Matthew W., an ER nurse at two different hospitals in California, has tested positive for coronavirus after receiving the new Pfizer vaccine’s first dose.
Matthew W, who works in San Diego, posted on Instagram and Facebook on December 18 to tell followers about the vaccine.
He also joked in the post that he would let his followers know if he began to grow “a third arm.”
“Got my Covid vaccine! The 15 minutes afterward sitting around with a bunch of others while health care workers asked us how we felt made me think of an opium den “Got my Covid vaccine! The 15 minutes afterward sitting around with a bunch of others while health care workers asked us how we felt made me think of an opium den,” Matthew wrote on Instagram after getting the shot.
Matthew W. had been working in a COVID-19 unit at a hospital on December 24 when he began to feel unwell. He experienced chills, as well as muscle aches and fatigue. Two days later, he tested positive for coronavirus.
Dr. Christian Ramers, who specializes in infectious disease at Family Health Centers based in San Diego, said that this reaction is to be expected after somebody has been given the vaccine since they are being exposed to coronavirus.
Ramers explained: “You hear heath practitioners being very optimistic about it being the beginning of the end, but it’s going to be a slow roll, weeks to months as we roll out the vaccine.”
He added that it could take up to 14 days to build up any immunity to COVID-19 after receiving the vaccine’s first dose.
Experts believe the Pfizer vaccine provides a 50% immunity rate after the first dose and 95% following the second dose — which is given three weeks after the first.
However, since Matthew W. had been exposed to coronavirus by receiving the vaccine, it could explain why he tested positive just over a week later.
Matthew could also have been exposed to COVID-19 before he received the vaccine since he was working in two hospitals where patients with coronavirus were present.
It is believed that it can take up to 14 days for somebody who has been exposed to start showing symptoms — which would be within the timeframe Matthew tested positive.
Matthew has given an update and has revealed that he is feeling better and his symptoms have eased.
He has deleted all of his social media accounts not to suffer the same fate as Tiffany Dover, a nurse manager from Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Dover, who fainted after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, has been attacked by trolls who claimed she is dead or has been using a body double.
