Preggo, Vaxxed, and Masked

Traveling was one of the things that I missed the most during the pandemic. Luckily this year we were able to get vaccinated and go on our babymoon without a worry. Having the COVID vaccine has given me peace of mind, especially since I am pregnant. I feel like we don’t hear about individual cases from pregnant women who got the vaccine and that are speaking up about their experience so I wanted to share mine. I didn't have any major side effects, just minor injection site pain, and fatigue for 24 hours: all signs that the vaccine was doing its job. Now Baby M and I are much safer, and this is a great feeling!

I found out I was pregnant the same week I tested positive for COVID-19. It was a really stressful week, to say the least, but thankfully I had very minor symptoms. The first day I felt extremely tired and had body aches but that only lasted a day. A week later I lost my sense of smell and taste for about 2 weeks. Having pregnancy cravings and not being able to enjoy food was frustrating but I was thankful I didn’t get any major side effects. I was one of the lucky ones!

During this time I was still working from home, wasn’t around many people, and was protected by the antibodies I got from having the virus so I felt “safe”. A few months later I had to return to the office and started commuting to NYC again. By this time 90 days had passed since I got COVID-19, I was 20 weeks pregnant and was ready to get the vaccine. I went to https://www.vaccines.gov/ and found a vaccine location near me and booked an appointment for the following day. I couldn’t believe how fast and easy it was to schedule an appointment! I have family members in Nicaragua that would do anything to have the resources and the opportunities we have here in the US to get vaccinated. Only 5% of the population is fully vaccinated and COVID-19 infections are at their peak!

Today, 57% are fully vaccinated in the US, but the Latinx community lags far behind, with only about one in three people fully vaccinated. This is concerning considering Latinos have the highest COVID-19 rate of any minority group. There are some who are hesitant or don’t know that the vaccine is completely FREE, easy, safe, and incredibly effective. And now, with COVID-19 numbers creeping back up as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads, unvaccinated people are at an even greater risk than they were mere months ago. Fortunately, the data shows that fully vaccinated people are not only protected from COVID-19 themselves but also help to protect everyone around them. 

The vaccine is super safe, rigorously tested, and free, so visit https://www.vacunas.gov/ (ESP) or https://www.vaccines.gov/ to find out where they can get their COVID-19 vaccine!