Covid vaccine side-effects: Given all the lives lost, what's a headache and the shivers? – Steve Cardownie

Another blue envelope popped through my letter box last week, this one inviting me to attend the EICC to get my second Covid-19 vaccine jab and it could have not come soon enough.

The harrowing scenes from India witnessed daily on our TV screens, should serve as a reminder, if one was needed, about how important it is to get the protection that the vaccine offers.

Yesterday this paper helpfully explained the side-effects that the vaccine may have, including headache, fatigue, chills and shiver, diarrhoea, fever, joint pain, muscle pain and nausea whilst informing the reader that “25.4 per cent of vaccinated people suffered from one or more of systematic side-effects”.

The paper re-emphasised that that means "only one in four people will have mild (my emphasis) systematic side-effects”.

As someone who suffered no side-effects whatsoever from the first dose it remains to be seen if that will be the case after my second dose but that will not deter me from beating a path to the clinic for my appointment.

Having lost a friend to Covid-19 and witnessed the effect it had on another who thankfully recovered, I am in no mood to jeopardise my or my family’s well-being through ill-conceived concern over a few possible, mild side-effects.

Even if I experienced all the potential side-effects at the same time, they would still pale into insignificance when compared to the possible alternative.

Some people experience mild side-effects from the Covid vaccine, but that's nothing compared to the dangers of catching the disease (Picture: Michael Gillen)

While I can always recover from side-effects, recovering from death might just prove to be a wee bit more problematic!

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