Mike Groom is an emergency room registered nurse. Once the vaccine was available at his hospital, he signed up to get his first dose and has now completed both doses.
He has been COVID-19 negative since the beginning of the pandemic but says getting the vaccine means a lot to him.
“I really can’t afford to be missing work too much, so the vaccine, if anything, helps me keep safe while I’m at work and that’s where my decision ultimately came from as far as getting the vaccine,” he says.
After his first shot, he says he felt a few side effects. His arm was noticeably tender, and he had a headache and sore throat that both lingered for a few days. Despite many coworkers reporting feeling worse after the second dose, Groom says he just had a mild headache.
He says the vaccine is the way to get society back to normal, especially when efforts like social distancing and mask wearing aren’t taken seriously.
“As far as the vaccine goes, this is way to kinda step forward with it. My confidence is kinda shook in society in general with what responses have been to, you know, social distancing and properly addressing the situation at hand, so, but I mean, this is the way to move forward,” he says.
