An early booster
22 August 2021Today I had my third Covid-19 vaccine jab. Officially it is only my second but in reality I have been fully vaccinated for some time now, and this is all down to the type of stifling bureaucracy that was responsible for me leaving the UK in the first place. Having said that at least in this case there is an easy work-around that I have no objection to having, and in fact I see it as an opportunity.
I had my first jab here in the UK but then six weeks later was about to get a second jab while I was back overseas sorting various things out. In the process the overseas vaccinators were happy to put my UK vaccination onto their record so I now have an EU Digital Covid Certificate, but despite many promises to the contrary the UK does not recognise overseas jabbings. As a result I am taking the path of least resistance and having a “second” jab here — and based on stories I have heard about others, it was pretty clear to me that it was best to keep quiet about my overseas jab. The way things are going with a reported potential reduction in effectiveness of BioNTech's Comirnaty there are already plans afloat for people to have top-up shots, and I concluded that having a third shot would actually be a good thing.
As for side-effects I actually found them to be milder after the second dose compared to the first, which is opposite from what other people have reported to me. There was the universal sore arm but on the whole I felt much more dopey and generally not really on the ball after the first than I was with the second — I did make a full list of side-effects first time round but I am not sure where I have put it. The third jab did bring some tiredness but other things I did around the same time could just have easily caused it.