COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Check

This common question shows how critical facts are often missed or buried in the media.

Many people don’t realize it, but the Pfizer vaccine is FDA approved for teens and adults ages 16 and older, and the Moderna vaccine is FDA approved for ages 18 and older.

It’s true that the vaccines were authorized for emergency use earlier in the pandemic. But several months and millions of doses later, both met the FDA’s high standards for safety, effectiveness, and quality required of any vaccine approved for use in the United States.

It's easy to get complacent when we see cases drop. But we’ve already seen that variants can spread and spike anywhere, at any time – and getting vaccinated and boosted is still the best protection against getting really sick.

If you’re undecided, it might help to consider why other people in Langdon have chosen to get vaccinated. Common concerns they shared were:  

• Getting too sick to care for their kids.
• Losing income if they couldn’t work.
• Being hospitalized with no one to care for their pets or other animals.
• Having long-term health conditions after recovering from COVID.
• Dealing with guilt if they infected other family members, friends, or coworkers.

More contagious variants mean more people will get COVID, including some who have been vaccinated (“breakthrough” cases). So why not take your chances?

For the same reason most people would answer “yes” to this question: If you could get a shot that is proven to significantly decrease your chance of getting seriously sick or dying from cancer, would you get it?

COVID is a life-threatening disease. The difference is getting vaccinated and boosted can help protect you and your family from hospitalization, chronic and often painful symptoms, and death. 

A lot of parents ask this question, especially since the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for kids aged 5 and older. Here are the need-to-knows to help you decide:

• With the spread of new variants, kids are just as likely to get COVID as adults.    
• Although kids typically don’t become severely ill from COVID, child hospitalization rates hit record highs with the Omicron variant, and new variants continue to be a threat.   
• Kids with COVID may not have any symptoms, but they can still infect people around them.

It might also help to look at the big picture. Vaccines for measles, chickenpox, tetanus, influenza, hepatitis, and more have been helping kids stay healthy for decades.

This is a good example of how all of the vaccine facts don’t always get shared.

It’s true that some cases of heart inflammation have been reported. But here are some facts that tend to be left out of the conversation and are critical to making an informed decision:

• Vaccine-related heart damage (myocarditis) has mainly been noted in adolescent and young adult males – but is extremely rare.
• Kids and adolescents have a much greater risk of suffering from serious heart or other health issues if they get COVID and are not vaccinated.
• If kids or teens develop myocarditis from COVID, it’s generally much more severe than symptoms related to the vaccine.

Almost. The only difference is the dosage is age appropriate for young kids. Kids ages 5 through 11 get one-third of the dose that adolescents ages 12 and over and adults receive. It’s still given as two doses, three weeks apart.

Ages 5 through 11:

• Receive a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at any time.
• Receive a second dose three weeks after the first dose.

Ages 12 and older:

• Receive the same dose of the Pfizer vaccine as adults.
• Receive a second dose three weeks after the first dose.
• Booster:
  • Everyone 12 years and older should get a COVID-19 booster shot at least five months after completing the primary COVID-19 vaccination series.
  • Teens 12 through 17 years old may only get a Pfizer vaccine booster.

If the beds are full at larger facilities, it can put you and your family at risk if you need care. Here’s how:

If you came to Langdon Prairie Health with chest pain or a serious injury, you may need to be transferred to a larger hospital for trauma care. But if all of the ICU beds were filled with COVID patients, you might need to be put on a waiting list – at a time when every minute counts.

It's a heartbreaking thought, but it’s been a reality for many families. Langdon Prairie Health wants to make sure that doesn’t happen to anyone we care for. Vaccination is the best way to prevent COVID surges and keep hospital beds open for anyone who might need care.

The vaccine does provide protection against COVID – and we’re not just relying on national studies that confirm this. We’ve seen proof of this in Langdon because the vast majority of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 at Langdon Prairie Health are unvaccinated.

So why get a booster?

