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I had no idea about the needle length but I’ve always wondered. (And I worked in healthcare in 1997!)

I have an overactive immune system, and I have a lot of severe reactions to normally innocuous things, so I waited a long time to get vaccinated. I went with the J&J shot so I only had one opportunity to go into anaphylaxis (before the news about boosters, anyway), but I had no reaction… I didn’t even have side effects. My arm was lightly sore but my last tetanus shot was way worse. Now I’m thinking they probably used a small needle and I didn’t get to make any antibodies.

Surviving the fat-hating medical industry feels like such an uphill battle.

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I'm so sorry for all of this! If it's at all helpful, even a too small needle does confer some immunity. Of course I absolutely agree that it completely sucks that we have to survive the medical industry, we deserve better.

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I just wanted to post a follow up. Last week, my partner got his booster. He’s a smaller fat very muscular cis man so I didnt think he’d need a larger needle, but the pharmacist actually asked for his weight (and when he wasn’t sure, asked him to step on a scale), then with absolutely no judgement, said he’d need the longer needle, got that needle, and gave him his shot. I thanked her for knowing about the longer needles and that it doesn’t appear to be common knowledge. She said it should be because it’s CDC guidance. We even talked about how the weight threshold wasn’t ideal because 6’6” at 220 is very different than 5’0” and 220.

I was so impressed I made my booster appt at the same place for tonight. They had a different pharmacist tonight, and when I asked him about using a longer needle, he said they only have one. I pushed, and he insisted there’s only one needle size and I could go somewhere else if I didn’t want it. I’ll spare you the details, but he was clueless and rude, and I opted not to get the shot.

Supposedly the pharmacist my partner had will be working tomorrow, so I’m going back then to hopefully get the right equipment and a booster.

This was a US grocery store pharmacy with only a small number of pharmacists. So even if one provider is educated, there’s no way to know if the person she works to every day is just as educated!

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Thanks for sharing this. I'm incredibly sorry you had that experience, and it's such a prime example of how, often, no amount of pre-work and preparation can assure that we won't experience dangerous weight stigma in healthcare situations.

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Ragen, this is so good. May I share it? Quote it? I mean, "the needle is less scary"?!

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Hi Deb, thanks so much! Please feel free to share/quote/use this any way you think would be helpful. (I have permission from the person who told me that story to do so.)

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I got my booster from an RV that had military staffing it. There's no way I could have called anyone! I also, of course, have no idea which needle was used.

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