COVID PM: Talking vaccine side effects + California is well on its way

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Happy Friday, folks — I’m happy to report that my brief vaccine No. 1 malaise was very temporary.

I awoke with a lingering headache this morning, but a cup of coffee and a dip in the chilly ocean seemed to shake me back to normalcy.

Even the shoulder pain that came on late in the day — with the headache — after a morning dose of Moderna had subsided.

To that end, it’s interesting to know that my experience seems to fall within the majority of others locally. We had 52 responses to our survey on vaccine side effects and, as you can see below, 59.6% had a similar tale to tell.

I’m sure glad not to have fallen in among the 11.5% that faced severe symptoms that lasted several days.

And now to the best of the Friday headlines …

Half of the state at least partially vaccinated

VACCINE WATCH: More than half of California adults have now received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, a promising milestone that comes as the state is now inoculating as wide a swath of its residents as possible. More on that from the LA Times here.

A COVID vaccine without the needle?

VACCINE WATCH: Soon vaccines could be taken orally as a capsule that could be swallowed, as a tablet that dissolves under the tongue or as a nasal spray. Such formulations would not require refrigeration, nor would they need healthcare workers to administer them. More from the LAT on this developing phenomenon.

The shock and reality of catching COVID after being vaccinated

PANDEMIC LIFE: At least 5,800 people of the tens of millions of people who have received a COVID vaccine have fallen ill or tested positive for the virus two weeks or more after being fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “I now tell everyone, including my colleagues, not to let their guard down.” More on this from Kaiser Health News.

Will pausing the J&J save lives or cost them?

Nurse Cherry Costales prepares to administer COVID-19 vaccine at St. John's Well Child & Family Center in Los Angeles. — Nurse Cherry Costales prepares to administer COVID-19 vaccine at St. John’s Well Child & Family Center in Los Angeles. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

VACCINE WATCH: It’s been made clear that even a brief pause in the use of one of three authorized vaccines will leave some Americans vulnerable to a serious case of COVID-19. Some will surely join the more than 565,000 Americans who have died of the disease. But some who would have gotten the vaccine and gone on to develop a blood clot might also have died. The LAT explores further here.