As we are all trying to navigate this new world with COVID-19 we have so many unknowns. Scary right? Well, I know one thing for sure 100% without a doubt, I am ready to be back to a “normal” pre-COVID world. I want to be able to spend time with my family and friends, I am really hoping that Holidays for 2021 can be filled with family parties with everyone there in person (not facetime, skype, etc.), and finally, I am really hoping that we can ditch these masks. However, I hope that we can all look back at 2020 and reflect on what a giant learning curve we were thrown and know we survived it.
So, we now have the vaccinations, how do we get everyone on board to be vaccinated? Education, education and more education.
Let’s separate COVID vaccine Myths Vs. Facts:
There is not a microchip that will track your every move and collect your data in the vaccination. This is a myth. (Mayo Clinic)
The myth was that they used parts of an aborted fetus’ lung tissue/cells and then cloned them to make this vaccination. Neither the Pfizer nor the Moderna vaccine contain fetal cells or were they used in the development of the vaccines. (Mayo Clinic)
Current science suggests that the COVID-19 Vaccine will be more like the flu vaccine requiring annual dosing, but research will be required to fully understand if this is true. (CDC)
None of the authorized and recommended COVID-19 vaccines or COVID-19 vaccines currently in development in the United States contain the live virus that causes COVID-19. This means that a COVID-19 vaccine cannot make you sick with COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccination works by teaching your immune system how to recognize and fight the virus that causes COVID-19, and this protects you from getting sick with COVID-19. (CDC)
Stopping a pandemic requires using all the tools we have available. As experts learn more about how COVID-19 vaccination may help reduce spread of the disease in communities, CDC will continue to update the recommendations to protect communities using the latest science.
We will have to continue to wear masks, goggles and social distance even after receiving the vaccination until the majority of the population is vaccinated. (CDC)
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) are two diseases caused by coronaviruses that are closely related to the virus that causes COVID-19. Researchers began working on developing vaccines for these diseases after they were discovered in 2003 and 2012, respectively. None of the SARS vaccines ever made it past the first stages of development and testing, in large part due to lack of interest because the virus disappeared. One MERS vaccine (MVA-MERS-S) successfully completed a phase 1 clinical trial in 2019. Lessons learned from this earlier vaccine research have been used to inform strategies for developing a COVID-19 vaccine. (CDC)
There is a lot more information out there so please use these resources to fact check your thoughts about the vaccine: