SOME VACCINE CONCERNS.

As we quickly approach the availability of vaccines in the US, here are a few questions and concerns which have arisen. There are a lot of invalidated rumors and frankly wrong paranoid claims as well as distorted information out there. Dr. Google is often wrong. You can find support for whatever you want to believe on the internet. I don’t have all the definitive answers but here is some clarification and commentary.

Your best chance of curing cancer is your first chance.

Our best chance at eradicating Covid, if it’s at all possible, may be this first chance as well.

It is extremely important for as many people as possible to get vaccinated in order to protect themselves, but more importantly, to protect the broader population. If at least 70% don’t get it, we won’t achieve herd immunity, which is our best chance at eradicating this virus. Otherwise, it will continue to circulate and ebb and flow forever.

There are 2 vaccines on the verge of approval in the US and another 4 very close candidates. 

1. Which one should I get? This answer is simple. Whichever one is offered. Most places will be offering only one of the vaccines anyway. Both of the ones we will likely have available soon have the same mechanism of action (ie mRNA vaccines, which has never been done before) and both have essentially equal efficacy. Both have similar safety profiles (very safe). Both are 2 doses. 
2. Can I get Covid from the vaccine? NO. Regardless of what you read on the internet, you can’t get Covid from these vaccines. You can’t get the disease you are being vaccinated against for the VAST majority of today’s vaccines anyway.
3. Are they safe? YES. The studies of tens of thousands of people show that serious complications are extremely rare. Certainly not more than background. If you’re concerned about drug complications, just look in your medicine cabinet. The acid reducer, aspirin, sleep aid or statin you’re probably taking has a much higher complication rate.
4. Side-effects are a different issue and they are more common. Slight fever (>100.4), achiness, headache, fatigue… These are normal immune responses to a foreign invader, including vaccines. In fact, these symptoms are an indication that your immune system is properly responding to the vaccine. Symptoms last a few days at most. They are NOT a complication or reason not to get the vaccine.
5. What if I have had a previous reaction to a different vaccine? It depends. If it was a legitimate, severe reaction like a neurological complication or organ issue like hepatitis, and not just a side effect, speak to your healthcare provider. There is a balance between the risks and benefits. For some, probably in most, the benefits of getting the Covid vaccine outweigh the minimal risks. There are also ways to minimize the risks such as taking an antihistamine and/or steroid before your injection. It happens all the time when people have reactions to iodine and need imaging like cat scans done with IV contrast, which is iodine based.
6. Egg-allergy. It’s not relevant. Even the flu vaccine, which is still made in some cases using eggs, is perfectly harmless in people with egg allergies. As far as your allergy, I’m glad. Eggs are bad for you anyway. And there is no such thing as a happy chicken, unless it is wild. They lay eggs because they are stressed since their eggs (babies) are being taken away. In the wild, chickens lay ~ 12 eggs a year, usually in one batch. That’s it. 🌱 
7. What about long-term side effects? We will see in the long-term. However, the chances of any significant long-term complications or issues is remote. In the many months after immunization during the trials, no surprises have yet shown up.
8. Is natural protection after infection enough? We don’t know however, early results indicate that the immune response from the vaccines is more robust than what is seen after actual infection. This is well established pharyngoesophageal dysphagia with other vaccines like MMR. It’s better to get immunized than hope you catch it and get through it ok.
9. Trusting the FDA? Although some of the treatments that have already obtained emergency use authorization (EUA) have turned out not to be all that helpful for most people, like hydroxychloroquine or Regeneron’s immune cocktail drug REGN-COV2, the FDA does it’s best to balance risk and benefit from the information they have at that point in time. They are the best we have. Ultimately, you have to trust someone. Keep in mind that doctors used to “prescribe” smoking in the past to help “clear” the lungs. We used to routinely “bleed” people to get rid of evil humors. Now, we know better. Information is a moving target. The balance of information we have now indicates that the vaccines are safe and effective. 
10. Ethics and the use of “baby parts” and aborted fetuses in Covid vaccine production. This is an extreme distortion of reality. It is true that some, not all, of the Covid 19 vaccines used cell-lines called “immortal cell lines” which come from stem cells from fetuses, to do testing and development on. These cells were originally obtained from 2 fetuses aborted in the 1970’s. The original cells may be decades old but because they don’t die, just continue to divide, they are sources of cells for testing of MANY present day drugs including many other vaccines like those for Hepatitis a and Shingles. If you have a moral issue with this, I would also recommend looking into your own medicine cabinet. Chances are that you are taking a drug which was also developed by testing on similar cell lines. In fact, there have been many medical discoveries and lessons learned from ethically questionable and debated situations. Don’t be hypocritical like President Trump. He is opposed to using stem cells for research yet he gladly accepted Regeneron’s antibody cocktail when he got Covid. This cocktail was developed using these same stem cell lines!

There will always be “buts”. There will be more questions. It’s hard to anticipate all of them. Given the balance of information we have, the vaccines seem safe and effective. 

It was only a few weeks ago that we hit 1000 deaths a day in the US. A number previously though apocalyptic and unthinkable. The numbers have steadily risen and yesterday, we had 3100 deaths from Covid-19. We will have more than 300,000 deaths by the end of the weekend. This is despite not reaching the anticipated post-Thanksgiving effect, which will occur next week. Given the escalating numbers, maxed out hospitals, and the likelihood that things will get even grimmer than they are now, we do not have a choice. At least not a sane choice.

Getting vaccinated is the responsible thing to do. It shows that you, not only care about your own health, but the health of all those around you.

As I mentioned above, our best chance to eradicate this disease and return to some semblance of normal is NOW.

In the meantime, please continue to do all the other basics. Even if 100% of people get vaccinated, we will still need to be cautious for a long time to come.

MASK UP.

DISTANCE.

WASH YOUR HANDS.

DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE.

PROTECT YOUR EYES.

VENTILATE.

VACCINATE.

GET HEALTHY.

Stay safe and be well. 

AC