Can you explain about the Covid Vaccine?

I’ve had several people ask me questions about the Covid vaccine over the last week, and though this is not usually what I do on this website, I figured a post would be appropriate to help clear some things up. Though general information is being shared about the vaccine, I specifically wanted to address the questions I have heard since I’ve been to several scientific town hall meetings about this vaccine. I am not a trained virologist or vaccine researcher, this is my viewpoint based on my medical training and what has been shared with me. Sorry this post is quite long, I’d recommend to skim through and look for the question/comment you’ve been wondering about.

This vaccine was developed too quickly, it can’t possibly be safe. This was actually my primary concern initially. If you remember, during the H1N1 Flu epidemic a few years ago, a vaccine was developed in less than six months to specifically target that virus. However, we already have had an effective (or at least helpful) flu vaccine before that. However, we have never had a successful coronavirus vaccine in the past. Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA means that they are allowed to more rapidly approve something in the middle of a healthcare crisis, like a global pandemic. That means information is reviewed more quickly, but not that it is overlooked. That means the people who evaluate the data are working overtime, not that they skipped processes.

Theoretically, developing a vaccine from scratch for coronavirus would take several years. Amazingly enough, coronavirus vaccine research has been going on for decades. Coronavirus is usually what causes the common cold, which people tend to suffer from multiple times over the course of their lives, so it’s difficult even for our bodies to get long lasting immunity against it. For the past 18 years, research was being done on how to develop a vaccine against this particular type of virus because of SARS and MERS vaccines. They did not develop an effective vaccine, but had already ruled out all of the typical ways we make other vaccines, and had started research on a mRNA vaccine before Covid. Vaccine trials started in March, which means we had both time to check for symptoms, and immunity afterwards over the course of 6 months.

So, what about making up the information? Couldn’t the trials for Pfizer and Moderna have been made up? I understand this concern, and sometimes research studies are done that are questionable, but I believe everything with the Covid vaccine appears to be legit and it is supported by multiple medical professionals in the field. Also, there are several things I was taught to look for that increase the reliability of any study. The population size should be realistic. Studies that are done with only a few hundred people cannot translate to being safe and effective for the whole population. Studies should ideally be done with thousands of people. For instance, in my Bible study group of 12 people, there are 3 red-heads. I could publish a study and conclude that 40% of the general population has red-hair, but that wouldn’t be accurate because my population size wasn’t big enough to be accurate for the general population. But if I took my entire church of 1800 people and counted red-heads, I might get a more accurate percentage. But an even better group size would be one of 10,000. Both studies on both vaccines were good population sizes that should more accurately represent the population as a whole, because the studies included 65,000 people of various ages, various countries, various backgrounds, and thus represent a good picture of the world as a whole. It’s a big enough level to see trends as well as problems.

Second, the actual numbers should make sense. The percentages used, confidence interval, the p-value that is included, etc should all be believable and comparable to other studies. Sadly, there’s nothing in science that gives a 100% effective rate, but a 95% rate, especially one that’s seen with other vaccines is realistic and consistent with the results. It would be a major red flag if they had somehow developed information that is impossible, but thankfully, that is not the case with these vaccines- there are still some risks and some imperfections and that is normal.

Third, I think you should question everything. I am glad you are here researching and trying to get more information, especially in a year where there’s been a lot of announcements and then back-pedaling. There is no reason to go around blindly believing everything that people say, and that’s not how medicine or science works- we’re supposed to ask questions, so reading any study with a bit of skepticism is normal as far as I’m concerned. I just try to stay away from reading things with cynicism.

What does this mRNA thing even mean? Isn’t it dangerous because it’s new? Research has been done for the past 30 years on mRNA vaccines as well. Believe me, nowadays, nothing takes a day to develop, there are always multiple studies that failed in the past. Modifications are made, lessons are learned, and something new is tried. Covid 19 just happened to appear at the right time where the mRNA concept was working enough to start trials soon after the virus appeared and was able to be studied. Past research allows it to be the first mRNA vaccine that has worked well enough to be useful.

