Thanks for the glimmer of hope.
My Rite Aid searches include eastern PA. No luck. No idea if I can get the vaxx in either state.

I think CVS recently got doses, as well.

A friend mentioned a local facebook group comprised of people sharing their experiences and information. That is what led me to stalking Rite Aid at midnight for openings.

I was able to get my dad an appointment at Walgreens in Philly. The reason I didn't mentioned them is because I have only noticed them having appointments in the city. Philly is currently 75+, so I could get my dad in, but my mom didn't qualify.

I have a few friends in NJ and if I hear anything, I'll pass it along.

Good luck!

Our own jayteeme has advised against doing this. Seems possible, maybe even likely, that ibuprofen will interfere with the vaccine doing what it's supposed to do.

https://www.healthline.com/health-ne...VID-19-vaccine

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...ccine-n1256896

It sounds like vaccinations will be ramping up dramatically starting next week.

I received an email today from our local health district that they just received 5,000 doses of the J&J vaccine. By comparison, they had only been receiving about 2,000 doses per week of the other two vaccines combined.

I was told the best thing to do was suck it up, and just let the vaccine do its thing.

Yep. That's what I did. It was fine. For the most part I just slept all day the next day and was pretty much 100% the second day after. It would have sucked having to go to work the next day, for sure, but not impossible.

So I can't take any ibuprofen for 5 weeks?

I think it's just for the day that the side effects hit.

For those of you who've been through the vaccine, do they ask anything about recent medical history?

I'm having a minor procedure this week, wondering if that's an issue re: vaccine.

Also, just because ibuprofen's not advised, having a couple drinks to ease the pain is still ok, right?

I think the recommendation is not to take anything that reduces fever before you get the vaccine in anticipation of pain. Probably doesn't hurt to avoid those for immediately afterwards. I set an arbitrary limit of 24 hours for myself, but that is probably overkill.

I did quite a bit of searching for info when I took mine and even the recommendation to avoid anything beforehand seems based on one study of an entirely different vaccine with children, so even that may not be necessary. I figured since some practitioners were recommending it, that I didn't want to go through the inconvenience of getting vaccinated only to screw it up because I couldn't tolerate a headache or muscle ache for a little while.

Yes, but the questions are designed to determine how long / how closely you should be observed after the shot, and not to exclude people, as far as I understand it. I think only anaphylaxis history excludes people.

Same understanding I have. A friend of mine had a minor reaction after her first shot and summoned the personnel tasked with observing her. They told her that they were only looking for anaphylactic reactions and that she was good to go!

Yes, this is what my mom (nurse) told me when I called the morning after feeling horrid. She did say that just one tylenol/ibuprofen wouldn't hurt, so that's exactly what I did. That was enough to blunt the headache and just rested for the rest of the day and that was that.

They only ask if you are allergic to anything, and if you've had any other vaccinations in the last two weeks.

Not in NY, or at least not at the Javits center, a NY state run facility. I had a series of questions about autoimmune conditions, whether I had taken certain medications including steroids in last two weeks, etc.

Did anyone else have a short (3-5 second) intense headrush (for lack of a better term) roughly 4-5 minutes after the first shot (Pfizer)?

I didn't say anything to anyone but then my friend randomly said she had the same thing.

Update, 12 hours later arm is sore (maybe 2x as sore as it was after my last flu shot), but wasn't enough to keep me from going to the driving range today. I'm supposed to play golf tomorrow but will definitely be playing that one by ear and cancelling if I feel sicker in the AM.

36 hours after first shot of Pfizer - zero side effects, not even sore arm. If I was in a study I'd be convinced I got a placebo.

I've been on 2 long hikes since getting the shot - no problems.

36 hours after Moderna shot #2, the fever/chills are gone. My injection site is still sore, and I have a few muscular aches hanging around, but otherwise feel back to normal.

After my first Moderna shot, I had a fever/chills/aches etc. I’m a bit nervous what the 2nd shot will do.

It IS a bit bizarre to knowingly make yourself ill, but this was definitely a better option than fading the actual COVID.

Isn't that pretty much how all vaccines work?

In theory, yes. In practice, side effects vary depending on the vaccine. Most people don’t get any reaction from a flu shot, for instance.

Yeah, no reaction to a flu shot for me, ever. Shingles vaccine on the other hand, way worse than the covid one was. Similar in effect, but felt a lot worse.

I almost always feel crappy after getting my yearly flu vaccine, but Infelt nothing after the shingles one.