We Spoke With One of the First MoCo Residents to Get the COVID Vaccine– Here’s What She Has to Say

We Spoke With One of the First MoCo Residents to Get the COVID Vaccine– Here’s What She Has to Say

We had the opportunity to speak with White Oak resident Heather Kaminsky, who received the first dose of the vaccine earlier today. Heather is a pediatric neurologist in her last year of residency at Children’s National in DC.

She feels honored and grateful to be chosen to be in the first wave of vaccine recipients, as quantities are very limited at the moment. She personally feels that for her profession, this is the most responsible way for her to protect her patients and their families.

We spoke with Heather tonight, and at the time of our interview, she shared that she feels no lasting negative effects from the vaccine. She only felt minimal discomfort in her arm for about 10 minutes after initially receiving the injection.

Heather was injected with the Pfizer vaccine, which requires a second injection a few weeks after getting the initial shot.

She explained that at the moment, her hospital is selecting vaccine recipients from a lottery of their staff who have volunteered– they are not able to vaccinate all interested doctors and nurses at once.

She hopes that the general population will consider the vaccine both to offset their own personal risk as well as to offset the risk of spreading the virus to others. She acknowledges that everyone is different, but she hopes that sharing her story will allow people to see a safe, painless, and positive experience with the vaccine.

Photo courtesy of Heather Kaminsky

By: Michelle Katz @pike.and.rozay