How does it work? DNA becomes RNA becomes protein. Messenger RNA is the instruction manual for every protein that your body makes. But messenger RNA (mRNA) is not very stable, so it has to be carefully transported (and stored at really cold temperatures). The body takes up the mRNA of the surface protein and “reads it”, and makes a protein that the body realizes is not usually in the body. So, the immune system then attacks and kills any cells that contain that protein (and thus the virus). In the case of a vaccine, your body gives certain cells the ability to remember abnormal proteins it has come in contact with, so that if they are encountered again in the future, your body can mount defenses and kill it sooner, hopefully before you even start to experience symptoms.

What are the ingredients in the vaccines? The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine includes two main components (complements of Vanderbilt University): Active ingredient: a nucleoside-modified messenger RNA (modRNA) encoding the glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 and the Inactive ingredients:

• Lipids- ((4-hydroxybutyl)azanediyl)bis(hexane-6,1-diyl)bis(2-hexyldecanoate), [(polyethylene glycol [PEG])-2000]-N,N-ditetradecylacetamide, 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, and 0.2 mg cholesterol),
• Electrolytes- potassium chloride, monobasic potassium phosphate, sodium chloride, dibasic sodium phosphate dihydrate
• Sugar (sucrose)
• The diluent is saline (Sodium Chloride)

The Moderna mRNA vaccine is based on a similar construct with a PEG-2000 lipid delivery system.

95% effectiveness- isn’t that bad? Remember that percentages in science and medicine change astronomically and refer to human beings. Just a 1% change actually represents millions of people in the world. Most vaccines are not actually this good- the Flu vaccine for instance, is about 50% effective, meaning half of the time you won’t get sick after your shot. If they had come out with a vaccine with 100% effectiveness, I would consider that a hoax. Science is not God, we wish we were that good at treating things, but we’re just not. The best vaccines are those that both have a high effective rating and are also given to the majority of the population. Vaccines like smallpox and polio fall into this category, and they also both have the 95% effectiveness. Smallpox is officially eradicated- no one has to worry about getting that now because the vaccine decreased the rates in the population and gave enough people immunity that it couldn’t spread anymore. Many countries have done the same with polio, but we still get vaccinated for this because the whole world has not eliminated this disease, and thus we all need immunity against it. If enough of the world gets the Covid vaccine, theoretically immunity should be good enough to stop this pandemic the same way these previous vaccines did.

Why a vaccine? Why not a new medication or something? We do not have an effective medication that eradicates any virus. Many serious problems that affect the public are bacterial diseases- so we work on developing an antibiotic to help your body fight against the disease. Because of the way that viruses are spread, this never works for viruses. Most of the time, we will give medications that help with symptoms- like cough medicines, fever-reducers, etc. In the case of Covid, we have used a lot of anti-inflammatory medications, monoclonal antibodies, and vitamins to help decrease the multi-system failure that is occurring with Covid, but these will not necessarily cure the disease- your immune system still has to develop enough antibodies and kill enough of the affected cells to get rid of it. Vaccines are the most effective way we have at dealing with viruses like this.

Why did doctors get the vaccine first? Why not elderly? Imagine if you go to your doctor’s office, and get tested for the flu, and test negative; however, your doctor has the flu but will not develop symptoms until tomorrow. Essentially, your doctor can give you the flu. It’s not a very effective medical model when providers are the one’s making their patients sick. Flu vaccine is often required for medical professionals so that we are less likely to spread to you something we haven’t really started experiencing symptoms from yet. Obviously, with Covid we are all hopefully wearing PPE and masks, but if they were 100% effective at preventing disease, we probably would have ended Covid-19 by now. So, the CDC’s model has those who are most likely to come in contact with large numbers of other people (healthcare workers, frontline workers, etc) getting the vaccine first. Personally, I think the elderly are a little more likely to experience side effects from the vaccine than younger people, so if we started with grandparents and then they all of the complained about every little symptom, would anyone else want to take it? Some of the distribution I think is literally a public awareness move, to make sure that people who are used to thinking about normal vaccine side effects, and are not going to overreact to them, are going first. Don’t forget that the mind is a powerful thing, and if you go to get a shot assuming it’s going to be horrible, it increases the chances that that’s how you’ll experience it. Either way, the elderly, who are most at risk of serious side effects, will be second in line for the vaccine, hopefully within the next month or two.

