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Covid  19 Vaccine

COVID-19 101: vaccine types, side effects, & a 3rd booster?

COVID-19 101: vaccine types, side effects, & a 3rd booster?

Many of us are gearing up to get our vaccines - or even our 3rd booster shot - and might be wondering what vaccines are available, what side effects to anticipate and what a booster shot is, so I've rounded up all the information to best educate our audience. 

Vaccines currently being offered in the U.S include:

PFIZER BIONTECH

- Fully FDA approved in the U.S as of June 2021, click here for more info.

Approved for adults ages 16 and older in the U.S.

- Dosage consists of two shots, 21 days apart.

- Common side effects: Body chills, headache, pain, tiredness, and/or redness and/or swelling at the injection site. Your vaccination site is required to monitor everyone for 15 minutes after their COVID-19 shot and for 30 minutes if you have a history of severe allergies. 

- How the vaccine works: the Pfizer vaccine is an mRNA vaccine, which means it delivers a piece of genetic code from the SARS CoV-2 virus to the body's host cells. This gives the host cells a type of "instruction" for making copies of spike proteins which are the proteins that do the work of both penetrating and infecting the host cells. The proteins are what stimulate a strong immune response and allows the body to then build and produce antibodies and memory cells that are able to then recognize and respond to the virus if the body is actually infected later on. 

 

MODERNA 

- Approved for emergency use December 2020 for the U.S. 

- Recommended for ages 18 and older in the U.S. 

- Dosage consists of two shots, 28 days apart.

- Common side effects: very similar in nature to Pfizer, common side effects include chills, headache, pain, tiredness, and/or redness and swelling at the injection site, all which generally resolve within a day or two. Your vaccination site is required to monitor everyone for 15 minutes after their COVID-19 shot and for 30 minutes if you have a history of severe allergies. 

- How the vaccine works: The Moderna vaccine is also an mRNA vaccine, similar to Pfizer. It'll send the body’s host cells instructions for making a spike protein that will act in training your immune system to recognize it. The immune system will then attack the spike protein the next time it sees one, when it'll be attached to an actual SARS CoV-2 virus if infected. 

 

JOHNSON & JOHNSON 

- Approved for emergency use in the U.S February 2021. 

- Recommended for adults 18 and older in the U.S.

- Dosage consists of a single shot. 

- Common side effects include fatigue, fever, headache, injection site pain, or myalgia (pain in a muscle or group of muscles), all of which generally resolve within a day or two. It is recorded that this vaccine has milder side effects than both Pfizer and Moderna, but your vaccination site is required to monitor everyone for 15 minutes after their COVID-19 shot and for 30 minutes if you have a history of severe allergies. 

- How the vaccine works: 

This is a carrier vaccine, which uses a different approach than the mRNA vaccines to instruct human cells to make the SARS CoV-2 spike protein. Scientists engineer a harmless adenovirus (a common virus that, when not inactivated, can cause colds, bronchitis, and other illnesses) as a shell to carry genetic code on the spike proteins to the cells (similar to a Trojan Horse). The shell and the code can’t make you sick, but once the code is inside the cells, the cells produce a spike protein to train the body’s immune system, which creates antibodies and memory cells to protect against an actual SARS-CoV-2 infection.

 

Why the booster shot?

A booster shot is an additional dose of a vaccine that serves to “boost” your immunity against the virus. This serves to protect you by giving you better protection from COVID. Currently, the CDC is saying that the goal is to get your booster by September, 8 months after your second dose of whichever vaccine you got (Pfizer or Moderna). 

Currently, boosters are being prioritized to those who are considered immunocompromised, and according to the CDC, they "recommend(s) people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised should receive an additional dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine after the initial 2 doses." 

 

Hope that answered any questions and was informative to read - if you do have questions make sure to drop them in the comments below! Check out our latest blog post here and check out the links below to read the full depth articles from the CDC as well! 

xx, Basma 

 

Links: 

 

 

Blog Calender Blog UserBy Express Med

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