Myths & Misconceptions About Covid 19 Vaccine

By: Melody Rabor-Dizon

 

Iam slowly getting the feel of normalcy to some extent as news of overall hospitalizations and deaths have decreased dramatically after the COVID vaccination. Who does not want to have our old lives back? I miss dining out, seeing friends, attend a concert, watch a movie — activities that entertain us for even a short while. We can only get there when people are inoculated and when the risk of infection is low. A safe 80% of the population vaccinated can bring us to herd immunity. However, as Facebook runs a survey every day regarding vaccine confidence in the US, it shows the opposite. In contrast, people’s confidence has gone down since February as many vaccination sites are closing and the demand for vaccines is at its low from inception.

Common misconceptions about the vaccine:

1.We don’t know what the long-term side effects ar e’: Any adverse side effects from vaccines almost always “show up within the first two weeks, and certainly by the first two months,” per Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia and a member of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. That’s why he and many other health experts asked the US Food and Drug Administration to wait at least two months after trial participants had been inoculated as problems would become apparent with that window of time. That’s what the FDA waited for. From history, Dr. Paul Offit who is also a co-creator of the rotavirus vaccine and who has studied vaccinology for more than four decades added that the most serious vaccine side effects have all been caught within six weeks of administration. There has never been an instance that the long-term side effect was not picked up in the 1st 2 months. There may be very rare side effects that aren’t immediately found in clinical trials. But that’s due to the extreme rarity of those side effects — “not because it’s a long-term problem.

2. ‘The vaccine might hurt my fertility’: A pure nonsense, per Dr. Offit. There’s no evidence that people have lost any fertility because of the Covid-19 vaccines. The rumor started with the myth that the coronavirus spike protein, which is mimicked when you get a vaccine, also mimics the protein on the surface of placental cells. “So the false notion was that when you’re making an immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, you also were inadvertently making a response to a placental protein — which would then make you less likely to be fertile. If you are trying to become pregnant now or want to get pregnant in the future, you may receive a COVID-19 vaccine when one is available to you,” CDC says, the benefits of getting vaccinated if you’re pregnant or trying to become pregnant far outweigh the risks, because pregnancy puts a person at higher risk for severe Covid-19 illness. And some research suggests Covid-19 vaccines provide some level of protection to newborns.

3. ‘It’s none of your business if I don’t get vaccinated’: Refusing the Covid-19 vaccine impacts a lot of people — yourself, your loved ones, even the country as a whole. “When people say, ‘What do you care? You’re vaccinated. I’m going to choose not to be vaccinated. You’re vaccinated, so you’re good'” — that makes threefalse assumptions, Offit said. “First of all, the vaccines aren’t 100% effective.” So even if your friends and family are vaccinated, but you’re not vaccinated, you can still carry and spread the virus to your loved ones. Second, it’s a mistake to think everyone who wants a vaccine can just get one. “Some people are on cancer chemotherapy. They can’t be vaccinated — they depend on the herd to protect them. So many of the most,vulnerable Americans are counting on fellow Americans to get vaccinated. “And third, by not being vaccinated, or being part of a reasonably sized group of people who are choosing not to get the vaccine, you’re allowing the virus to continue to replicate. When it’s allowed to continue to replicate, it will create mutations, which could then cause variants that are completely resistant to the immunity induced by natural infection or immunization. In other words: Failing to get a vaccine could make the vaccines less effective. And that could ruin everyone’s vaccinations — throwing the country backward in this pandemic.

4. ‘I’m young and healthy, so I don’t need to get vaccinated’: It’s critical for young, healthy adults to get vaccinated. Many of those who refused have already paid a price. A highly contagious strain is hitting young adults hard. The B.1.1.7 variant is now the most dominant strain of coronavirus spreading in the United States and it almost is a brand-new virus. Young adults can get long-term Covid-19 complications. Plenty of young, healthy people has turned into Covid-19 “long-haulers.” Many have suffered chronic fatigue, chest pain, shortness of breath, and brain fog months after their infection.” Covid-19 doesn’t have to kill you to wreck your life,” per experts.