Are the side effects of the vaccine going to be bad? Vaccines work in a variety of ways to stimulate the immune system to remember what they have been exposed to. That way, the next time you come in contact with the virus, your immune system will recognize it quicker and kill it without you having to experience the symptoms of a full blown illness. Covid-19 vaccine is a different type of mRNA based vaccine that will stimulate your immune system to ramp up and respond. Three weeks later, you are given a second vaccine, and your immune system ramps up again with a stronger response since it has seen this before and wants to get rid of it. The vaccine will not give you particles of the actual virus and cannot make you get Covid, but your immune response can make you feel unwell temporarily.

Based on studies and the 1000 medical professionals I have talked with since getting their vaccine last week (From a Facebook group of medical professionals), the most common symptom after the first shot is a sore arm. Some people report feeling a little tired, having a low grade temp, headache, or feeling a little unwell for about 24hrs. Per reports from the initial studies, the second dose of the vaccine is more likely to cause a non-specific flu-like illness for about 24-48hrs. Again, this is not a sign of illness, this is the immune system responding to a foreign body it has seen before, and should actually be a sign of growing immunity more than a cause for concern. Getting one shot is not effective at providing immunity. Among medical professionals who have gotten the vaccine, we are considering symptoms after 48hrs of the vaccine a possibility of infection and an indication to get tested. Our hospital is recommending that we make sure to have 48hrs off of work after our second dose of vaccine, just to be cautious in case we weren’t feeling well.

What about all the people with allergic reactions? Isn’t that bad? First, we need to define “severe allergic reaction”. Most of the stories I have been seeing about people having an allergic reaction are reports of people experiencing something like fast heart rate, dizziness, etc. These do not count as an allergic reaction at all. A severe allergic reaction is a process in which your body comes in contact with a foreign material, and as it tries to respond to keeping you safe, the body majorly overreacts. This results a few, set and resolute symptoms, including red face, trouble breathing, and low blood pressure. We all have normal allergic reactions, like when you get local swelling and redness after a bug bite, however, these are limited to one part of your body and will resolve without intervention. Anaphylaxis is the thing we worry about as doctors- which is a reaction that is generalized, affecting multiple different systems in your body, that continues to worsen and literally can cause death. Anaphylaxis is the type of thing that can occur when someone has a severe peanut or severe wasp allergy and needs treatment with an immediate epi pen and medical monitoring to make sure it is subsiding. Feeling a little dizzy or having a fast heart rate is a different type of reaction that is a vasovagal reaction and is a normal response to a stressor- like a shot, blood draw, or something like public speaking- that makes you feel like you’re going to pass out. It resolves on it’s own in a few minutes and causes no long term damage or side effects. It can happen with any vaccine, and is not a danger or a reason to avoid it. Anything you put in your body causes a reaction, including water, so we have to make sure we are not overreacting to the reactions that occur when we take a medication, consume a product, or take a vaccine. Most people who have a history of anaphylaxis in the past are being monitored for 45 minutes after their vaccine to make sure they do not need any intervention, and most people do not need any at all.

Shouldn’t we wait and see what the long term repercussions are going to be and not get the vaccine right now? I understand this question- the vaccine studies followed patients for six months at the most, and we don’t know if there will be problems after that, right? “Bad reactions from vaccines most often occur within the first 4-6 weeks of vaccination, which means we have already ruled a lot of those out” (Dr. Buddy Creech, ID). Bad side effects are rare from vaccines, but any possible reactions are always monitored by medical professionals.

Honestly, most of the time, we do not know the long term side effects of a vaccine when it is released. Vaccines are normally developed then distributed to the population. We don’t do a phase 3 trial, approve a vaccination, and then spend 20 years doing studies on long term side effects before the general population takes them. Most of our vaccinations were given and studied to eliminate short term anomalies and effectiveness. Then, when we start giving the vaccine, we follow vaccine reactions (VAERS), and if there are problems occurring, make interventions. Beyond that, it gets quite difficult to tell if a vaccine you got 30 years ago is causing a reaction, the same way it would be difficult to tell if an antibiotic you took as a child was suddenly affecting you decades later. The probability and ability to link the two events without other things likely being involved is so small that these studies are very hard to do. And the rate of actual problems from vaccines is very low.

