COVID-19 has changed all of our lives, but with the launch of vaccines across the country, there is finally an end in sight … but only if enough people are actually vaccinated. So when your friend / aunt / colleague says they’re thinking not receiving the vaccine, you are understandably concerned – for them and the general population. Your action plan? Know the facts. We talked to the experts to find out who really shouldn’t get the vaccine (note: this is a very small group of people) and how to address the concerns of those who are skeptical about it.
Note: The information below refers to the two COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available to Americans and developed by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
Who should definitely NOT get the vaccine
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Under 16 years old. “At the moment, available vaccines are not approved for use in children under 18 for Moderna and under 16 for Pfizer because an adequate number of younger participants has not been included in safety tests,” Elroy Vojdani, MD, IFMCP, tell us. “This may change, as both companies are currently studying the effects of the vaccine on adolescents.” But until we know more, young people under 16 should not get the vaccine.
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People with allergies to any ingredient in the vaccine. According to the CDC, anyone who has had an immediate allergic reaction – even if it has not been severe – to any ingredient in any of the two available COVID-19 vaccines should not be vaccinated.
Who should talk to their doctor before getting the vaccine
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People with autoimmune diseases. “There is no short-term indication that the vaccine will increase autoimmunity, but we will have much larger data sets on this in the coming months,” said Dr. Vojdani. In the meantime, patients with autoimmune diseases should discuss with their doctor whether the vaccine is the right choice for them. “In general, in this group, I think the vaccine is a much better option than the infection itself,” he adds.
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Those who have had an allergic reaction to other vaccines or injectable therapies. According to the CDC, if you had an immediate allergic reaction – even if it was not serious – to a vaccine or injectable therapy for another disease, you should ask your doctor if you should get the COVID-19 vaccine. (Note: the CDC recommends that people with a history of severe allergic reactions not related to vaccines or injectable medications – such as food, pets, poison, environmental allergies or latex –Does vaccinated.)
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Pregnant women. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says the vaccine should not be denied to people who are breastfeeding or pregnant. The ACOG also states that the vaccine is not believed to cause infertility, miscarriage, harm to the newborn or harm to pregnant women. But because vaccines have not been studied in pregnant women during clinical trials, there is little safety data available to be worked on.
Wait, then should pregnant women get the vaccine or not?
“Getting the COVID vaccine during pregnancy or breastfeeding is a personal decision,” says Nicole Calloway Rankins, MD, MPH, an OB / GYN certified by the council and host of the All about pregnancy and birth podcast. “There is very limited data on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines for people who are pregnant or breastfeeding. When considering whether to get the vaccine during pregnancy or breastfeeding, it is important to ask your doctor in the context of your own personal risk, ”she tells us.
For example, if you have underlying health problems that increase your risk of having a more severe form of COVID-19 (such as diabetes, high blood pressure or lung disease), you may be more inclined to get the vaccine during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Likewise, if you work in a high-risk healthcare environment, such as a nursing home or hospital.
“Remember that there are risks anyway. With the vaccine, you are accepting the risks of the side effects of the vaccine, which until now we know are minimal. Without the vaccine, you are accepting the risks of contracting COVID, which we know can be potentially devastating. ”
Conclusion: if you are pregnant, talk to your doctor so that you can assess the risks and decide if the vaccine is right for you.
My neighbor says he already took COVID-19, does that mean he doesn’t need the vaccine?
The CDC is recommending that even those who received COVID-19 be vaccinated. “The reason for this is that immunity to infection is somewhat variable and it is very difficult to make an individual assessment of it as a decisive factor in obtaining it or not,” explains Dr. Vojdani. “Their response was to recommend vaccination so that they could be sure that they have the level of immunity demonstrated in phase 3 studies by vaccine manufacturers. With COVID representing such a huge global health crisis, I understand that ”.
My friend thinks the vaccine is linked to infertility. What should I tell her?
Short answer: it is not.
Long answer: “An important protein for the proper functioning of the placenta, syncytine-1, is somewhat similar to the peak protein formed when receiving the mRNA vaccine,” explains Dr. Rankins. “A false theory has circulated that the antibodies formed to the spike protein resulting from the vaccine would recognize and block syncytine-1 and thus interfere with the functioning of the placenta. The two share some amino acids, but are not similar enough for the antibodies formed as a result of the vaccine to recognize and block syncytine-1. ”In other words, there is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine causes infertility.
Why are some members of the black community so skeptical about the vaccine?
According to the results of a Pew Research Center survey published in December, only 42% of black Americans said they would consider getting the vaccine, compared with 63% of Hispanics and 61% of white adults who would. And yes, that skepticism makes perfect sense.
Some historical context: The United States has a history of medical racism. One of the most infamous examples of this was the government-backed Tuskegee Syphilis Study, which started in 1932 and recruited 600 black men, 399 of whom had syphilis. These participants were led to believe that they were receiving free medical care, but were only observed for research purposes. The researchers did not provide any effective treatment for their disease (not even after penicillin was discovered to cure syphilis in 1947) and, as such, men experienced serious health problems and death as a result. The study only ended when it was exposed to the press in 1972.
And this is just one example of medical racism. There are many other examples of health inequity for people of color, including shorter life expectancy, higher blood pressure and pressure on mental health. Racism also exists in healthcare (blacks are less likely to receive appropriate painkillers and experience disproportionately high rates of death related to pregnancy or childbirth, for example).
But what does this mean for the COVID-19 vaccine?
“As a black woman, I also share a persistent distrust in the health care system based on the way the health care system has treated us, both historically and today,” says Dr. Rankins. “However, the science and data are solid and suggest that the vaccine is effective and safe for the vast majority of people. In contrast, we know that COVID can kill people who would otherwise be healthy and can have devastating long-term effects that we are now beginning to understand, ”she adds.
Here is another factor to consider: COVID-19 affects blacks and other people of color more severely. CDC data shows that more than half of the cases of COVID-19 in the United States were between blacks and Latinos.
For Dr. Rankins, that was the deciding factor. “I got the vaccine and I hope that most people do too.”
Result
It is unclear exactly how many Americans would need to be vaccinated to achieve “herd immunity” (that is, the level at which the virus will no longer be able to spread through the population). But Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said recently that the number should be between 75 to 85 percent. This is too much. So, if you I can get the vaccine, you must.
“It is understandable to be skeptical about something relatively new, but it is also important to put emotion aside and look at objective evidence,” says Dr. Vojani. “The evidence says that the vaccine results in a massive decrease in the development of COVID-19 symptoms for the inoculated and prevents hospitalization and death. So far, the short-term side effects appear to be relatively mild and manageable, particularly compared to COVID-19 itself and no autoimmune complications have been observed so far. This is contrary to infection, which carries an alarming rate of chronic fatigue and post-infectious autoimmune disease. “
If someone tells you that they do not want to get the vaccine and that they are not in any of the disqualified groups mentioned above, you can provide the facts and also ask them to speak to your primary care provider. You can also convey the following words from Dr. Rankins: “This disease is devastating and these vaccines will help stop it, but only if enough of us catch it.”
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