My son, Michael and I recently got the Shingles vaccine at a local CVS store. There are some misconceptions about Shingles. Quite a few people have told me that if you've had chicken pox you won't get Shingles.

They were adamant that they were right. It took me some convincing but I finally got my point across that if you've had chicken pox, the virus remains in your system and you can develop Shingles years later. It is most common in people 50 years or older. It occurs in one in three people.

I know that you can get it more than once, as my mother did. I have friends that still battled it for a year or more after first contracting it. I got a Shingles vaccination about ten years ago which was supposed to last nine or ten years. The one they have now is much more effective. I will be getting a second shot in two to six months.

After getting the shot I had a sore arm for a few days. I read that 80 percent of people have this reaction from the injection. Michael had a more serious reaction. He told me that he was extremely tired and had such bad muscle aches that it was as if he had unloadied a truck all night.

Before I read the literature we were given I thought he should get tested for Covid. Then I found that 60 percent of people have severe muscle aches and are extremely tired for a few days after getting the vaccine. There were other side effects that he didn't have such as nausea, fever, headache and stomach pain.

And next is getting on the list for the Corona virus vaccine. Michael went online to register me for it.

But before he did that he told me that I could be called as early as next week and that I should think it over first. Two friends of his who are nurses have decided to wait until they learn more about it. My view of that is as soon as they decide they will go on a top priority list because they are nurses but I won't have that privilege.

Since my son is now 65 he can go on the list himself, but I told him he can't get his before me because I am practically 88 and have a heart condition, while he has no serious health conditions.