To discuss this, I’m going to give you an example of an old Rotavirus vaccine since I’m a pediatrician, and we did have negative side effects with this vaccine. Rotavirus is a GI bug- an illness that causes diarrhea, usually affecting most children by their 1st birthday. If parents get sick, it’s a mild illness, but kids are more likely to get dehydrated, requiring hospitalization for a few days for fluids. A vaccine was developed a few years ago called Rotashield. The initial studies did show some side effects, but not in high enough numbers that it was deemed anything out of the ordinary. But after a few months of starting the vaccine, it was discovered that children were getting intussusception more often than normal (any possible vaccine reactions are reported and closely monitored). Intussusception is a medical condition that occurs when your bowels basically fold in over themselves, and often requires an expensive procedure or a surgery to correct it. It occurs randomly in the regular population, but it was found that it was occurring in much higher numbers after the vaccine.

Now, medically speaking, the next question to ask is “is it worth it?” Obviously, there are multiple treatments and interventions in medicine that are not exactly comfortable. When it comes to an intussusception, we could wait and see if your bowels fix themselves, but in general we intervene. Why? Because the risk of bowel damage and complications are higher than the risks from the surgery itself. However, when it came to the rotavirus vaccine, the risk of death and morbidity from the actual illness (diarrhea) was not significantly different than the risk of intussusception. Your bowels folding over on themselves is way worse than a few days of diarrhea! The side effect of the vaccine was worse than the disease, therefore, the vaccine was discontinued entirely. A new rotavirus vaccine was developed that does not have those side effects and is worth it and safer for children.

I hate to sound grim, but when it comes to the Covid vaccine, it’s hard to find a side effect that would be worse than death. Also, we don’t have time to take several more years to simply wait and figure out what’s going to happen long term- we need to get on top of a really big bad bug right now before another million people die. In the trials, only 1 person who got the vaccine developed Covid who needed to be hospitalized, meaning that the numbers for severe disease were very low and not more severe than the regular population. So far, 4 people in the studies were found to have Bell’s palsy, which is well below the normal rate at which the condition occurs in the general population, so that is not attributed to the vaccine based on those numbers. So far, a few people with a history of hospitalization-requiring allergic reactions have had serious allergic reactions, all of which have been appropriately treated without problems. I also heard of one person who passed out, which is a vasovagal reaction and a common response to any sudden stressor, not a negative side effect of a vaccine. We may find numbers of some things in increasing number in the general population verses the study participants. Vaccine safety long term and possible reactions is something that is always being tracked for every vaccine that we give. But honestly, there’s not a lot of vaccine side effects for Covid that could cause worse effects than the high numbers of long-term disease, the number of patients with life-threatening respiratory distress, and the number of multisystem inflammatory conditions we have seen. We’ve also already seen the increased number with crime, suicides, loss of jobs that have occurred as secondary effects of quarantine and multiple other morbidities associated with this disease. Essentially, the side effects of the Covid vaccine may not be fully known but cannot possibly be worse than death, so the risk benefit ratio tells us that the vaccine is worth it.

I’ve heard that the vaccine affects fertility, so I was afraid to get it. Pregnancy, breast feeding, etc were not studied in detail, so obviously, this is a reasonable concern. It is important to remember COVID-19 infection during pregnancy also increases the risk for severe outcomes. The current OB recommendations are If you are not yet pregnant, you are safe to get the vaccine now in the hopes that you will confer some future immunity for baby. In addition, women who are pregnant are also allowed to get the vaccine now, but obviously the side effects for mom and baby have not currently been studied. Scientifically, based on the way the vaccine works, it should not confer any problems to the baby. The main medical concern is about whether or not fevers (which could occur from the vaccine or from covid itself) might impact a baby’s develop during the first trimester, so I have seen some locations in Britain specifically that are recommending that mom’s wait 3 months before getting the vaccine, but there is no logical or medical reason for this statement according to most OBs I have talked with and ASRMs current recommendations. There are plans to look specifically at pregnancy and the vaccine going forward, but the only information is based on the few women who were unknowingly pregnant during the study, who did fine. There have been circulating about risks to placenta development and suggesting that vaccination will lead to infertility, and those are simply not true, there is no reason for the vaccine to have caused those problems, and again, they wouldn’t have been able to prove or disprove that based on a study without significant numbers of pregnant women. The FDA overall permits the vaccination for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. In general, every individual has different exceptions to take into account, so I would overall recommend talking to your doctor about it, and doing what you are comfortable doing.

