Anonymous
By Dr. Henning Ansorg, M.D., FACP, Health Officer County of Santa Barbara, Department of Public Health
One of the most critical steps we can take to re-open our communities is to be vaccinated when it is our turn. Some have expressed fear of getting vaccinated and unfortunately, misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine has contributed to that fear. Here are 10 myths with accurate information to help you feel comfortable getting vaccinated.
Myth #1: COVID-19 vaccines were ‘rushed’ so they could still be unsafe.
While it is true that the COVID-19 vaccine was produced relatively quickly, it, does not mean scientists and researchers skipped critical steps. Rather, drug manufacturers and the government removed many of the bureaucratic inefficiencies that typically slow the process. No corners were cut in the trials and the results were remarkable.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration are continuing to monitor COVID-19 vaccine safety as the vaccines are distributed.
So far, serious vaccine reactions have been occurring at a rate of 4.5 in 1 million doses given. This is very comparable to other vaccines. Of note: none of the severe allergic reactions were deadly and all recovered quickly. No death after receipt of the vaccine could be attributed to the vaccine but only to an expected prognosis in otherwise ill persons.
Myth #2: You can get COVID-19 from the vaccine.
The vaccines that have been approved for use in the United States do NOT contain the live virus that causes COVID-19, which means it is simply not possible to get sick with COVID-19 as a result. Getting a headache, chills or a short-lived fever or feeling fatigued for 1-2 days after getting vaccinated is a normal reaction and a sign that the body’s immune system is getting activated by the vaccine to be able to fight the virus. Short lived soreness at the injection site is also quite common but not dangerous.
Myth #3: Santa Barbara County is receiving fewer vaccines than other counties.
The number of disproportionately impacted communities, settings, and populations may differ among counties, thereby affecting the formula used to determine the State’s allocation of vaccine to the county. Bigger counties also tend to have more large clinic/hospital systems that may get extra allocations of vaccine.
Myth #4: The vaccines can change your DNA.
The approved coronavirus vaccines use messenger RNA, or mRNA. This technology teaches the body’s cells to make a harmless piece of the “spike protein” found on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This triggers an immune response that produces antibodies, protecting against COVID-19 infection. This messenger RNA stays in the outer part of our cell, called the cytoplasm. It doesn’t enter into the nucleus of the cell, so it does not have access to our DNA.
Myth #5: The COVID-19 vaccines can cause infertility.
This claim has absolutely no scientific evidence. It was promulgated by social media platforms of the anti-vaxx movement. It was also a story line in a popular TV series Utopia, however completely fictional.
Getting vaccinated is important for pregnant women and those who are planning to become pregnant in order to protect mom/parents and baby from COVID-19.
Myth #6: You don’t have to get vaccinated if you’ve already had COVID-19.
The CDC says anyone who has had COVID-19 and recovered (and otherwise qualifies for vaccination) should be offered the vaccine. New mutations of the virus are causing variants that may re-infect persons who had the original virus previously. Also, the vaccine causes a more robust immune response than the actual disease. It is recommended to get vaccinated even if you had COVID-19.
Myth #7: Once you’ve been vaccinated, you can no longer spread the virus.
It’s not yet clear whether the vaccines prevent individuals from spreading the virus to others. That means it’s possible that a fully vaccinated person might be exposed to the coronavirus, become infected without any outward symptoms, and then pass the virus along. Therefore, it is crucial that public health measures like mask-wearing, hand-washing and social distancing remain in place, even after obtaining the two-dose vaccination.
Myth #8: Severe reactions to the COVID-19 vaccines are common.
There have been cases of severe allergic reactions to the vaccine but the chances of getting the virus is much higher. While these reactions are alarming, the occurrence is quite rare at 4.5 per 1 Million vaccinations and comparable to other vaccines. Also, every occurrence in the USA had a good outcome and quick recovery with typical medical treatment.
Myth #9: You should wait until you can choose the exact type of vaccine you’d like.
There is no significant difference between the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines and both behave identically. The third available vaccine is by Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) and it has some advantages over the previous ones: requires one shot only to be fully vaccinated, has fewer side effects.
All clinics, pharmacies and hospitals are very transparent with which vaccine is available and people have the options to pick one over another.
Myth #10: I don’t need the vaccine; this will all just go away soon.
Unfortunately, the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is here to stay. The most effective way to protect your health and that of our community is to get vaccinated when it is your turn.
You may sign up for vaccine email updates and information from the county here.
