Let’s Talk About the COVID Vaccines!
Celeste Finet, Associate Director, Communications and Development
Why was getting vaccinated important to you?
Getting vaccinated was important to me for so many reasons, some big and some small, some selfish and some selfless. They’re tangled all together but the most simple thread running through is a desire to somehow be a positive in the world. Writing it out almost sounds like I have this grandiose idea about myself but what I think it boils down to is this sense that there are so many negative things happening every day, everywhere, to so many people, and if I can do something positive, then that’s what I should be doing.
To me, that positive thing can be hosting Friendsgiving or throwing a birthday party, flying to St. Louis to accept the privilege of being named godmother to my best friend’s baby, celebrating my parent’s anniversary, or just going to a quiet dinner with a friend who I haven’t seen in a while.
All of those things are positives in my life and none of those things have been possible or safe in light of COVID. The vaccine, to me, is the ultimate positive. It made those things possible again and getting the vaccine makes it possible for me to keep being that positive that I always want to be.
If you had any side effects, what were they like?
My vaccine side effects were wildly different between my first shot and my second shot. The day after my first dose, my arm was a little bit achy and felt heavy but that passed quickly and I didn’t have any other side effects.
The second shot was much different. The morning after, I was really fatigued, felt aches and pains all over, and had a low fever. It felt like the very beginnings of having the flu. My side effects lasted about two to two and a half days.
What are you most looking forward to doing after you are fully vaccinated?
There are so, so many things I want to do now that I’m vaccinated but the one that I’ve been daydreaming about recently with increasing frequency is going back to Zabars, standing in the crowd at the deli, and ordering little containers of all of my favorite things to take to Central Park for a picnic.
It feels less about the food and more about experiencing and participating in the controlled chaos of it all, among the people clutching their tickets and listening to be called, shouting their orders, and pointing at the particular knish they want. I just want to be around people again.
