I got my 2nd vaccine dose last night. In the lineup I was asked, “First or second dose.”

“Second.”

“Which Vaccine did you get for your first shot?

“Pfizer.”

“We only have Moderna right now, are you ok with that?”

“Yes. I don’t care,” then I asked, “Are many people saying they do care?”

“Quite a few.”

This baffles me. The vast majority of people in BC had Pfizer as their first shot… a mRNA vaccine. Moderna is also an mRNA vaccine and there have not been any adverse affects from mixing. Also research on the efficacy of mixing vaccines seems very positive.

When I was asked which vaccine I got after sharing my first shot, I shared,

A good friend asked on Facebook: “Which one did you get Dave?”

My response, “The one I could get… I’m leaving it at that because I want to encourage others to do the same.”

Now I am sharing which ones I got because I would hope others will mix and match as needed to get vaccinated sooner, rather than delaying. We are getting much closer to living with some normalcy. The only mix and match stories that I could find that were negative were related to concerns when shots were mixed accidentally, months ago, before the positive research was out, and one article saying the short term effects might last a little longer.

Meanwhile, anecdotally, I’ve seen quite a few Pfizer/Pfizer vaccine recipients take more than a day off of work after getting their second vaccine, and most people that I know who have recently received Pfizer/Moderna have found the side effects are lasting less than 24 hours.

The other research I’ve seen suggests that mixing AstraZeneca with an mRNA vaccine seems to provide an even more robust immune response. So, I hope that no matter if you had AstraZeneca or Pfizer first, you would be willing to take Moderna second, rather than avoiding mixing and matching and delaying your second shot.