I also have a phobia of medication. It is awful and the medication which may help my overall anxiety remains sat in a drawer because I'm too anxious to take it.

However, I had my first dose of the vaccine on Friday. I was beyond scared but I am also a front line health worker so in order to protect my patients, it was necessary. I'm still anxious about it, waiting for some sort of delayed reaction which is why I find myself here but as of yet, nothing awful has happened.

The injection was fine and then about 10 minutes in, I started to shake because I was so cold (bear in mind it was snowing outside and I naturally run cold). The GPs watching over us quickly whisked me away though and checked me out. All was fine and after about an hour the shaking stopped. A couple of hours later, I developed a headache and my arm was aching like someone had punched it. The next day I was a little tired and my arm still hurt when I moved it. And then that was it...I feel fine apart from the lingering anxiety. Which is totally me and not the vaccine.

When you have a phobia it takes a lot to face it but the way I saw it, I could have a couple of days of discomfort and a possible reaction (Which they are ready and equipped to deal with) or become unwell with the full force of the crappiness of covid or potentially transmit to my patients.

I can only imagine how hard it is to live with the opinions expressed by your partner and the voice of your own anxiety trying to trip you up. I hope my experience can offer some reassurance in what it can feel like and all my colleagues have reported similar experiences of mild headaches, tiredness and arm pain but that's it. There is more predictability and safety with the vaccine than there is without it.