A local healthcare worker who’s received the COVID-19 vaccine is sharing her experience in hopes of raising the public’s trust.

Katelyn, who asked for her last name to be left out, is a registered nurse in the ER department at the Northern Lights Regional Health Centre.

Her entire team is among the over 65,000 in the province to receive the first of their two shots.

She tells Mix News she felt a big sense of relief after months of waiting for the vaccine.

“Some of my coworkers said they almost felt like they were going to start crying when they got it, it’s been such a hard year.”

Katelyn noted the experience was the exact same from all previous shots she’s received.

The only side effect she got was a sore shoulder the next day which is a common symptom for most people who get vaccinated.

She added the fear of symptoms is understandable but not really necessary.

“It’s almost a good thing you get a little bit of a fever or a little bit of a body ache, it’s just a sign that your immune system is reacting to the vaccine which is what you want.”

Over the past 10 months, life as a nurse hasn’t been easy.

During the first wave of the virus, Katelyn says there were a few individuals who needed to be treated at the hospital but the workload wasn’t too crazy.

However, the second wave has been much harder as more people have been admitted resulting in many healthcare professionals being exhausted both mentally and physically.

“Some of them are really sick and they require a lot of care and a lot of time and in some situations, we’re not even allowed to let visitors or family members in, so that gets really hard on the head after a while for us,” added Katelyn.

She claims this scenario could continue to happen if people don’t get the vaccine when it’s made available to the general public. This is expected to happen later in 2021.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, has stated herd immunity isn’t possible unless a high percentage of the province gets the shot.