Ladies (and gents), may I suggest that we take an antihistamine + acetaminophen before getting the injection. I probably take my prednisone as well to suppress the reaction, but all of these autoimmune suppression will deactivate the covid vaccine, because the idea of vaccination is to mount an autoimmune response to produce an antibody. I don't know if the covid vaccine would be effective in a lupus sufferer who receives treatment like me, because (a) my lupus autoimmunity may overcome the immune response of the vaccine, (b) my immunosuppressants drugs are not at a dose to suppress my own autoimmunity to allow the vaccine to work.

I wonder what your thoughts are about autoimmune sufferers like us getting vaccination - useless/futile?

Achy, It sounded like an allergic reaction to me but I am not a doctor! I don't know where you live but in the USA, the whole thing has been so politicized. I heard a shocking statistic that 200,000 people have died of covid-19 here in the USA since January 2021. You are right that people think this is over. One thing said one time by the main expert, then he says another thing. People don't believe anything anymore, and I talk to both liberals and conservatives. I had an honest doctor admit this to me. The main news channels selling fear. I know so many older women who feel the shots guaranteed immunity. Now we have the variants here in my county, in my state, growing big time, and all these older women are not wearing masks any longer, traveling, thinking they are immune. We meet for bookclub and we decided to meet outside in the heat for next month. But first, someone booked us a meeting place inside and thought this was just fine as we are all vaccinated. She didn't know what was going on and thinks we are now immune. Just as you said. Now they are saying that a small minority of fully vaccinated are getting the variant here and being hospitalized but the majority of sick have not been vaccinated. 80% not vaccinated and 20% vaccinated for hospitalized statistics. No one is telling us if the non-vaccinated had had covid-19 before or not.

Andromeda: I don't know how to answer that. But here's my experience: I checked with my rhumatologist before getting the vaccine and he said it was ok to take either the Pfizer or Moderna or J&J. (I have Sjogren's (which is an autoimmune disease) and fibro.)

Also, the reason for my delay in taking the vaccine was because I was taking several courses of steroids for a nerve pinch due to a compressed disk in my spine. I had to wait for at least two weeks for the steroid to exit my system, otherwise, it'd make the vaccine ineffective (or at least, less effective). I suppose that since the steroid was to decrease inflammation, it'd oppose the vaccine's process.

Urbangardener: I live in Northern CA (SF bay area). High vaccination rate here, but everyone I see outside and inside stores are all still wearing masks.

Regarding allergy to PEG (a "stabilizer" in the mRNA vaccines, not a "preservative"), I found this article (dated Dec. 17, 2020):

https://bjanaesthesia.org/article/S0007-0912(20)31009-6/fulltext

I also found out that PEG was not used in vaccines until recently. The routine flu shots do not generally contain PEG. (Maybe that's why I didn't react badly to those.)

Achybones, I am due to get the Pfizer vaccine in late August. I am very nervous because I am super hyperallergic, and I have lupus. I have not had the flu vaccines for 20 years, even through bird flu, SARS or swine flu.

My Mom had a bad reaction to the Pfizer vaccine, and she exhibited flu like symptoms for more than 10 days. Gosh, I wonder if my vaccination will result with my hospitalisation. The area where I live has become the epicentre for the delta strain, and the local hospital is infested with the delta coronavirus. i would not be surprised if I catch corona in the event that I am admitted into that hospital.

We can't assume that we will have the same reaction as another person. My husband had almost no reaction, sore arm and headache for a short period of time. I had the headache and body aches and sore arm plus blood in the urine which is being reported on the VAERS system here in the USA. I know of one friend who felt crummy for longer than most. I know of tons of others who claim they had no bad effects. My son was sick for a few days and could not go to work. We are all different and the side effects are varied, which is what makes this whole thing more frightening to many of us.

Thanks for the correction, achy, that PEG is a stabilizer.

Andromeda, Perhaps your doctor can prescribe you an epi pen ahead of time, so that you can use it if you get an allergic reaction?

I understand your concern about catching covid in a hospital. Within the last 6 months, I was in a hospital for an overnight stay. I was also in and out of the ER. I was super afraid of catching the virus, but I didn't! The hospitals are very careful to check everyone's temperature and/or give the covid test before they assign them to the proper locations of the hospital. The covid ward is separate.