These next few weeks will be a time of transition for vaccine distribution. Santa Barbara County will be switching to a new sign-up platform MyTurn.ca.gov and to the new State-run distribution process through Blue Shield. Both will come into effect for Santa Barbara County sometime after March 31.
For more information about local public health orders, guidance, and vaccine distribution in Santa Barbara County, please visit: https://publichealthsbc.org/
BONUS MYTH #11: THE VACCINE MAY PRODUCE SUBOPTIMAL ANTIBODIES AGAINST NEW VARIANTS FOR WHICH IT WAS NOT DESIGNED, CAUSING ANTIBODY-DEPENDENT ENHANCEMENT (ADE) OF INFECTION, POTENTIAL RESPIRATORY DISEASE AND LUNG DAMAGE.
ACUTALLY TRUE.
The phenomena of vaccine associated disease enhancement has been observed during the development of vaccines against Dengue, Yellow fever, Zika, several coronaviruses, influenza, and HIV (Ref. 1), resulting in numerous failed vaccine trials (Ref. 2).
For COVID, the issue is less about how well the vaccine performed in clinical trials against the specific target it was designed against, but rather how those antibodies would perform against a variant that has mutated sufficiently. In that scenario, the vaccine-elicited antibodies may become non-neutralizing and allow the virus to enter the host via the complement pathway, much like a Trojan horse.
In summary, a new variant may use vaccine-elicited antibodies to hitch a ride into immune cells, causing a worse infection than if the host had not been vaccinated at all. Annual or biannual vaccines may be required to keep up with all the new variants and prevent ADE-mediated infections. We’ll all be like vaccine addicts, standing in endless lines all year to get one shot after another. Cheers.
(Ref. 1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody-dependent_enhancement
(Ref. 2) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-00789-5
There is no data to say the vaccines are safe for pregnant women yet. However, you can volunteer to help change that. The CDC is asking pregnant women who are getting vaccinated to register so they can see what happens. It’s uncharted territory! If you would like to volunteer yourself and your unborn child to be lab rats of sorts to help the CDC see what effects the different vaccines have on pregnant women and their children, here is a link to their website to sign up. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/vsafepregnancyregistry.html
Babycakes, you have some valid criticisms, but I take exception to the one about GMO. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with GMO. In fact, Impossible Foods uses GMO soy protein to introduce heme (a component of red blood cells) into their alternative meat products, which the plant-based-enviro-sustainability nuts can’t champion enough until you point out that it’s GMO, and then they turn ghost white as the non-GMO heme drains out of their face. People who know nothing about science, but always point to the science, are often caught off guard like this because they’re excellent at repeating what they’re told but fail miserably when it comes to critical thinking skills.
Basic, I think what Babycakes is referring to is the very strong possibility that gain-of-function mutation studies conducted at the virology lab in Wuhan were responsible for this global pandemic. Obama outlawed such studies on US soil, with US taxpayer funding, but the research has continued in overseas labs. The gain-of-function mutations are designed to test what specific changes to viral proteins are sufficient to cause the virus to jump species. These are very important, yet highly risky experiments. Some, such as Fauci, deny this was the origin, which isn’t surprising given his personal involvement is these projects. Others, such as Ex-CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield claim that these dangerous experiments were most likely responsible for the pandemic. The truth is that we may never know.
Bosco, we have some habitual downvoters here that are right about everything and evidence to the contrary is blasted as Q-anon, Trumper propaganda.
ADE shouldn’t be observed in clinical trials where a competently designed vaccine produces effective antibodies that target a highly specific and unchanging epitope. I’m sure that I made that abundantly clear to the point that even a layman would understand my point. Alas, I cannot compensate for poor reading comprehension.
Where ADE would come in to play is when a new variant is sufficiently different from the antigenic pathogen used in the clinical trials. In this situation the resultant antibodies would no longer be neutralizing to the new and changed spike proteins on the variant and ADE would now become a possibility.
Given the recent discovery of new variants, some of which have been shown to evade antibodies generated by current COVID vaccines, ADE is a genuine concern. The Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine has shown only minimal protection for the 501.V2 variant and the South Africa’s Minister for Health has put on hold the deployment of around 1 million doses of the vaccine while they look at the data and await advice on how to proceed. (Ref 1) Regarding the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine, Pfizer announced that neutralisation activity was reduced by two thirds for the 501.V2 variant, and will not make claims as to the efficacy of their vaccine against this variant. (Ref 2). So, out of concern, South Africa has suspended giving the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and Pfizer–BioNTech has withdrawn all claims of efficacy. They must conspiracy theorists, right?
Ref 1: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55975052
Ref 2: https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2102017