Vaccines are essential to give you immunity against disease. When you get vaccinated, your immune system begins to produce antibodies just as it would against the real virus or bacteria, however the vaccine only injects weakened or dead virus, which does not develop the disease, but it does prepare your body.
Although vaccines are effective and many have made the smart decision to get vaccinated, there are also many who have not been vaccinated due to misinformation that has been circulated through social media. In our society there are many myths about the COVID-19 vaccine and on this page, we will talk about the veracity of these myths.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “All COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States have been shown to be safe and effective in preventing COVID-19.” Learn more about the different COVID-19 vaccines.
Currently, there are 3 vaccines that have been approved and received emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and are being distributed to immunize the US population against the COVID-19 virus:
Pfizer / BioNTech (USA) with 95% effectiveness.
Moderna (USA) with 94% effectiveness.
Jhonson & Jhonson (USA) with 66% effectiveness.
It is important that we stay informed only through the official channels of the CDC and FDA, as there is a lot of misinformation on the internet.
Myth 1: If I had COVID-19, I don’t need to be vaccinated
One of the most common COVID-19 myths. According to the CDC, immunity to COVID-19 after an infection may be short-lived. There is no conclusive information yet, but some reinfections are known. For this reason, you will need to be vaccinated, whether or not you had the disease, following the CDC vaccination guidelines.
Myth 2: Vaccines have been developed in a very short time, so they would not be effective
This is incorrect. Although it is true that vaccines must go through three phases of research and that this can take years, an exceptional situation like the one we are experiencing has forced all of humanity to accelerate stages, without ceasing to be rigorous about the process.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating for all countries around the world and the international scientific community. Thanks to the sum of dozens of labs, thousands of scientists, and 21st century technology, it is possible to develop a vaccine against the COVID19 in a much shorter time than usual.
Myth 3: Once I get vaccinated, I no longer have to wear a mask
This is another one of the COVID-19 myths. The claim is false because not everyone will be protected at the same time. The current plan is to apply the vaccines progressively and by groups, from the most to the least vulnerable. For this reason, if you receive the dose, you must continue to obey the mandates, guidelines and recommendations issued by the CDC to avoid transmitting the virus to unvaccinated people.
Myth 4: Vaccines will change my DNA
This is false. Some vaccines, like Pfizer‘s, use a technology that extracts the messenger mRNA (not DNA) from the COVID-19 coronavirus and introduces it into our cells. That is, they place genetic information in them so that they learn to defend themselves if the virus comes to attack us.
The CDC explains mRNA technology this way: “mRNA vaccines are a new type of vaccine to protect against infectious diseases. To trigger an immune response, many vaccines put a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies. Not mRNA vaccines. Instead, they teach our cells how to make a protein—or even just a piece of a protein—that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies.”
For more information and updates about COVID-19, visit the CDC website here.
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