Aren’t you exaggerating a bit, Covid-19 is basically just the flu? Why does everyone keep saying that? When is the last time you had the flu? Getting the flu is not equivalent to taking a walk on the beach- it’s a legit, take-you-out-for-a-week-cuz-you-feel-like-death, kinda illness. It’s not fun. Sadly, though most do recover well, I’ve watched otherwise healthy people die from “just the flu”. In addition, most people don’t realize that percentages in medicine are usually much lower than you expect. The death rate for the Flu is about 0.1%. People keep saying the death rate in Covid-19 is “just 1%”, though even that is terrifyingly high for a medical problem. The death rate is varying in other countries up to 4%, likely partially due to strains of Covid involved and ability to access healthcare. The U.S. currently has a death rate (which usually varies as the numbers do) of 1.7%. In our current world population, 1% of the world means 78,000,000 people would die. We are thankfully, not there yet, but we are also nowhere near close to stopping the spread of the disease with our current plans, which means that that number is coming if we do not intervene with a much more effective strategy. In addition, the other thing we always take into account for how serious something is, is morbidity rate- the rate at which you develop other problems besides death which we discussed above. Obviously, multiple levels of life are affected when you have a widespread medical problem, and an illness as severe as Covid makes it affect much more of our lives than the flu normally does.

What is the point of taking the vaccine? It won’t change current lock-downs, mask rules, etc, and we don’t know how long it will last, so what’s the point? Answering this requires thinking globally about eradicating disease. Getting rid of a disease requires 1) getting to a low number of people currently ill, and 2) a large number of people are already immune to it, so they will not get sick and will not spread it to someone else. It will take months to get enough people immunized to this point, and to also not be in a current outbreak of the disease. Therefore, for now, our current strategy will be to continue with public safety, get enough people vaccinated, let the upswing of cases die down, and then hopefully be able to move back to normal life. So for now, yes things are the same, but this should allow them to change sooner rather than later. Vaccines in general are the most effective way to stop an outbreak of a bad virus with bad consequences. Covid in general will be difficult to eradicate for several reasons- 1) it can take up to a week to realize you have been exposed and develop symptoms. 2) It can affect other animals besides just humans, and they won’t be vaccinated so will continue to carry it in the population. 3) It’s still not clear how long immunity will last for Covid- if the vaccine will last a few months like the flu shot, or for the rest of someone’s life, like the smallpox vaccine. That being said, the best chance at decreasing rates in the population, and increasing herd immunity, is to get the majority of people vaccinated. Something like smallpox is no longer an issue, a concern, or even a regular vaccine currently, because it was eradicated with a vaccine with a 95% effectiveness. It just takes time to get to a level where enough of the population has immunity that you can change back to regular life. So the end is not here yet, no, but this can still potentially have a huge impact for the better.

I already had Covid, I don’t need to take the vaccine, right? Not quite. Immunity to coronavirus is tricky. Don’t forget this at its core, Covid is a type of coronavirus, which is responsible for the “common cold” that people get year after year because our natural immunity just doesn’t seem to last very long. Immunity to Covid-19 appears to be lasting about three months, but we are seeing increasing numbers get Covid again and sometimes get it sooner than that. The recommendation for the vaccine is for everyone to get it, including those who already had the disease. In the trials, no one was tested for Covid before getting the vaccine, meaning there may have been some asymptomatic carriers that got the vaccine who already had some immunity to it, but the paper information shows that there was no “over-reaction” to anyone in the group who may have fallen into this category, so the vaccine should be safe to take even if you’ve already had Covid. You will not need to be tested for Covid before getting the vaccine, basically everyone should be planning to get it. The current recommendation is that children under the age of 16, and those who were treated in the last 3 months with monoclonal antibodies should not receive the vaccine yet.

