I caught the first iteration of the virus at the end of 2020. the vaccination program in my country at that times did not include my age range, neither did they consider my banking job as a priority risk group, although we were constantly exposed directly to a lot of customers.
Wearing masks within the building was mendatory and we only accepted a small number of people at the same time, to avoid crowds, which apperently did not help me to be safe after all.
It did hit me hard unfortunatelly. First 3 days were ok, I only lost my appetite and sense of smelling, but after the 4th day pandora's box opened and all hell broke loose. Fever, cough, chills, tachycardia, short breath, shaking violently, you name it. On the fifth day I was already done and urgently admitted to intensive care.
Boy that were the worst 6 days of my life. Granted I'm not much of a tough guy but I'm not really a crybaby either. Trust me, some of the **** I went through in the hospital made me wince and whine like an abandoned, hungry puppy in the cold.
It took 2 month till I could walk more then 10 steps or talk more then 5 words without gasping for air, and I still don't have my smelling back to normal after more then a year passed.
The doctors later told me that they did not expect me to survive at all, as the pneumonia was spread too much through my entire lungs... well, good thing that the douchebags who bet against me got their asses kicked on this one.
Why did I tell you all this? Short answer, don't take any risks and take all available medical precautions. If I would have known what I was going to get through, I would have paid hard cash to take those vaccine shots as early as possible.
I have received 3 biontech vaccines so far, and I will take further booster shots if asked for. It didn't do anything wrong to me what you would not expect from a vaccine to do, and I certainly will not take any stupid risks to test my chances by getting infected for a second time, so the mask and social distancing are going to stay for now.
