Not Sure About the Vaccine?

The vaccines have been administered worldwide for over 5 months. As of 4/30/21, in the United States alone, over 143,793,565 vaccines have been administered, close to the average number of influenza vaccinations administered yearly but in only 4 months! 

Side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines have been compared to those for flu and shingles vaccines. Anecdotal evidence suggests that COVID vaccine side effects are greater than those for the flu shot (for some) and comparable to, or less than those for the shingles vaccine. Many people experience side effects lasting less than one day.  For some, it’s only some fatigue and a sore arm and others it’s a headache. They are able to continue with their daily routines and, for the most part, do not feel bad enough to stay home. 

The vaccines have been shown to be very safe.  Real world data recently published in The Lancet indicates that side effects from the vaccines studied are actually less common than in the trials. Other vaccines may also have lower rates of side effects than indicated in clinical trials.

The CDC reports that during the month of December 2020 there were 21 cases of anaphylaxis out of 1,893,360 first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine given, 11.1 cases per million doses. 71% occurred within 15 minutes of vaccination. (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7002e1.htm )

Positive Impacts

Fully vaccinated people:

• Can resume domestic travel, do not need to get tested before or after travel, or need to self-quarantine after travel.
• Do not need to get tested before leaving the United States, unless required by the destination, or self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States.
• Can visit indoors with other fully vaccinated people without wearing masks or following physically distancing protocols.

• Can visit indoors with unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease without wearing masks or following physically distancing protocols. Refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure if asymptomatic.
• Do not need to wear a mask outdoors, except in crowded settings.
• Are no longer need to be restricted from work following an exposure as long as they are asymptomatic.
• No longer need to quarantine following a known exposure if residents of non-healthcare congregate settings .
• May be exempted from routine screening testing, if feasible, when asymptomatic without an exposure.

Community member quote:

“I can’t tell you enough, how freeing and great it is to hang out with a group of vaccinated people and NOT TO HAVE TO WEAR A MASK! You just feel safer and it’s a relief. Like you can let go, and just have fun like we used to.”

Once you are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 you can start doing some of the things that you stopped doing because of the pandemic. Fully vaccinated people:

• Can resume domestic travel, do not need to get tested before or after travel, or need to self-quarantine after travel.
• Do not need to get tested before leaving the United States, unless required by the destination, or self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States.
• Can gather indoors with other fully vaccinated people without wearing masks or following physically distancing protocols.

• Can visit indoors with unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease without wearing masks or following physically distancing protocols.
• May refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure if asymptomatic.
• Do not need to wear a mask outdoors, except in crowded settings.
• No longer need to be restricted from work following an exposure as long as they are asymptomatic.
• No longer need to quarantine following a known exposure if residents of non-healthcare congregate settings.
• May be exempted from routine screening testing, if feasible, when asymptomatic without an exposure.

Young and healthy people can get very sick, too. 

Infants and older adults are at increased risk for serious infections and complications, but vaccine-preventable diseases can strike anyone. If you are young and healthy, getting vaccinated can help you stay that way. 

Young people who catch the virus may still develop debilitating long-term symptoms, including prolonged shortness of breath, fatigue, migraines, brain fog, and loss of smell or taste. It’s important to remember that some young people have actually died from COVID-19, including some who were completely healthy beforehand.

Vaccine-preventable diseases are expensive

Diseases not only have a direct impact on individuals and their families, but also carry a high price tag. With a positive COVID-19 diagnosis you will need to, at minimum, quarantine and lose school/work time for 10 days. Hospitalization can be financially devastating. Long term side effects of COVID cause many young and previously healthy individuals to lose substantial worktime and seek ongoing medical treatment imposing a continuing financial burden.