When will I be eligible to get the vaccine? This question I cannot answer at all. The CDC has made clear recommendations about the order of vaccine distribution; but how and when exactly it will be available for the general public, I have no information about, sorry.

Was the Covid vaccine tested on healthy people or people with pre-existing conditions? What about the elderly? The studies were done on a regular population size- some of whom were healthy, and others had various chronic conditions. The studies did not likely include very ill people, but showed no significant differences between those who were healthy or had chronic illness. The studies included people up to age 85.

What’s the difference between Pfizer and Moderna? Which one is better? Essentially, the two are equivalent. The two are essentially made in the same way. Pfizer has a 95% effectiveness and Moderna has a 94.1% effectiveness. Pfizer requires it’s second dose in three weeks, and Moderna requires it second dose 4 weeks after the first. They also have different doses. There is no current definable difference between the two- either one that is available to you should be safe and effective. They are essentially just different brands like Dove vs Dial- should both be trustworthy. But if you start with 1 vaccine, your second dose of the vaccine should be with the same brand.

What’s going to happen with kids? Should they get the vaccine? There will be trials on children specifically soon. Pfizer did include children as young as 12 years old, so we have a little information about how children respond, but want to really study more kids before recommending it for children. In general, children’s vaccines can be different in terms of dosing and how often they are given to affect immunity, so these studies will be done soon. I’ve heard the current goal is to begin studies in the spring with the hope that kids over the age of five could get vaccines before next school year.

Well, I heard that the government paid people to develop a vaccine, doesn’t that mean that they may have made up the results to get more money? This is complicated to answer, because I don’t know everything about money and vaccines. But from what I know, absolutely, the government did pay several different companies to create vaccines. I don’t know if you’ve ever done research, but it costs a lot of money- multiple millions- to do any kind of serious study. Then the study has to be reviewed by the FDA, the papers released to the public, and there are multiple checks before things can actually be approved. In addition, when I got my vaccine I did not pay for it at all- no copay, no request of my insurance information, nothing. The vaccine is being paid for by the government because we are essentially in a state of emergency, so several payments will continue to said vaccine companies to get the vaccines available for people so they do not have to go down to Walgreens and pay $300 for one, and I assume this will be the case for awhile now.

So, what about making up the information? Couldn’t they have done that to force us to get the vaccine? Again, I go back to the validity of the study I discussed above, and also what’s on the line. This matters not only for the reputation of the companies involved, but also the number of customers both have to be able to buy their products in the future. Ultimately, businesses like vaccine creators, are out to make money, and the only way they can do that is to make a successful vaccine that saves enough of the population to continue to buy more products they make in the future. It’s not in their best interest to make something fake, and they would have wasted millions of dollars to do so. Finally, several businesses have benefitted from the pandemic, including air filter companies, the makers of hydrochlorothiazide and Lysol, and anyone who manufactures masks. I understand this concern, and yes sometimes, people do lie, but enough people are involved specifically in the validation of studies, that it would be more difficult to get them to all lie rather than to do their jobs to the best of their ability, the same way you do yours.

Aren’t you the doctor who is always talking about how bad and ineffective healthcare is? Why are you suddenly pushing for a vaccine? I threw this in in case you know me personally. Covid-19 has been handled poorly since the day we found out about it. Honestly, I heard that China had built a hospital in a day to accommodate people dying from “some new virus” and I knew that that was going to spell out world-wide disaster for many. We should have done better, as a world, as a country, as government plans, as medical institutions, and as humankind to address all of this. The CDC information was late and left many of us medical professionals scrambling and questioning the one place we’ve gone to in the past for infectious disease recommendations. Medicine as a whole has many problems, but this should not have gone down like this. Things are way worse than they should be, because we didn’t treat this problem seriously enough. In the face of “emergency,” now on multiple levels, you have to respond with a remedy that’s appropriate to the level of destruction. You don’t sit in a hurricane with a new $600 canoe and call yourself good. We need a plan that gets to the heart of the initial stressor, which was this virus, and a decision to stop fighting everyone about everything and respond together to change this. We’re not simply facing a medical problem anymore, but a medical intervention will change the way things go from here if enough people feel safe and comfortable getting it. I am writing this in the hopes that it helps even just one person get there.

