Flu — Blog — Healy Chen

Booster round two

I read on the news an update to the Pfizer COVID vaccine that targets the latest omicron variant is now approved and available. I never did get my second booster shot: the first booster was way back in November of last year. Seems like a good time now to get what would be my fourth shot. And because it’s flu season, might as well get the flu vaccine at the same time.

Sadly, the local CVS pharmacy at Target is not offering the COVID vaccine any longer? It’s where I got my booster last time, but I wasn’t able to book any appointments. That’s a shame because I now have to get in a car. A friend informed me that Walgreens pharmacy is offering the updated booster - plus the flu vaccine. So I mimetically went to the Walgreens website to make an appointment. There were plenty to be had at locations around my zip code.

Next Friday evening will be the day. It should offer enough leeway over the weekend should I experience heavy symptoms. The two primary Pfizer shots only resulted in a sore arm, but the booster shot absolutely wrecked me hard. I’m definitely tempting fate here by getting the COVID and flu vaccine concurrently. Perhaps I can bro-science my way out of this: if I expect symptoms to be mild, then my body will react accordingly.

This is going to be the yearly dance, isn’t it? COVID vaccine boosters every fall. It’s truly become just like the flu. Hopefully as the years go by, as herd immunity grows ever stronger, further COVID boosters would only be something necessary for the immune compromised and the elderly.

The cold is back

Tuesday morning I woke up with a strong head cold. Obviously, the first thing that came to mind is: oh my god, it’s COVID! However, I didn’t immediately do a rapid test because I felt bad enough that I emailed in sick to work. No point in wasting a test just yet if I weren’t feeling well to even leave the house. Besides, it was a only a head cold, nothing more.

On Wednesday I woke up feeling immensely better. I would put it as about 80 percent of normal. Much of the head congestion is gone, no doubt thanks to the heavy hydration routine the day before. I certainly felt good enough to go to work. But first things first: a rapid COVID test. No way I would go to campus with a positive result.

It was actually my first time doing a antigen test of the nasal swabbing type. The procedure is simple enough: swab each nose canal five full turns, then dip the swab onto a solution. The solution gets poured onto a result pad - not unlike a pregnancy test. 15 minutes after that you’ll know the result, provided you’ve done the steps correctly.

I luckily tested negative. It was indeed just a severe head cold. I guess as we head into the waning days of the pandemic that’s turning endemic, we are once again experiencing common respiratory ailments. Say what you want about mask wearing and hygiene theater, but they’ve really saved our butts from the cold and flu. As we relax those preventative measures, it’s only natural those ailments make a triumphant return.

It was kind of nice to stay home for the day, honestly.