Staff WriterFlorida doctors answer most-frequently-asked questions about the vaccine.
Dr. Steven Smith, the chief scientific officer at AdventHealth, Dr. Latha Gante, an ER Physician, and Dr. Bruce Rankin, Medical Director at Accel Clinical Research gave answers to most searched questions for Covid.
- Does the vaccine prevent you from getting COVID-19?
“Yes, we would not approve a vaccine if it didn’t prevent COVID-19. The question is, how much could it prevent?’ If you treat 100 people and 95, who are exposed, won’t get COVID, there may be a few people who are exposed who get it anyway. What we’re looking for in the data is ‘does that mean they have a milder case than if they didn’t get the vaccine,” Dr. Smith said.
- How long will the vaccines last?
We’re looking at how long it’s effective. We do a different flu shot every year, but then for a Measles vaccine, we have a long time immunity. That question has not been answered yet.
- What are the most common side effects?
The most common side effects have been some pain at the injection site in the arm and mild flu-like symptoms for a couple of days.
- How do the vaccines differ?
The first two out of the gate, are called mRNA vaccines. A new technology that allowed Pfizer and Moderna to move really fast. The next two are the AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines.
- Should I get the flu shot this year?
“Absolutely, everybody should get the flu vaccine because you can get COVID-19 and the flu and if you get both, it will be worse than getting just one,”.