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For the past year, the
best defense strategies we had were wearing a mask, keeping
a six-foot distance from others, and practicing excellent
hand hygiene. Now, we have three different vaccines that are
being widely distributed to add to our defense strategies.
As of Thursday, March 11,
2021, 80,270 Lucas County residents had at least started the
vaccination process. According to state and local officials,
we can expect the supply to continue to increase.
Furthermore, President Biden recently stated that all
American adults should be eligible to receive the COVID-19
vaccine by May.
Currently, these are some
of the most frequently asked questions:
Do I get to pick which COVID-19 vaccine I receive?
The short answer is that
you should accept anyCOVID-19 vaccine available to you.
The three vaccines
available are all 100 percent effective in preventing severe
disease, hospitalizations, and death. The Moderna and Pfizer
vaccines are mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccines, which give our
cells instructions on how to make a harmless protein that is
unique to the virus. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a
viral vector vaccine which generates a response in our cells
to produce the same harmless protein.
The Pfizer and Moderna
vaccines require two shots spaced three and four weeks
apart, respectively. The Johnson & Johnson requires a single
dose.
Regardless of which
vaccine you receive, you can trust that they all work to
teach our bodies to build antibodies that will remember how
to fight the virus that causes COVID-19 if we are exposed in
the future.
What are potential side effects to the vaccines?
The COVID-19 vaccines can
cause short-term reactions (such as headache, muscle pains,
fatigue, chills, fever and pain at the injection site) in
some people. This is the result of your body developing
immunity. When you receive the second dose of the vaccine,
these reactions may be more pronounced, but are not
considered abnormal. .
If you experience a
reaction after the first dose of the vaccine, it is very
important that you still receive the second dose, as
directed, for the vaccine to be effective. This does not
mean that the vaccine has given you COVID-19. Rather, this
means that the vaccine is causing your body’s immune system
to react and create antibodies to fight off the virus. This
means the vaccine is doing its job.
Will I still need to wear a mask after I receive the
vaccine?
Wearing a mask will still
be required in public places, such as healthcare settings
and grocery stores. Even after you receive your vaccine,
others around you may not have received it. We know the
vaccine helps protect vaccinated peolpe against COVID-19.
However, it may still be possible for vaccinated people to
transmit the disease to others. Therefore, wearing a mask,
social distancing, and practicing proper hand hygiene
protects those who have not been vaccinated, especiallythose
who are at high risk for developing severe illness.
What are the new recommendations from the CDC regarding
people who are fully vaccinated?
On Monday, March 8, the
CDC recommended that fully vaccinated people continue to
take COVID-19 precautions when in public, visiting with
unvaccinated people from multiple other households, and
around unvaccinated people who are at high risk of getting
severely ill from COVID-19. The CDC considers an individual
to be fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the second
dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and two weeks after
the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
However, there are new guidelines for those who are
considered fully vaccinated. Fully vaccinated people may:
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Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without
wearing masks or staying 6 feet apart;
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Visit with unvaccinated people from one other household
indoors without wearing masks or staying 6 feet apart if
everyone in the other household is at low risk for severe
disease;
·
Refrain from quarantine and testing if they do not have
symptoms of COVID-19 after contact with someone who has
COVID-19.
Where can I get a vaccine?
If you live in Lucas
County, visit
https://lucascountyhealth.com/coronavirusupdates/ and
click on the “schedule appointment” box in the upper
right-hand corner. If you need assistance scheduling an
appointment online, please contact United Way 2-1-1 (dial
211 from any phone) or the Area Office on Aging at
419-382-0624.
Any Ohio resident can also
use the state portal:
gettheshot.coronavirus.ohio.gov.
Where can I get more information?
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https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/index.html
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https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/covid-19-vaccination-program
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https://www.promedica.org/covid/vaccines
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