‘Light at the end of the tunnel’: Centre County doctor discusses getting COVID-19 vaccine
Andrea Knab hasn’t stepped foot inside a grocery store since March. She hasn’t been to her hairdresser in nearly a year, recently calling on her husband take scissors to her blonde locks. And she still won’t eat with her in-laws, fearing what might happen if she lifts her mask for a quick spoonful.
Knab, a Geisinger physician stationed at Mount Nittany Medical Center, has endured an isolated and mentally taxing nine months during the pandemic. But, on a recent afternoon, the Boalsburg resident was finally able to smile — often — after recounting her experience in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, which she referred to as a “light at the end of the tunnel.”
“My colleagues and I have basically been waiting for this for months,” Knab told the Centre Daily Times during a Zoom interview. “I have to be in COVID units every day. We are always scared, just as everyone else, that we’ll bring it to our families and our patients who are not COVID positive.
“But I’m doing this for my community, my patients and my family. So this vaccine is tremendous. It’s huge.”
Knab is believed to be one of the first in Centre County to get the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. She received her first “easy” injection at 6 a.m. Dec. 16, two days after the vaccine first arrived in Pennsylvania hospitals and two days before Mount Nittany began vaccinating. (Because she’s technically a Geisinger employee, she drove to Geisinger Lewistown for the vaccine, prior to a 12-hour shift at Centre County’s hospital.)
She knows she hasn’t achieved immunity just yet. That won’t come until a week or two after her second injection on Jan. 6. Even then, she doesn’t plan to return to normal life — what kind of example would that set, she asked? — but she said she is breathing easier these days.
“It seems to be the same for most of my colleagues: It’s a big relief,” Knab added. “You kind of live this life that anybody can be possibly getting you sick and now we can finally see — oh my goodness — we can have some kind of protection besides the mask. So, yes, getting a vaccine was one of those things that brought a big joy into my life.”
Knab laughed while recalling the curiosity surrounding her vaccination. The lab tech who brought in the vials of the vaccine Dec. 16 asked if he could stay and watch, while some of her colleagues snapped photos and looked on. When she returned to Mount Nittany, she was peppered with the same questions: How do you feel? What are the side effects like? What was the vaccine like?
The doctor, who wrapped her long blonde hair into a ponytail on a recent weekday, was able to share all good news: The COVID-19 vaccine was like a less-painful flu shot. The entire injection process lasted about 10 seconds and, Knab said with a laugh, she couldn’t even feel it. As someone who’s allergic to insect venom, which puts her at a higher risk of allergy complications from the vaccine, she was a little paranoid about potential side effects — but experienced virtually none.
Sure, her arm was a little sore. But there was no fever, no redness and no swelling. She acknowledged there might have been some barely-noticeable fatigue, but she still had no issues finishing her usual shift.
“We have data that it’s safe. That’s why I took it and many of my colleagues took it,” Knab said. “So I would like to put everybody’s mind at ease. You cannot even compare the side effects from the vaccine to getting a COVID infection. ... I want everybody to get the vaccine.”
Knab acknowledged that more side effects are known to occur after the second injection. And, regarding the other Moderna vaccine, side effects have recently been observed in patients with cosmetic facial fillers and, in one case, a doctor with a severe shellfish allergy.
But both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are still widely regarded as being safe and effective. Pfizer-BioNTech had about 43,000 patients in its clinical trial and boasted a 95% efficacy, while Moderna had 30,000 patients and a 94.1% efficacy.
Still, until Knab sees a swift drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations, she said she isn’t about to let her guard down. She won’t walk into a gas station for a few more months — “I see people walking in not wearing a mask and I’m just like, ‘I can’t,’” she said — and she doesn’t anticipate dining out for many more months, until others get the vaccine. (Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said most of the general public should have access by the spring.)
Getting a vaccine didn’t mark a swift return to normalization for Knab. But it was the first step toward normalization — a step she hopes everyone eventually takes.
“I just want to make sure when people get a chance, the general public, that they will take it because that’s how we make sure that most of us can live normal lives again soon,” Knab said.
“My hope is that next Christmas we’ll have a big dinner, invite everyone and look at this as something horrible that happened, but we got through it.”
