With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise and families staring death in the eyes, the pandemic is nowhere near having made its mark on this magnificent planet. The cure is sitting in our hands, yet some are still shutting the door to the truth and cure to ensure we can return to our normal lives. The cure that we have is a COVID-19 vaccine. Taking the vaccine reduces your chances of catching the virus by over 99%. Furthermore, if everyone is vaccinated then the world can become normalized again. However, it is hard to understand why some do not want to take the vaccine. Is it because it has become political? Is it because the vaccine may have unknown results? Is it because the vaccine may hurt us? To summarize these possibilities, the reason behind anti-vaccinators beliefs comes down to, is the vaccine safe or not? To answer this broad question, we can take a look at several different aspects. Before we begin discovering whether the vaccine is safe or not, we should learn more about the vaccine itself. There are 2 main types of the COVID-19 vaccine that are being widely spread around the world right now. These 2 types of vaccines are Pfizer and Moderna. Pfizer is much more difficult to be given out to the community due to the fact that it must be placed in extremely cold temperatures, dry ice. Both types of vaccine require two doses of it, which are given with a couple of weeks in between. Now, let us explore the different questions some may have about whether the vaccine is safe or not.
Are there any side effects?
Yes, there are side effects that you may experience after you take your vaccination. Some of these side effects may include pain/swelling in the area of injection, fever, headaches, fatigue, and muscle aches. On average, these symptoms last only about a day or two. A benefit of experiencing these post-vaccination symptoms is that you know that the medicine in the vaccine has made its mark in your body’s immune system. This is a good sign because your immune system is prepared to fight and defeat COVID-19 if it ever enters the body. If you are worried about the side effects that you may experience after being injected, then you should also know about how many people have experienced symptoms/side effects after taking the vaccine. Since January 21, 2021, two-million people have let the CDC know about the symptoms they experienced. Out of this group of people, up to 70% of the people experienced pain at the injection site, about 33% were more tired than usual, about 30% reported a headache, 11% reported chills or fevers, 10.4% reported joint pain, and about 8.9% reported nausea.
What steps/precautions have been taken in order to ensure that the vaccine is entirely safe?
Three main things have occurred in order to ensure that the vaccine is completely safe, these three things include careful testing, authorization for emergency use, continuous monitoring for problems/side effects. The Careful Testing phase confirms that the vaccine is safe and there are no safety or effectiveness issues in the vaccine. Next, the authorization for emergency use phase makes sure that there is enough supply of the vaccine and that it does not run out. Finally, the third phase is distributing the vaccines to many people around the world. Once the vaccines have been given to many people, the second part of the third phase kicks in. This part is to monitor the symptoms and side effects of vaccinated people. To summarize, these three steps have helped to provide that the COVID-19 vaccine is very effective and safe because of the precautions that have been taken in order to ensure that there is no unknown danger.
Final Note
In conclusion, because of the few different things mentioned in this article, I hope you were able to believe that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and that if you are eligible, you should go get vaccinated today. If we can get at least 95% of our population to vaccinate, then the pandemic will have ended and COVID-19 starts to get eradicated. Furthermore, becoming vaccinated will also help the many people who are suffering because of the virus around the world. Together, we can all do it and eliminate this pandemic!
Sources
“Is the COVID-19 Vaccine Safe?” Johns Hopkins Medicine, 2021, www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/is-the-covid19-vaccine-safe.
“Q&A Detail.” World Health Organization, 2020, www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/herd-immunity-lockdowns-and-covid-19#:%7E:text=The%20proportion%20of%20the%20population,those%20who%20are%20vaccinated.
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