• When you get sick, your children, grandchildren, and parents may also be at risk. When you get vaccinated, you are not only protecting yourself and your family but also those in your community who may not be able to be vaccinated. 
• Your family and co-workers need you. Even if you do not develop symptoms from COVID-19, you can still pass it to other people including friends and family. We need the majority of the population to get vaccinated, even those who are otherwise young and healthy. That is the safest and quickest way to end this pandemic and get back to normal.
• You have an opportunity to help the population reach “herd immunity”. We need 70-90 percent of the total population to be vaccinated before we can reach herd immunity. Without herd immunity the virus may still have ample opportunity to spread and mutate into potentially more infectious and/or more deadly variants. A vaccine is the only true way to eventually resume life as we knew it. The more people who are vaccinated, the faster this will happen. 

Once you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing more

• After you are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, you can start doing some things that you stopped doing because of the pandemic. For example, you can gather indoors without masks with other people who are fully vaccinated.
• Fully vaccinated people can resume domestic travel and do not need to get tested before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel.
• Fully vaccinated people do not need to get tested before leaving the United States (unless required by the destination) or self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States.
• Fully vaccinated people can Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
• Fully vaccinated people can visit with unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
• You can refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure if asymptomatic
• Fully vaccinated people do not need to wear a mask outdoors, except in crowded settings
• Fully vaccinated workers no longer need to be restricted from work following an exposure as long as they are asymptomatic
• Fully vaccinated residents of non-healthcare congregate settings no longer need to quarantine following a known exposure.
• Fully vaccinated asymptomatic people without an exposure may be exempted from routine screening testing, if feasible.
• Young and healthy people can get very sick, too. Infants and older adults are at increased risk for serious infections and complications, but vaccine-preventable diseases can strike anyone. If you are young and healthy, getting vaccinated can help you stay that way. Young people who catch the virus can still develop debilitating long-term symptoms, including prolonged shortness of breath, fatigue, migraines, brain fog, and loss of smell or taste. And, it’s important to remember that some young people have actually died from COVID-19, including those who were completely healthy beforehand.
• Vaccine-preventable diseases are expensive. Diseases not only have a direct impact on individuals and their families, but also carry a high price tag. With a positive COVID-19 diagnosis You will need to, at minimum, quarantine and lose school/work time for 10 days and if hospitalized it can be financially devastating. Long term side effects of COVID have caused many young and previously healthy individuals to lose substantial worktime and have to seek ongoing medical treatment costing a continuing financial burden.
• When you get sick, your children, grandchildren, and parents may be at risk, too. When you get vaccinated, you are protecting yourself and your family as well as those in your community who may not be able to be vaccinated. 
• Your family and co-workers need you. Even if you don’t develop symptoms from COVID-19, you can still pass it along to people including friends and family. We need the majority of the population to get vaccinated, even those who may otherwise be young and healthy. That is the safest and quickest way to end this pandemic and get back to normal.
• You have an opportunity to help the population reach “herd immunity”. We need 70-90 percent of the total population to be vaccinated before we can say we have reached herd immunity. Without herd immunity the virus still has ample opportunity to spread and mutate into possibly more infectious and/or more deadly variants. A vaccine is the only true way to eventually resume life as we knew it. The more people who vaccinate the faster this will happen. 

Let’s break down the vaccine ingredients to better understand what’s in them and what each ingredient does:

Pfizer:

Ingredients:

mRNA: 

This is the only active ingredient in the vaccine, messenger ribonucleic acid. It provides instructions to our body on how to make a viral protein which then triggers an immune response within our bodies.

Lipids: ((4-hydroxybutyl)azanediyl)bis(hexane-6,1-diyl)bis, (2-hexyldecanoate), 2 [(polyethylene glycol)-2000]-N,N-ditetradecylacetamide, 1,2-Distearoyl-snglycero-3- phosphocholine, cholesterol

These are fats that help bring the mrna to the cell so the body can follow the instructions to make the spike protein. They provide a “greasy” exterior that helps the mRNA slide into the cells.

Salts: potassium chloride, monobasic potassium phosphate, sodium chloride, dibasic sodium phosphate:  dihydrate: 

These are salts which help balance the acidity in your body.

Sugar: sucrose 

This ingredient helps the molecules maintain their shape during freezing.

