CLEVELAND — Dr. Kristin Englund said she couldn’t be prouder to be one of the first vaccinated for COVID-19.

“It was an amazing experience to watch the vaccine be drawn up and to actually feel it going into your arm and feel like you were part of history,” she said. “I was smiling the whole time. Totally excited.”

The Cleveland Clinic infectious disease specialist got her first shot of the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19 on Dec. 18.

“I woke up the next day and felt some symptoms, mostly of arthritis in my hands,” Englund said. “So, my joints were feeling quite stiff, little bit achy, arm was sore where the vaccine had been.”

For the second dose on Jan. 15, she prepared and took Ibuprofen beforehand.

“My arm was sore,” she said. “But one thing that I found is I went to my Tae Kwon Do class that next day, and by moving around and using that arm, it really worked out any of the discomfort.”

Englund said these types of side effects are common and expected, especially after the second dose.

She explained that the first shot just primes your system.

“By the time you get to the second dose, your body’s already seen the virus for the first time, so you’re going to amount more of a response because you already have some antibodies that are present,” said Englund.

Some people have reported flu-like symptoms such as soreness, muscle aches, headaches, low grade fever, and fatigue after the second shot.

Englund said those effects should subside within 48 hours.

Clinical trials for both Pfizer and Moderna indicated it likely would happen and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is keeping track of adverse reactions.

“They’re not holding back,” she said. “There’s nothing that’s out there that’s not being reported at this point in time and the allergic reactions that they have seen, a small number, about 11 per million cases of an allergic reaction, and those have typically been happening within the first 15 minutes after getting the vaccine.”

Englund said getting both doses is critical.

“The studies have shown that after the first vaccine dose we’re really only about 50-60 percent protected. So, there’s not a guarantee that you’re going to be immunized completely until you get that second dose, and with that the numbers are astounding,” Englund said. “We’re able to see that the vaccine is 95 percent effective. Very few vaccines can state that they’re 95 percent effective.”

For anyone with questions or concerns regarding the COVID-19 vaccine, Dr. Englund encourages them to utilize trusted sources like the CDC for reliable information.

“The reward of getting this vaccine is you can’t even compare that with 24 hours of a sore arm or some achiness,” she said. “It is, there’s no comparison. I mean this is a lifesaving, literally a lifesaving vaccine and something that everybody should be getting.”

Englund said people need to keep their guards up by continuing to mask up and social distance until herd immunity is achieved.