Second, vaccines only work if the majority of people get them. I will never forget the 11mth old I admitted with hemorrhagic chicken pox. The story was, his 11 year old sister was due to get the vaccine and “didn’t feel like it.” She ended up getting sick with chicken pox, a mild but annoying itchy rash she dealt with for a week, and the same mild illness happened to her mother. The problem was the 11mth old who was not due for his shot until 12mths old. His immune system just responded differently to the same bug. He had the “bad version” of chicken pox, meaning he was covered in a bleeding, severe rash covering all mucosal surfaces, not just his skin, but also his mouth and esophagus and he developed pneumonia. He was admitted to the hospital for two weeks laying in a bed, unable to eat, struggling to breath, moaning and crying day and night while his mom and sister watched in horror as he suffered. Now thankfully, he lived, but his 2 week hospitalization and complications cost way more than a simple vaccine would have. It’s the clearest example I’ve ever seen about how much the decisions you make about vaccines affect not just you, but also everyone around you. The recommendations up until now have been saying to do everything you can to keep your family, your neighbors, your elderly safe, and I do think this is a safe way and the most likely way to help yourself and them.

Black people have been repeatedly abused in scientific studies and do not trust medicine– Absolutely. I hate to agree with this statement, but it’s absolutely true. Between the Tuskeegee Syphilis study, the Cervical cell studies, even death rates of black patients vs white patients, absolutely horrible things have been done in the name of science. It can seem like the medical community is more often voting for demise then the betterment of African Americans, unfortunately. But we have to remember that not everyone in this country is out to get us. 2020 has reminded us that there are still a lot of people who do not think that black people are equal humans to white at the most basic level. Thankfully, this year has shown us more non-black people marching with, standing with, and asking how to help than ever before. Though things are changing very slowly in this country, they are better than they were, thank the Lord. Strict rules were made by research committees to disallow things like the syphilis experiment from happening in the future (where a treatment of cure was purposefully withheld for decades from black men). Thankfully, the Covid vaccine did include black people, but did not make them a test monkey. The studies actually included 10% black population, which is reasonable because that is close to the general population in the United States; vaccine side effects and effectiveness were similar among different ages and race. Finally, we have to go back to the risk/benefit ratio of the vaccine itself. If the black population is already dying in greater numbers from Covid, then anything that offers protection is going to be more worth it than death. Please do your research, and talk more with medical providers that you trust about your hesitations, but this is a safe vaccine for the black community.

I’m a Christian, I don’t need the vaccine because I have God to protect me. As a Christian, I do believe that God can not only protect us from getting ill, but also heal us supernaturally. However, most of our life is lived in the physical, not supernatural interventions, and we do definitely have a part and a roll in making good decisions and not testing God with what we have been given. We all eat our vegetables, go to sleep at night, do not willingly run into oncoming traffic, we take vitamins, we wear seatbelts, because we know it’s the right thing to do and we know we are participating in the things that happen to us on earth. Obviously, God can save and protect us, but as we grow in our faith we need to do our best to make wise decisions and trust him to sometimes work through the supernatural and sometimes work through our medical system to provide that safety. Should we be faith-filled or prepared? My answer is now and forever, both.

Did you get personally get the vaccine? Honestly, I got my Pfizer vaccine on 12/21 and am doing fine. My arm was sore for two days, but otherwise no issues. Do I think it was 100% safe for me to do so? Not really. But do I think it was the right thing to do? Absolutely. And I hope I’ve helped calm some of your fears and concerns as well. This has been a nightmare for all of us. In general, I don’t normally post about medical recommendations, but I wrote this post as an opportunity to share with people who truly had questions they wanted answered. This is our shot to get Covid-19 under control. If you still have questions after reading through this, feel free to reach out to me.