5. ‘These vaccines only have emergency use authorization, not full FDA approval’: It’s true that the Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have emergency use authorization from the FDA and not full approval yet. But that’s only because not enough time has passed to show how long the vaccines stay effective, Offit said. Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine is still highly effective after six months (and counting) “Frankly, the only real difference was in the length of follow-up,” he said. “Typically, you like to see efficacy for a year or two years.” But with Covid-19 vaccines, “you couldn’t do that. You couldn’t do a one- or two- or three-year study … because the virus was killing hundreds of thousands of people. So we wanted to get it out there.”

6. ‘I’ve already had Covid-19, so I don’t need to be vaccinated’: Even if you’ve had coronavirus, you should still get vaccinated because the immunity you get from vaccination will likely be longer or stronger than the immunity you got after getting infected, health experts say. Those vaccines were studied in people taking both doses, and that’s what experts know to be effective. It’s not clear how long protection after just one dose might last. “We also don’t know how long protection will last after having coronavirus, so you should still be (fully) vaccinated.

7. ‘I don’t want to get Covid-19 from the vaccine’: It’s impossible to get Covid-19 from any of the vaccines used in the US because none of them contains even a piece of real coronavirus.

8. ‘My faith will protect me, so I don’t need to get vaccinated’: Some experts say anti-Covid-19 vaccine sentiment among evangelicals (about 26%) is fueled by distrust in government, ignorance about how vaccines work, and misinformation. “If you believe that God created us in His image, including being able to think and reason, we’ve been able to think and reason a lot of these diseases away” thanks to vaccination. We don’t die from smallpox anymore. Children aren’t permanently paralyzed by polio anymore in the United States. It’s a good thing. That’s because God gave us a brain to think and reason with. So use it.”

9. ‘I might not be able to afford a vaccine’ “It’s all free”: The government is paying for this,” Offit said. it’d be a good idea for state or local health departments to send flyers in the mail explaining when and how people can get vaccinated — and reminding them it’s free.

TRUTHS TO COUNTER ON FALLACY:

1. Health experts say we need at least 70-85% of the US population immunized to reach herd immunity. If too few people get vaccinated, we’ll never reach that.

2. The longer people stay unvaccinated, the more chances a virus has to mutate. And if the mutations are significant, they could lead to more troubling strains that might evade vaccines.

3. ‘Long Covid’ is real. Even young athletes have suffered brain fog, chest pains, and shortness of breath months after infection. Almost 1/3 of people with ‘mild’ Covid-19 have nagging symptoms months later. A year after the pandemic started, clinics nationwide are treating ‘long Covid’ complications.

4. The bottom line: Not getting vaccinated could set everyone back: If you want to protect yourself, your friends, your family, and the economy, get vaccinated. Otherwise, you’ll be part of the problem — not the solution. “This virus is continuing to mutate,” Offit said. “The thing I’m most worried about is that this virus will mutate to the point that immunity induced by natural infection or vaccination doesn’t work at all. That’s the most important reason to vaccinate.” 5

. To vaccinate is to open America sooner. The vaccine is the most important pathway to ending this pandemic.

6. Fighting misinformation, educating, creating awareness is our duty and one way to contribute to ending this pandemic. GET THAT SHOT AND BE PART OF THE SOLUTION.

MY VIATIMES READERS, IT IS OUR OBLIGATION TO GET VACCINATED. TURN TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND HELP THEM GET IMMUNIZED. IT IS FOR EVERYONE’S SAFETY, HEALTH AND BENEFIT. HEALTH MATTERS.

To all mothers in the world- YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. YOU ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH. YOU MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO YOU!

To my MOM, this will be the first mother’s day celebration without you. There’s a deep hole inside of me, thinking we are not together. A big part of me is you, a huge part of me is you. I miss you, mom and I love you. Till we see each other again!