San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Experts explain the COVID19 immunizations
» “When you consider that people over the age of 65 are at 800 times more likely to die or be hospitalized if they get COVID19, every senior in the country should be lining up to get these vaccines.” Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at UC Berkeley
After we have endured more than a full year of the COVID19 pandemic, several different governmentsanctioned vaccines have given us hope that the end — or at least something close to it — finally may be in sight.
Still, many older adults are curious: Should they get vaccinated? What are some of the possible side effects? And what sort of freedoms can full vaccination deliver?
Infectious disease experts and geriatric specialists were more than happy to set the record straight.
Are the vaccines safe?
The answer to the first question is simple: Yes, and older adults should get the shots as soon as possible.
Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at UC Berkeley, went so far as to call the decision to get vaccinated a “nobrainer,” and suggested that anything less at this point could be construed as negligence or a disregard for human life.
“When you consider that people over the age of 65 are at 800 times more likely to die or be hospitalized if they get COVID19, every senior in the country should be lining up to get these vaccines,” he said. Geriatricians agree. According to Dr. Michael D. Mason, assistant physician in chief for Geriatrics and Supportive Care Services at Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center, the more older adults who receive vaccinations, the closer our society can get to having 70 or 80 percent of the population vaccinated, effectively ending the pandemic.
“The hope is that when we have herd immunity, much of society will be able to return to a more normal state,” he wrote in a recent email.
It’s natural to wonder or worry about side effects of the vaccine, but Mason noted that side effects are more common for younger people than older ones. He added that for older adults the most common reactions are injection site redness and soreness, body/joint aches, weakness and fatigue.
Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, a physician and founder of the End Well Project, said some patients may even get a fever or chills, but most of side effects disappear after 2448 hours.
“Some people do not have any side effects, and severe allergic reactions are very rare,” she said.
What’s more, experiencing a handful of side effects is far better than choosing not to be vaccinated and running the risk of contracting the coronavirus. Ungerleider said all the vaccines currently available in the U.S. are extremely safe and quite effective at reducing serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID19.
Despite what some have said about the efficacy of individual vaccines, Ungerleider advised, “You shouldn’t worry about one vaccine being better than another.”
What sort of freedoms can full vaccination deliver?
Remember, it takes two or three weeks following the completion of the vaccine regimen to reach full immunity. Most doctors and infectious disease experts said that even once people achieve this status, they should remain cautious by wearing masks, maintaining six feet of physical distance, staying outdoors as much as possible and keeping interactions short.
Still, there are reasons to think that even these precautions may not be necessary.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines on March 8 indicating that it’s safe for vaccinated adults to socialize with other vaccinated adults indoors and without face coverings or physical distancing.
This was a huge step forward after a year of recommendations for face coverings and physical distancing under all circumstances.
It also seemed to flick at what life might look like after the COVID19 pandemic is over.
This news is music to the ears of Dr. Monica Gandhi, professor of medicine and associate division chief of the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases and Global Medicine at UCSF and San Francisco General Hospital. Before the announcement, Gandhi went onrecord saying it was safe to do this, noting that she had encouraged her own 80yearold parents to go to the movies and visit their grandchildren once fully vaccinated.
Gandhi acknowledged public concerns that vaccinated individuals may be able to transmit the virus, but she cited at least a halfdozen published and preprint studies that seemed to indicate vaccines significantly reduce transmission, too.
“There is data that vaccines drop transmission,” she said. “If vaccines prevent the virus from getting into your system, why would it still set up shop at high enough quantities to transmit?”
Infectious disease experts such as Gandhi and Swartzberg said older adults should check with their doctors and local public health agencies if they are uncertain what they should and should not do once they are fully vaccinated. Of course, the first step there is getting vaccinated. On the road to recovering from COVID19, everything else is secondary.
Matt Villano is a writer and editor in Healdsburg. Learn more about him at www.whalehead.com