5 CRUCIAL FACTS ABOUT COVID VACCINES

THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING VACCINATED IS NOT SO DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND

INJECTION NOT INFECTION:

Whether it’s the one J&J jab or the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna shot, “it’s impossible for the vaccine to give you COVID-19 because it does not contain the live [COVID] virus or even inactivated virus,” says Dr. Kristen Marks, of New York-Presbyterian/ Weill Cornell Medical Center. “It’s a common misconception and fear.”

INFECTION NOT IMMUNITY:

According to experts from Johns Hopkins Medicine, studies indicate “that if you had COVID-19 before and are not vaccinated, your risk of getting reinfected is more than two times higher than for those who were infected and got vaccinated.”

PREVENTION NOT PERFECTION:

No vaccine is ever 100 percent effective at preventing infection. But, says Dr. Davidson Hamer of Boston University, “COVID vaccines have been shown to be very powerful in preventing more severe disease and the need for hospitalization. [Breakthrough cases] occur at a much, much lower rate than in people who are unvaccinated.”

VACCINATION NOT VARIANT:

Breakthroughs associated with the virus’ Delta and Omicron variants weren’t caused by vaccines. Per the CDC: “New variants of a virus happen because the virus that causes COVID-19 constantly changes through a natural ongoing process of mutation [change]. As the virus spreads, it has more opportunities to change. High vaccination coverage in a population reduces the spread of the virus and helps prevent new variants from emerging.”

ONCE AROUND NOT ENOUGH:

To combat variants, following up with a booster shot of a vaccine is important. “[It’s] meant to increase levels of immune responses after [the vaccines] have naturally waned,” says Dr. Jonathan Abraham of Harvard Medical School. “A booster tricks the immune system into thinking that it is again seeing a pathogen, so antibody producing cells are recalled into gear.”