Sackville-based physician Dr. Graeme Stewart was one of the first New Brunswickers to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

He was inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine in mid-December of last year at the Miramichi Hospital.

Stewart works with elderly patients and in a nursing home, and is over 60 himself, which placed him on the priority list for vaccination.

He says the process at the Miramichi Hospital, one of the very first vaccine clinics set up in the province, was organized and efficient, and reports no side effects whatsoever.

The injection, he says, didn’t hurt any more than a flu shot. The vaccine brings relief for Stewart.

He says “my experience was great. The planning for the preparation and the actual experience of getting the vaccine. The Miramichi Hospital was top notch, well-organized, efficient, and personally speaking , I didn’t have any problem with side effects or anything like that.”

Stewart says that as the province moves through priority groups the process of vaccination may look different, and will hopefully be more accessible.

Dr. Dysart is not just a family doctor, but also works regularly in the Sackville Memorial Hospital’s emergency department.

Horizon Health contacted him by email, and he made the drive up to Miramichi just months ago.

He says he experienced some side effects after his first shot, including a headache and a sore arm.

“I felt a little bit unwell for the first couple of days afterwards. I felt kind of tired and headachy and sore… My arm was sore. But then after the second one, I had absolutely no side effects at all," he says.

He too is excited that he is vaccinated, but remains nervous of bringing COVID-19 home to his family so does not consider himself to be “out of the woods.”

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