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COVID-19 Vaccines

By Health Bridges

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Presentation Roadmap

How the vaccines work
What’s in the vaccine
Vaccine options and differences
How to sign up, county specific
Benefits of the vaccine
Side effects
Herd immunity and what it is
Importance of maintaining social distance procedures after receiving the vaccine

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What’s in Pfizer’s Vaccine?

RNA
4-hydroxybutyl)azanediyl)bis(hexane-6,1-diyl)bis, (2-hexyldecanoic), 2 [(polyethylene glycol)-2000]-N,N-ditetradecylacetamide, 1,2-Distearoyl-snglycero-3- phosphocholine, cholesterol
Potassium chloride, monobasic potassium phosphate, sodium chloride, dibasic sodium phosphate dihydrate
Sucrose

This carries the instructions for how to make the spike portion of the coronavirus
These are lipids, which is another word for fats. They cover the RNA and provide it a “greasy exterior” for the RNA to be able to slip into the cell.
These are salts. They make sure that the vaccine matches the pH that is found in our bodies.
This is a sugar. It is used to prevent the particles from sticking together when the vaccine is frozen.

The main component of these vaccines are instructions for how to make the spike protein for the coronavirus so that our bodies can get used to it and know how to fight off the virus if we are ever infected. However, there’s a lot of other ingredients in the vaccines as well and the left side of the screen shows every ingredient in the Pfizer vaccine. We want you to feel comfortable using these ingredients despite the fact that they have very scientific names. A lot of them are ingredients that appear elsewhere and scientists have picked every one of these ingredients for a specific purpose to make sure the vaccine gets into our body safely.

Specifically, the Pfizer vaccine carries the instructions for how to make the spike protein. It also has a variety of different fats which help cover the RNA or instructions so the vaccine can get into our body. There are also a variety of salts present. One of the salts is sodium chloride, which is regular table salt. The salts help to make sure the vaccine matches the pH in our bodies so our bodies won’t reject the vaccine. Lastly, the Pfizer vaccine has sucrose, which is a sugar found in honey, and it is just used to prevent the particles from sticking together when the vaccine is frozen.

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What’s in Moderna’s Vaccine?

RNA
SM-102, 1,2-dimyristoyl-rac-glycero3-methoxypolyethylene glycol-2000 [PEG2000-DMG], cholesterol, 1,2-distearoyl-snglycero-3-phosphocholine [DSPC]
Sodium acetate
Acetic Acid, Tromethamine & Tromethamine hydrochloride
Sucrose

This carries the instructions for how to make the spike portion of the coronavirus
These are lipids, which is another word for fats. They cover the RNA and provide it a “greasy exterior” for the RNA to be able to slip into the cell.
These are salts. They make sure that the vaccine matches the pH that is found in our bodies.
These are acids and acid stabilizers. They are also used to maintain proper pH stability.
This is a sugar. It is used to prevent the particles from sticking together when the vaccine is frozen.

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What’s in Johnson & Johnson’s Vaccine?

Ad26 vector expressing DNA
Citric acid monohydrate, trisodiumcitrate dihydrate, hydrochloric acid
2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HBCD), Polysorbate 80, ethanol
Sodium chloride, sodium hydroxide

This carries the instructions for how to make the spike portion of the coronavirus
These are acids and acid stabilizers. They are used to maintain proper pH stability.
These are emulsifiers and stabilizers. They are used to make sure the vaccine is absorbed into the body properly.
These are salts. They make sure that the vaccine matches the pH that is found in our bodies.

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Alongside the instructions to make the COVID spike protein, the vaccines mainly consist of salts, sugars, fats, acids, and stabilizers.

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Who can get each vaccine?

	Pfizer	Moderna	Johnson and Johnson
Who can get it	16 or older	18 or older	18 or older

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Efficacy is a measure of the proportionate reduction in cases among vaccinated persons.

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How to sign up for the Vaccine: Getting Started

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How to Sign Up For the Vaccine: Location

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Vaccine Eligibility: San Bernardino County

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Benefits of getting the vaccine

-Highly effective at preventing COVID-19; immunity for at least 6 months

-Carefully evaluated in clinical trials and will be authorized or approved only if they make it substantially less likely you’ll get COVID-19

-Getting a COVID-19 vaccine may also help keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID-19.

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Benefits (cont’d)

Protection against chronic effects of Covid-19
Protects against Covid-19 reinfection
COVID-19 vaccination will help protect you by creating an antibody (immune system) response without having to experience sickness.

