DES MOINES, Iowa — As of Monday, neither MercyOne nor the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics (UI Health Care) reported severe side effects from the coronavirus vaccine.
Iowa is scheduled to receive its first shipment of the Moderna vaccine this week.
The Pfizer vaccine first arrived in Iowa last Monday.
While there haven't been serious side effects reported, there have been some mild to moderate reactions.
Allison Wynes is a nurse practitioner at UI Health Care.
She received her shot one week ago.
"I'm feeling great; as if nothing happened at all," Wynes said.
She was the third person in Iowa to get the vaccine.
Wynes said her arm was a bit sore after the shot.
"The next morning, I did wake up with a little bit of a sore arm, maybe a little bit more than I was expecting," Wynes said. "As soon as I got up and got out of bed and started moving around, I felt just fine."
She also felt a bit tired the next day.
"I've been working 12-hour shifts in our COVID unit. so it's hard to know if it was from the vaccine or just normal tiredness just from being so busy," Wynes said.
Wynes said she doesn't think she had any true side effect from the Pfizer vaccine.
"It would be hard to say that it was much more than mild, if it even qualified as mild side effects at all," Wynes said.
Her co-worker Seth Jackson agreed.
Jackson said he also had a sore arm after the shot, but he didn't consider it a side effect.
Have you experienced a reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine? Email news@weareiowa.com or text us at 515-457-1026.
UI Health Care reported some mild to moderate reactions, including:
- arm pain
- headaches
- muscle aches
- fatigue
MercyOne Des Moines reported some mild reactions in two staff members.
Neither required hospital care.
As of Sunday, more than UI Health Care vaccinated more than 1,100 staff members and will continue to vaccinate more as more Pfizer and Moderna doses arrive.
Monday, Sarah Ekstrand with the Iowa Department of Public Health said she had not heard of any reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine, but said she'd check with her team. As of 6:30 p.m., Local 5 hadn't heard back.
An Illinois hospital temporarily stopped vaccinating staff last week after four staff members had reactions.
Advocate Condell Medical Center reported one severe and three mild reactions.
They were expected to resume vaccinations Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.