The vaccine is well worth sweating for

AS A lucky postcode winner, I got my AstraZeneca jab a week ago even though I am under 65. Straight afterwards, I headed off for a walk with one of those real-life friends who asked me how I was feeling.

I said I was absolutely fine. Nothing to it. What a brilliant experie nce t he whole t hi ng was. I was even a tiny bit thrilled that a man in army fatigues wielded the needle.

My friend answered that she’d thought the same when she had hers and then a few hours later was in bed, feeling awful for 48 hours.

I smugly thought no such thing would happen to me – side effects are for losers – but, hey-ho, by midnight I was in the grip of a nasty fever and spent the whole of the next day shivering and sweating.

I only mention this because had I not been warned, I probably wouldn’t have known what was happening and might have been worried. The briefing note I was given warned of possible side effects but then so does a packet of Nurofen, which I pay little attention to.

We’re all so delighted to be vaccinated that the prevalence of side effects is definitely downplayed, and though I’m definitely not a member of Sage, anecdotal evidence leads me to believe that the younger you are, the more likely you are to have them.

Still, a tiny price to pay for a return to normal life.