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Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

On April 13, 2021, the FDA and CDC recommended a pause in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to a small number of a rare and severe blood clot occurring in people who received this vaccine (8 cases of blood clot out of over 7 million shots administered)

In all these cases, symptoms occurred six to 13 days after the vaccine

The CDC is not sure whether the vaccine caused this side effect, and investigations are still undergoing

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Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

What if I got this vaccine?

If you got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine more than three weeks ago, chances of getting a blood clot are extremely low
If you got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine less than three weeks ago, chances of developing a blood clot are still very low, but you should seek medical help if you experience any of the following symptoms:

Severe headache
Blurred vision
Fainting
Seizures
Pain in your abdomen (chest or stomach)
Leg pain or swelling
Shortness of breath

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Johnson & Johnson Vaccine

What if I made an appointment for this vaccine?

If you signed up for an appointment for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you can try to change your appointment to get another type of COVID-19 vaccine

Information on Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/JJUpdate.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/health/blood-clots-johnson-vaccine.html

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Vaccine Possible Side Effects

One concern about vaccine is the side effects. Some people have no side effects, but getting side effects is a normal sign that your body is building protection to the disease. To try to prevent side effects, the CDC advises that you do not take over-the-counter medications such as ibuprofen or aspirin before getting your vaccine.

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Vaccine Possible Side Effects: Cont

If your vaccine requires two shots, it is normal for side effects to be stronger after your second dose and for side effects to affect your daily activities. This is a sign that you are building protection to the disease and these side effects should go away in a few days.

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Vaccine Possible Side Effects: Cont

When should you seek medical attention after experiencing side effects?

If the redness or tenderness where you got the shot gets worse after 24 hours, or if the side effects show no improvement after a few days.

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Vaccine Possible Side Effects: Cont

It is rare, but some people have severe allergic reactions to vaccines where they may have to be treated with epinephrine or an EpiPen. If you experience an allergic reaction after a first dose, it is not recommended that you get a second dose.

Vaccine clinics have precautions in place to make getting vaccines as safe as possible, including having equipment for supporting people with allergic reactions and monitoring everyone who receives a shot.

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Herd Immunity

What is herd immunity?

Herd immunity occurs when a large percentage of a population become immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. Herd immunity makes the entire population immune to a disease, not just those who are immune.

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Herd Immunity

How is herd immunity achieved?

Herd immunity can be achieved either through vaccination or when a large amount of the population has been infected with the disease, leading to the infected people to develop antibodies.

For COVID-19, it is unclear if infection causes immunity and how long it lasts, and infection of many people will overwhelm the healthcare system. Therefore, vaccine is preferred for achieving COVID-19 herd immunity, and continuing to practice safety protocols to minimize risk of infection is recommended.

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Herd Immunity

Why is herd immunity important?

Herd immunity is important because it makes it possible to protect community members who can't be vaccinated, such as children and people with compromised immune systems.

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Importance of maintaining social distance procedures

Officials recommended that all people included those who are vaccinated should continue to: continue to wear face masks, remain socially distant, wash hands frequently, and to stay home when feeling sick

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Importance of maintaining social distance procedures

Dr. Abinash Virk takeaways:

Although the vaccine may protect you from severe infection or covid symptoms, we still are unsure if we can be “healthy” and still a virus host/spreader

A vaccine reduces your risk, it does not completely eliminate it.

Maintaining covid safe procedures is important because there may be new mutant variants and other variants still to come

Next, we have a video from infectious disease expert Dr. Abinash Virk with the Mayo clinic.

Dr Virk video:

These studies — both the Pfizer and the Moderna — were really designed to see if the vaccine can prevent the symptomatic infection. They weren't designed to study if we can prevent transmission from one person to the other. Until we have more information about how this vaccine impacts what we call asymptomatic transmission, we should follow social distancing procedures because although the vaccine may prevent you from severe infection or covid symptoms, we don’t know if we can pick up the virus and transfer it to someone else.

There are three main takeaways:

Although the vaccine may protect you from severe infection and other COVID symptoms, we are still unsure if we can be “healthy” and be a virus host or spreader.

A vaccine reduces your risk but it does not completely eliminate it.

Lastly, maintaining COVID safe procedures is important because there may be new mutants and variants to come.

https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/continue-to-wear-a-mask-practice-social-distancing-after-being-vaccinated-for-covid-19/

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Importance of maintaining social distance procedures

How long does this last?

As of right now that is unknown. While we may be getting fatigued of these safety precautions, following these guidelines remains the fastest way that we can be able to return to a sense of normality. The safer we are now, the more we can experience in the future, as more people get vaccinated and research continues to be performed.