Moderna:

Ingredients:

mRNA: 

This is the only active ingredient in the vaccine, messenger ribonucleic acid. It provides instructions to our body on how to make a viral protein which then triggers an immune response within our bodies.

Lipids: SM-102, 1,2-dimyristoyl-rac-glycero3-methoxypolyethylene glycol-2000 [PEG2000-DMG], cholesterol, 1,2-distearoyl-snglycero-3-phosphocholine [DSPC]

These are fats that help bring the mrna to the cell so the body can follow the instructions to make the spike protein. They provide a “greasy” exterior that helps the mRNA slide into the cells.

Acid: Acetic acid

Acid Stabilizers: Tromethamine & Tromethamine hydrochloride

Salts: Sodium acetate: 

Sugar: sucrose 

Acids, acid stabilizers, salt and sugar all work together to maintain the stability of the vaccine after it’s produced.

Johnson & Johnson (Janssen)

Ingredients:

A DNA sequence for SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (antigen) is encoded into a modified and harmless adenovirus not often found in humans. When delivered to the cell, the spike protein is manufactured, which stimulates the body’s immune response. The adenovirus is not infectious because it is altered and is unable to replicate once in the host cell. The Adenovirus in the J&J vaccine does not replicate and, like the mRNA vaccines, does not change our genetic code.

Adenovirus

Acids: citric acid monohydrate

Salts: trisodium citrate dihydrate, sodium chloride

Sugars: 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HBCD)

Emulsifier/Stabilizer: polysorbate-80 

Alcohol: ethanol

It’s FREE!

Overall we know that very few people experience severe symptoms from getting vaccinated. Most say they “barely feel” the injection. The side effects are very minimal, if at all. They are relieved to know they are now safer and feel safer resuming activities they missed out on for so long. 

Side effects of the COVID vaccines have been compared to flu and shingles vaccines. People report COVID vaccine side effects are more than the flu shot (for some) and comparable to, or less than the shingles vaccine. Many people only experience some fatigue and a sore arm. Some have a headache. Most people report the side effects last less than a day and most continue with their daily routines and do not feel bad enough to stay home. 

If you are concerned about 1 person’s report of a bad experience you may want to ask more people, then make your decision based on how you feel about the majority of the stories you hear. Reports suggest you will hear mostly of mild symptoms that go away very quickly.

If you are concerned about 1 persons report of a bad experience it might be a good idea to ask more people, and then make your decision based on how you feel about the majority of the stories you hear. Reports suggest you will hear mostly of mild symptoms that go away very quickly.

It is true that the vaccines were developed quickly. Be assured that all required steps were taken and safety protocols were followed. Coronaviruses had been studied for some time so researchers had a head start on this one. The technology used to develop the Mrna vaccines  (Pfizer and Moderna) as well as the adenovirus vaccine (Johnson & Johnson) had been studied and used in humans for many years. Due to the worldwide effort to combat this virus, the virus’ DNA sequencing was available to everyone very quickly. This helped to speed up the vaccine development process. Due to the pandemic an enormous amount of money and resources were devoted to developing a vaccine. The following factors all contributed to reducing the timeframe it would normally have taken to get a vaccine on the market:

• Enrollment in trials usually takes a long time, sometimes years but these trials filled up very quickly
• Because the virus was so prevalent and spreading so quickly it allowed for efficacy to be evidenced very quickly. With a disease that is not common it may take years for a study to show statistical significance.
• As you can imagine, red tape and administrative delays can normally make it a very long time to get through. Because of the pandemic, the paperwork and reviewal process received priority and extra staff was hired. Data was analyzed and reviewed on an ongoing basis rather than waiting until the study was over making for a much more efficient process overall. Everyone was paying attention.
• It worked! The vaccines were developed and tested. They showed very good efficacy and safety. In addition to all the other factors at play you could say that a little bit of luck also contributed.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/distributing/steps-ensure-safety.html 

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/how-did-we-develop-a-covid-19-vaccine-so-quickly#Concerns-over-mRNA-vaccine 

