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The FDA has approved two vaccines for U.S distribution – the
Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine and Moderna’s COVID-19
vaccine. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to the
panelists is next for FDA approval.
“There’s other vaccines in the pipeline including Johnson &
Johnson. There is a difference between the first two. All of
the vaccines do a great job of keeping patients out of
hospital and very sick and we want to decrease deaths in the
area,” said Paat.
“460,000 people have died from this disease, the vaccine’s
goal is to decrease the number of deaths. People who aren’t
vaccinated could have symptoms and spread COVID to someone
else. The vaccine makes COVID less likely to spread the
virus,” said Watkins.
According to several verified health websites including the
Center for Disease Control and Prevention website, there are
common side effects associated with receiving the vaccine.
An individual can experience pain or swelling in the arm
where the shot was administered. The patient can also
experience a fever, chills, tiredness and headaches through
the entire body.
“I have heard stories about reactions. I received my second
vaccine shot last Thursday. After the first shot I
experienced soreness and after the second shot I felt tired
and achy for half of a day. Some people can have fatigue,
fevers, chills but no one has died from the vaccine. People
are dying from the infection,” explained Watkins.
“I had my second vaccine shot two weeks ago and I echo what
Dr. Watkins has said. Some people may need two days to
recover, but it means that your immune system is working.
Patients should talk to their trusted physician and go to
trusted websites that follow the science like the CDC or
health departments,” said Paat.
The VProject was formed as a community initiative to
educate, motivate and vaccinate the entire Northwest Ohio
corridor to dramatically slow the spread of the COVID-19
virus. To accomplish this, leaders from industry,
government, non-profit, health care, education and religious
organizations have united in this unprecedented effort to
effectively mobilize our community, with a goal to vaccinate
70 percent of the population. According to VProject’s
website medical experts agree that reaching 70 percent
vaccination rate or ‘herd immunity,’ should be reached to
assist businesses, organizations and community members
thrive without restrictions.
“We will still have to wear masks even once your vaccinated
until herd immunity is reached. It’s possible for some areas
to reach herd immunity before others, but we travel and
intermingle too often to ignore the importance of herd
immunity. The CDC says we can reduce exposure up to 90% by
doubling up on masks. Doubling masks offers twice the
protection,” explained Watkins.
“This data is being tracked by the CDC, so we know how many
individuals need vaccination,” shared Paat.
The VProject’s website and Facebook page provides resources
and videos to address myths about the vaccine. The panelists
addressed questions and myths that are common and those
posted during the live event.
“If an individual had COVID-19 already, you have six months
of immunity but it fades away. The data on this is currently
iffy, but the individual can increase their immunity by
taking the vaccine. The individual should wait about three
months and wait until they are symptom free. However, we
already have three variants so that could mean that we will
need an annual vaccine. Once vaccinations increase, variants
of COVID are less likely to increase,” shared Paat
“We’re currenting in the middle of the big rollout, but you
should listen to the governor each week for the next
eligible group of residents. Ohioans should worry about
which vaccine they are receiving and get what’s available at
the time. Any shot is better than no shot,” explained
Watkins.
The VProject plans to post videos and resources that
continue to address myths, these resources are available on
the VProject Facebook page and website. Visit
www.vproject.org for details.
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