We're here to help answer some of the many questions you may have about the COVID-19 vaccine.
Extra protection helps slow the spread of COVID-19 and reduces severe illness. The more people who get vaccinated against COVID-19, the more lives can be saved and the sooner this unprecedented global health crisis will end.
Who can get a booster and when should they get it?
The CDC recommends that everyone age 12 and older get a booster dose. Booster doses are essential in slowing the spread of the virus and protecting people from hospitalization and death. “The need for booster dose doesn’t mean the vaccines don’t work. On the contrary, the fact that boosters provide additional protection over time shows that vaccination continues to be our best weapon in fighting COVID-19.
Top Three Reasons to Get a Booster
With kids age 5-11 now clear to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, we know many parents have questions. We hope these answers from pediatric infectious disease specialist and general pediatrician, Dr. David Borenstein help!
I'm feeling a little nervous about getting my kids vaccinated and I just wanted to know, are the COVID-19 vaccines for kids different than the ones for adults?
For the most part, all the vaccines are pretty much the same, but there's a little difference in the dosing. Kids age 12 and up are eligible for the Pfizer COVID vaccine, which is exactly the same dose as for adults. Kids age 5-11 receive a dose that is one third of the size. So it's the same vaccine, kids just get less of it.
I also wanted to know if you can share more about the side effects. Are they different for kids than they are for adults? And if so, are they serious?
Your kid will most likely have a sore arm with perhaps a bit of swelling and redness. It's less common for kids to experience a tiredness, headache, or fever, but if they do, these symptoms will typically last for less than 24 hours.
What about long term effects? Should I be concerned since the vaccine hasn't been around for very long?
This is probably the question I get the most and thank you so much for asking because that's on all our minds. We've had the vaccines for almost a full year now and we've given hundreds of millions of doses just in the United States alone, and we're not seeing anything more than the immediate reactions to the vaccine. We're not seeing any sort of long term effects.
Plus, when you look at all vaccines in the history of vaccines, they don't have long term effects. That's not how vaccines work. They teach your body to make antibodies so you can fight the virus, but don't stick around to cause any issues later on.
Will the vaccine have an effect on future fertility?
Absolutely not. There is no scientific explanation or evidence to to suggest this is even possible.
My child is behind on other shots because we haven't been to the doctor for our usual visits like we did before the pandemic. If they are getting a COVID-19 vaccine, can they get all their shots at the same time?
Yes. The good thing is you can get any vaccine at the same time as the COVID vaccine. And it's especially important to get your flu shot this year!
I have a 10 year old daughter who earlier this year tested positive for COVID. Does she have any protection against it with the natural immunity? And if she does get vaccinated, how long should we wait post COVID?
Having had COVID before, she does have some protection, but it's unclear how effective that protection is. More recent studies are showing that the protection we get from the vaccine seems to be significantly stronger than the protection from having had the illness. So the recommendation is for someone who has had COVID before to get the vaccine. She can do it any time after she's out of isolation. So after that 10 day period is up, if she's no longer having symptoms, she can go ahead and get the vaccine.
Source note: This Q&A is an abridged version of Kaiser Permanente's Ask a Pediatrician series. Read the full transcript here!
Our best protection against COVID-19 is to get vaccinated. For context, over 500,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. but zero deaths have been caused by the COVID-19 vaccine.
Getting vaccinated not only protects you from COVID-19, it also protects your family, friends, and other members of your community, especially older folks and those with weaker immune systems.
Medical experts with years of experience regulating vaccines evaluated the scientific data submitted by vaccine developers before approving any of the vaccines.
Although the three authorized vaccines were developed in record time, they have gone through the same rigorous Food and Drug Administration process as other vaccines, meeting all safety standards.
COVID-19 vaccine researchers made sure that the trials included adults from all backgrounds, races, ethnicities, and geographic areas.
Vaccines work by teaching our immune system how to defend against a virus. When we get a vaccine, we don’t get sick from the disease itself. Instead, our bodies learn to fight off the virus without the danger of an actual infection. This way, if we are exposed to the virus in the future, our immune system will remember what to do.
Getting immunized against COVID-19 should effectively prevent you from getting sick. In the rare case where you still somehow catch the virus, the vaccine will help prevent seriously illness, hospitalization, and death.
Right now there are three different F.D.A. approved COVID-19 vaccines. The Pfizer-BioNtech and Moderna vaccine each require two doses — the Pfizer vaccine three weeks apart and the Moderna vaccine four weeks apart. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires one single dose.
Each vaccine has been tested and approved for safety, so we recommend getting whatever vaccine is being offered in your area.
After receiving a vaccine, it’s normal for your body’s immune response to cause some mild discomfort. This could look like soreness or swelling in your arm where you got the shot. You could also feel tired, have a headache, or experience a fever or chills. This doesn’t mean that you have COVID-19 — it’s not possible to get COVID-19 from the vaccine.
While these side effects may impact your day-to-day life, they shouldn’t last more than a few days. If they continue or get worse, call your healthcare provider.
Yes. It is still unclear how long natural immunities to COVID-19 last, so if you’ve tested positive for COVID-19 in the past, you will still need a vaccine.
No. If you have insurance, your provider will cover the cost of your vaccine. If you don't have insurance, the U.S. government is covering the cost.
We know you may have more questions and we want to point you in the right direction!
For additional reading, Q&A, and resources, check out the trusted sources below, where we learned and gathered much of the information for this page.
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