On March 1, I went to get the second round of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Cal Poly, Pomona vaccination center, exactly 3 weeks after my first shot. Here you will find a detailed explanation of my experience receiving the second dose of this vaccine in Southern California as a 16-year-old and hopefully, you can get some insight into what your second vaccine could be like. If you would like to learn more about the process of receiving your initial COVID-19 vaccine, you can check out part 1 of this article at: https://chsnews.org/8707/news/getting-the-covid-19-vaccine-part-1/.

When I had originally scheduled my first vaccine, the system on myturn.ca.gov automatically set Monday, March 1 as the date for my next appointment and I was prompted to choose what time I would like the appointment to be and so I chose 4:45 that afternoon. That Sunday, the day before, I received an email reminder for my appointment along with the QR code and appointment number.
Monday afternoon, my Dad drove me back to the vaccination center at Cal Poly, Pomona and we went through the same parking process as before, except for this time the outside parking was filled so we were directed to one of the underground parking structures. After walking up the stairs to exit where we parked, we entered the same way as before and were directed to the first check-in station. This time, I only needed to go through one check where they looked at my ID (I, again, decided to use my passport ID instead of my school ID) along with the QR code and appointment number on my phone. Funnily, the worker who checked me in mentioned that he was the same one who had checked me in before. He gave me a green sticker to put on my shirt so that when I entered the next line to be directed to a vaccine booth the workers could see that I was checked. I was then sent to a booth only a minute or two after. This time, I was only with one worker who input my

information onto the computer and filled out the rest of my CDC card, which I had received after my first shot. I answered one question about whether or not I had ever had an allergic reaction to a vaccine and was shortly after given the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. It, again, did not even hurt.
The worker then gave me a blue sticker with the time I had received the vaccine at and then I went to wait for 15 minutes to ensure I did not have any bad reactions. The waiting area was more full than last time but was still not at maximum capacity. After 15 minutes, I had no reactions and so I was free to leave.

That afternoon, the only symptom I had was my right arm (where I had gotten the shot) bothering me sooner than it had before. Other than that, I felt great the rest of the night and went to bed at around midnight feeling completely normal. At around 3 AM that night, I awoke to chills, achiness, and nausea which was almost every symptom on the list. I was up then for a while and only fell asleep for around 30 minutes hours later because I was so exhausted. When I woke up around 6 AM, I was able to eat a small snack in my bed and fall back asleep. That time, I did not wake up again until the evening. When I got up, the chills were gone but I was still exhausted and had head pain. I did eat a bit more, but my stomach still hurt so I couldn’t really eat much. After staying up for a little while, just resting on the couch, I went back to bed for the night and slept great. The rest of that week, the only symptoms I really had were fatigue and not wanting to eat much, but by the weekend, any symptoms I had experienced were completely gone and I was back in virtual class the following Monday.
Overall, minus the symptoms from the second dose, I had a great experience getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine center at Cal Poly, Pomona was very well-organized and all of the staff were extremely kind. It was an absolute blessing and honor to be among the people eligible to receive the vaccine now, and I look forward to when it will be your turn too!

Sources:
https://myturn.ca.gov/