The vaccines are not shown to be unsafe or to not work to prevent hospital admissions or death from COVID-19. What we know now, after administering over 312 million doses of vaccine in the United States alone, is:

• The Pfizer vaccine latest real world data indicates that after 2 doses, vaccine effectiveness is at least 97% in preventing symptomatic disease, severe/critical disease and death, and  94% against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections.

https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/real-world-evidence-confirms-high-effectiveness-pfizer

• When researchers looked at real-world data for both mRNA vaccines, Moderna and Pfizer, they were 90% effective at preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection 14 days or more after the second dose of vaccine outside of clinical trials.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/pdfs/mm7013e3-H.pdf

• In vaccine trials the Johnson and Johnson vaccine showed 93.1% estimated efficacy in preventing COVID Related Hospitalization and 100% in preventing COVID related death.

This is excellent news! These COVID-19 vaccines are showing to be more effective, or as effective, as other vaccines that currently in use for other diseases. For example, the flu shot is 40-60% effective. One dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective and two doses provide up to 97%. The Polio vaccine can be 90-100% effective, depending on the number of doses received. 

I don’t know where to get this vaccine

There are many vaccination opportunities available across Santa Barbara County. There are convenient and quick walk-up clinics for anyone who wants a vaccine! To find out where the clinics are and how to schedule an appointment:

• Check the website vaccine page: https://publichealthsbc.org/vaccine/
• Call 211 and select option 4. Call center staff can assist you to schedule an appointment and answer your vaccine questions.
• Go to https://myturn.ca.gov/, answer a few questions and schedule an appointment.  
• Check with your doctor. Many physicians are giving vaccinations to their patients. 

Vaccination opportunities are abundant across Santa Barbara County. There are now many walk-up clinics for anyone who wants a vaccine! Its convenient and quick! Here are the ways you can find out where the clinics are and how to make an appointment:

• Check our website vaccine page: https://publichealthsbc.org/vaccine/ 
• Call 211 and select option 4. Call takers can schedule an appointment for you and answer your vaccine questions.
• Go to https://myturn.ca.gov/, answer a few questions and schedule an appointment.  
• Check with your doctor. Many physicians are giving vaccinations to their patients. 

For different reasons some people might not want to get 2 doses of the vaccine. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine only requires 1 dose. It has shown good efficacy and safety and is a great option for those who do not want to get 2 doses.

Efficacy in trials:

• 66% COVID dominant strain 
• 57% South Africa Variant 
• 66% UK Variant
• 93.1% estimated efficacy in preventing COVID-related hospitalization
• 100% preventing COVID-related death

Most people report, “I didn’t even feel it” or “Wow, I barely felt that!” and, “Are you done?”

Tips on getting immunized if you are afraid of needles:

• Look away
• Relax your arm
• Take a deep breath
• Close your eyes and hold your breath. You won’t even know when it’s over!

Vaccine trails and real-world data are showing that the vaccines are very good at protecting us from getting the virus, transmitting the virus, having symptoms, being hospitalized and, most importantly, dying.

In March, 2021 a small CDC study that enrolled 3,950 health care personnel, first responders, and other essential and frontline workers showed the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to be 90% effective upon full immunization (at least 14 days after the second dose) in real-world conditions.

Efficacy in Johnson and Johnson trials showed:

• 66% against the COVID dominant strain 
• 57% against the South Africa Variant 
• 66% against the UK Variant
• 93.1% estimated efficacy in preventing COVID-related hospitalization
• 100% efficacy in preventing COVID-related death

None of the approved COVID-19 vaccines contain the live virus that causes COVID-19 so it is impossible for these vaccines to make you sick with COVID-19.

COVID-19 vaccines teach our immune systems how to recognize and fight the virus that causes COVID-19. Sometimes this process can cause temporary symptoms, such as fever, a sore arm or a headache. These symptoms are normal and are signs that the body is building protection against the virus that causes COVID-19. 

It takes a few weeks for the body to build immunity against the virus after vaccination so a person can still be infected with the virus and get sick during this time because the vaccine has not had enough time to provide protection.