Just like many other vaccines (tetanus, hepatitis, Tdap, shingles) protection begins to drop over time. A COVID-19 booster provides an additional dose of the vaccine to help maintain a level of immunity longer. With an increased immune response, you have even greater protection against getting severely sick or dying from COVID and its variants.

There’s a lot of over-complicated booster information causing confusion, but its simpler than it may seem. Here are some guidelines to follow:

• COVID boosters are recommended for everyone 18 years and older.
  • If you’re 16 through 18, you may also consider a booster.  
• Boosters are for all COVID vaccines (not just Pfizer or Moderna, but also J&J).
• You do not need to get the same brand of booster as the vaccine you originally received.

When to get a booter:

• If you received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine: At least six months after completing your primary COVID-19 vaccination series.
• If you received the J&J vaccine: At least two months after completing your primary COVID-19 vaccination.

Nothing. It’s 100 percent free, regardless of immigration status or insurance coverage.

No worries here. COVID-19 vaccines are not able to change or interact with your DNA in any way.

No. There is no tracking chip in the vaccine. We can’t say what led to the confusion around a microchip, but it may be related to the syringe label. Some syringe manufacturers label products with a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip to help verify vaccine expiration date and general information like that. Rest assured, there is no available technology that would allow a microchip or any other tracking device to be delivered within the vaccine.

It’s a valid question, but no need to worry. You cannot get COVID-19 from the vaccine because it does not contain the live virus.

We can’t promise that you won’t have a minor reaction. But if you do, it most likely will be related to a sore arm, tiredness, a headache, chills, a fever, or feeling a little nauseous or achy. Symptoms like these are usually gone within a day or two.

It’s true that there is an extremely low risk of having a severe reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine.

It’s also true that unvaccinated people who get COVID have a much higher risk of being hospitalized or dying from it. Those who do recover often suffer from long-term fatigue, shortness of breath, muscle pain, or heart, lung, or neurological problems (brain and nerves) due to the virus.

A lot of confusion around the vaccine and infertility started from a false report on social media. In a nutshell, it said the COVID-19 vaccine encourages the body to create copies of the spike protein found on the coronavirus’ surface to “teach” the body’s immune system to fight the virus that has that specific spike protein on it. This statement is true.

But here’s where false information was spread. The report suggested the spike protein on the coronavirus was the same as another spike protein involved in the growth of the placenta during pregnancy. It was falsely reported that getting the COVID-19 vaccine would cause a woman’s body to fight this different spike protein and affect her fertility. This is completely false. There is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines lead to reduced fertility.

In fact:

• Women who participated in the COVID-19 clinical trials were able to conceive after vaccination.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists:

• Has stated “all claims linking COVID-19 vaccines to infertility are unfounded and have no scientific evidence supporting them.”
• Recommends vaccination for women who are now pregnant or lactating or who may become pregnant.

It’s possible for vaccinated people to infect other people, but you’re less likely to spread the virus if you’re vaccinated.

Here’s why: At the peak of infection, you’re just as infectious as someone who has not been vaccinated. But the levels of virus decline more rapidly when you’re vaccinated, so you’re infective for a much shorter amount of time.

Some people will get sick even if they are vaccinated. But that doesn’t mean the vaccine isn’t effective. Here’s how Langdon Prairie Health looks at the vaccine in relation to breakthrough cases:

• The vaccines were designed to keep people out of the hospital and prevent them from dying. The vaccines are very effective in doing that. Even though we saw a jump in the number of breakthrough cases from Omicron, the majority of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are not vaccinated.
• Getting vaccinated is like putting sunscreen on before you go fishing or work outside. Sunscreen provides a significant amount of protection against sunburn, but individual factors and length of exposure will also determine whether someone gets burned and how severely they’re affected.

Absolutely. That’s why Langdon Prairie Health is doing all we can to make sure everyone in Langdon and Walhallaha have the real facts about the COVID-19 vaccine. That way they can make an informed decision for themselves and their families.