I – like many of us worldwide – have a newfound respect for public health nursing as I’ve found myself obtaining my own Master’s degree in Nursing during a worldwide pandemic. I’ve learned a great deal about evidence-based practice, the importance of advocacy, and what it means to be an individual living with diabetes amid global uncertainty and fear. 

What do I need to know about the vaccines that are available? What kind of side effects can I expect? Should I receive the booster shot? Hours of researching, speaking to my own doctor and nurses, consulting with peers and professors and ultimately, trusting my own experience to lead me through these questions, I’m honored to be able to share that all with you guys in my own guest post on here! I hope you find this informational and if there’s one thing you take away from my personal experience today, I hope it’s that at the end of the day all we can truly do is our part in protecting ourselves and each other in order to combat this pandemic! We’re in this together! 

We’ll start with the basics – there are currently 3 vaccines available in the U.S. – Moderna, Pfizer BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson. As of August 2021, Pfizer BioNTech is the first COVID-19 vaccine to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for individuals aged 16 and older against the prevention of COVID-19 disease. Pfizer continues to be available under emergency use authorization for individuals ages 12-15 years of age as are Moderna (for individuals ages 18 years and older) and Johnson & Johnson (for ages 18 years and older). 

Side effects can vary for each of these vaccines, but the most common include pain at the site of injection, sore arm, swelling or redness on your arm, increased fatigue, headache, chills and/or fever, muscle pain, and nausea. From personal experience, I’ve learned that these side effects truly vary depending on the individual. After my first and second dose of the Moderna vaccine, I experienced an extremely sore arm (I’m talking like a semi-truck ran over it!) and some moderate fatigue. Nothing more, nothing less. This is all to say that you can’t go into getting your vaccine expecting certain side effects – you might get these, you might not! 

I know what you’re wondering… “Basma, how did it affect your diabetes?!” It didn’t… not that I could truly notice. I kept a hawk eye on my Dexcom blood glucose values and trends, and to be quite honest I expected my blood sugars to drastically be affected. But aside from the adrenaline and excitement of receiving my vaccine, I saw no aftermath effects of the vaccine on my blood sugar… with my first two doses, that is. 

Currently, there’s a lot of talk about the COVID-19 booster shot. The booster shot is exactly that – another shot of a vaccine you’ve received (like the MMR or tetanus vaccines!) which aims to prolong your immunologic immunity and protection against SARS-CoV-2 which ultimately causes COVID-19 disease. For now, the CDC recommends individuals who are “moderately to severely” compromised immune systems (those who are immunocompromised) who may end up being vulnerable to COVID-19 to receive a booster shot. As of now, there isn’t too much detail regarding which individuals specifically are eligible for the booster, so I recommend speaking to your health care provider if you think you might fall into this category (please consult with your provider regarding any decisions you take based on this post). 

Personally, with the help of my own provider, I decided I wanted to receive my 3rd Moderna booster shot. Along with living with diabetes, I am back on campus for graduate school as well as seeing patients and in the hospital setting for clinicals. I want to not only protect myself and my loved ones, but my patients and those I may encounter at any time. 

Booster side effects are expected to be the same, and although I had no symptoms after my first 2 doses, I had just about every symptom following the booster. I experienced a low-grade fever, chills, body aches and muscle pain, headache, swollen lymph nodes (which are considered normal), and extreme fatigue. I tried to combat this by staying hydrated and remembering to eat, keeping a cool cloth on my forehead to cool me down, and resting as much as I could (aka, lying in bed ALL day). I did experience high blood sugars about 10-12 hours after receiving the booster, but that didn’t last all day. I was vigilant with ensuring I treated my blood sugars as I normally would, especially since I was lacking physical movement that would normally help keep me in range. I found that being conscious with pre-bolusing helped the most as did drinking plenty of fluids. 

What we tend to forget as a society is that these adverse effects, which can occur as a result of ANY vaccine, is the doing of cells in our bodies that respond to the vaccine by secreting antibodies and memory immune cells in our bloodstream. Thanks to our memory cells, we amount protection if infected with the virus later. This is what leads to the inflammation that occurs throughout our body and consequently, the headache, fatigue, fever, etc. that some of us experience. Our immune system is doing exactly what it should be doing – building protection against the COVID-19 virus! 

There are countless questions that arise every day and it can be worrying that the pandemic is everchanging. We’re finding out information as we go and it’s our job to seek out reputable sources to conduct our own research and reading. As someone who has both received and provided vaccines and is embarking in a career and healthcare, I hope my own experiences and knowledge can serve someone else. The only way to beat this pandemic, is together!  

About the author: Basma was diagnosed at three years old and is a diabetes National Advocate & speech writer, a public speaker, & social media content creator. She got involved in the diabetes community on social media after realizing her story and journey could help thousands of other kids, teens, and adults. Ever since then, she has made it a point to advocate for those living with any form of diabetes. 

Basma has been volunteering with the ADA since age 10 and in 2014 was the National Youth Advocate for the ADA. She has given hundreds of speeches around the country at galas, fundraisers, events, interviews, and podcasts. She has been to Call to Congress on Capitol Hill twice for advocacy and has traveled to camps all around the U.S speaking to children living with type one diabetes. 

After her own personal experiences, Basma decided to share her story on social media and has built a following to help other kids, teens & adults who might struggle with their own diabetes journey. Since then, she has created a blog, podcast, and YouTube channel to further help her community and educate the masses. Basma is a 2nd year Masters in Nursing student and attributes her diagnosis for her love & passion for medicine and future career in the medical field! She spent her undergraduate years working at the UCSD School of Medicine Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism laboratory, shadowing physicians and nurses in low-income communities and clinics, and traveling the country as a National Youth Advocate. She is eager to contribute her experience as a diabetic and share her love of public health and advocacy within the healthcare field.