The side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine were horrendous, but I’d take the jab again

The AstraZeneca vaccine unleashed severe muscle aches and pains but I wasn’t upset. I knew it was working, Sue Dunlevy argues.

Opinion: The side effects were horrendous, but I’d still take the COVID-19 jab again.

The AstraZeneca vaccine was my Mother’s Day present to myself but it unleashed severe muscle aches and pains, left me shivering, made my teeth chatter, my fingers and toes swell and my heart race.

Ten hours after the immunisation when the side effects kicked in it was like the worst case of influenza I’d ever had. I wasn’t upset, instead I was pleased. I knew it meant the vaccine was working.

My body was mounting an immune response and it was a fierce one. After reporting on the coronavirus and the vaccines for more than a year I was fully aware of the deadly risk it poses.

It kills a small number of people, inflames the lungs, you can end up on a ventilator for weeks and then need to learn to walk and talk again.

News Corp Australia journalist Sue Dunlevy. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

COVID-19 can cause brain damage, an immune over-reaction called a cytokine storm and it produces unusual blood clotting.

Yes, eight in 10 people will only get mild disease and many may not even know they caught the virus but even people with mild cases can be left with long term health problems.

Six months after a mild case of coronavirus six in 10 people had abnormalities in their blood chemistry, months on some were still finding it hard to breathe.

Most of them still had between one and nine symptoms including chronic fatigue, muscle and joint pain and loss of sense of smell.

There is even some evidence COVID-19 can bring on diabetes and cause metabolic abnormalities that put people at risks of heart disease.

Yes the vaccine made me feel terrible but I focused on how much worse the real illness would be.

I took some ibuprofen to ease the symptoms and felt slightly better the next day but the flu like symptoms returned.

Five days later as I write this I’m still lacking in energy and feeling tired and I’ve developed a persistent headache.

My husband received his jab two days earlier than me but his side effects were mild.

He experienced a “heavy head” and felt tired and lacking in energy for a day and then he was okay.

My parents, both in their 80s, had no side effects at all apart from the sore arm we all experienced.

I suffer from an auto-immune condition and this may be why my immune system over reacted.

The prolonged side effects are testing me but I still don’t regret having the shot.

I want to be protected against the virus because I know it’s the key to me being able to travel again and go the theatre and get on public transport safely.

But the most important reason to get vaccinated is to protect the rest of the community.

Getting vaccinated means I can socialise with my elderly family members without the fear of giving them an illness that could kill them.

Until most Australians get the jab our community won’t have the herd immunity that will allow us to open our borders and give us the confidence to plan for a festive event without fearing a COVID outbreak might send us into lockdown again.

From tomorrow anyone over the age of 50 can get an AstraZeneca jab from thousands of clinics around the country and in some states people aged under 50 can make an appointment for a Pfizer vaccine.

Please make an appointment.

Originally published as The side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine were horrendous, but I’d take the jab again