
Jessica McKinzie, who works at Mount Talbert Medical Center, was among these people that were picked for the vaccine. She received the Moderna vaccine, the second one to be released.
“I felt good for the first 10 minutes after receiving it then my throat and tongue started to swell and continue to swell until rapid response had to come. After 30 minutes the swelling had gone down and I was able to continue to go back to work,” McKinzie said.
Even though this reaction may have been alarming, she was taken care of and was better within the next couple of days.
“For the next two days my swelling went down and my arm was in a lot of pain and I had dealt with an incredible amount of fatigue,” McKinzie said.
Kelley McKinzie had also been given the Moderna vaccine and had little to no side effects at all.
“My experience was fine. My arm hurt afterward and I felt tired, but not so tired I had to take a nap, coffee definitely helped! I did not have a reaction and my arm did not even bruise after receiving the vaccine,” she said.
Two vaccines were released around early December and both have the same side effects after receiving the vaccine. The Pfizer vaccine was the first vaccine and the Moderna the second one released. Both were created to deliver mRNA into your body which turns your cells into spike protein factories. Doing so helps create antibodies to fight the virus.
The only difference between the two is the Pfizer vaccine has to be kept at the same temperature as dried ice. Moderna does not need to be kept that cold unless it is being kept for a long time.
With both vaccines being recently released, Oregon is trying to push 12,000 vaccines daily in order to get everyone vaccinated. Phase 1b is their next goal for vaccinations, those getting vaccinated include first responders, teachers, food/agriculture workers, manufacturing workers, postal service workers, public transit workers, and grocery store workers.
Gov. Kate Brown made a statement that the teachers will be eligible for the vaccination starting Jan. 27. Teachers have been split into four “waves” for receiving the vaccine, with Pre-K to 1st grade going first. Teachers of 2nd-5th grades are in wave two, followed by 6th-8th grade teachers third and high school teachers in the fourth and final wave. How long this will all take is dependent on when vaccines and appointments are available.
The Pioneer Press 