In the United States, more than 72 million people, or 21% of the population, have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, according to Centers for Disease Control. And President Joe Biden recently said he would direct states to make all adults, ages 18 and older, eligible for coronavirus vaccines by May 1.
There are currently three coronavirus vaccines authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use from drug manufacturers Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
As the vaccine supply grows and more people become eligible for shooting (to check your eligibility status, you can use the NBC News plan for your vaccination tool), you may have questions about the vaccination process beyond logistics of how to get a meeting. Here’s what you need to know.
How Covid vaccines work
Covid from Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use an innovative vaccination technology called messenger RNA or mRNA, which provides instructions to cells on how to make a non-infectious piece of the top protein of the coronavirus. Once the immune system detects copies of the spike protein, it creates antibodies against it. And in the future, if you are exposed to the coronavirus, your body may remember how to produce antibodies to fight it.
In clinical trials, the Moderna vaccine was 94.1% effective in preventing laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 disease in individuals receiving both doses, and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 95% effective.
J & J’s Covid vaccine, on the other hand, uses adenoviruses, a type of virus that causes the common cold, as a vehicle to give cells instructions on how to fight the virus. Similarly, when the vaccine is injected into people’s arms, it triggers the immune system to create antibodies.
The J&J vaccine was 72% effective against moderate to severe Covid-19 infection in the United States, and 66% was protected against moderate and severe diseases in general worldwide.
How to get an appointment with the vaccine
Each state has its own vaccine eligibility plan, so it’s a good idea to start with the website of your state or local health department. You can also call your doctor if you are not sure if your specific conditions or basic factors meet the criteria.
The CDC VaccineFinder tool can point you to nearby providers and pharmacies that have the vaccines. (Private practices do not currently receive vaccines for patients, but your doctor may have more information on how to make an appointment.) You need an appointment at most locations to get vaccinated.
There may be additional resources run by volunteers that have a vaccination program available, depending on where you live. In New York City, for example, the TurboVax website helps associate people with government-run vaccination sites in the area. Similarly, VaccinateCA helps people in California.
President Biden announced on March 11 that a federally-supported vaccine site will be available by May 1. “Stop looking for a date day and night for you and your loved ones,” he said during the prime-time speech.
What to expect during your appointment
There was a lot of excitement and anticipation around vaccine schedules. If you are someone who is afraid of needles, focus on deep breathing to relax right now and consider talking to the person administering the shot to have fun.
After the shooting, you will be asked to wait 15 minutes to monitor the reactions. You will also receive a card telling you what vaccine you received and the date you need to return for the second dose.
Possible side effects
It is normal to experience some side effects of Covid vaccines a few days later; this is a sign that the immune system is working. Young people tend to have more intense side effects than the elderly, because young people’s immune systems are more robust.
Common side effects include pain near the injection site, redness and pain, as well as fatigue, headache, chills, fever and nausea, which can last up to a few days.
For both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, side effects tend to be more common after the second dose, which is logical: the first dose is meant to trigger an immune response, and the second dose is based on it. .
The reported rate of fever and chills was more than four times higher after the second dose of Pfizer vaccine, compared to the first, according to data from the CDC vaccine adverse event reporting system, collected between December 14 and January 13. .
In clinical trials conducted by Moderna, less than 1% of people reported fever after the first dose, but 15.6% of patients who received the vaccine had a fever after the second dose.
The CDC says it is okay to take OTC pain medications after the vaccine has side effects, but it is not recommended that you take it beforehand because it may decrease the effectiveness of the vaccine.
You may have also heard of European countries that stopped using the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine (which is not currently used in the US) after reporting that a small number of people developed a certain blood clot after having received at least one dose.
The World Health Organization said Monday that “there is no evidence that the incidents are caused by the vaccine.” Experts say the number of detected blood clots is “much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population of this size and is similar to other authorized COVID-19 vaccines,” in a statement. Sunday.
When immunity begins and how long it lasts
It takes your body some time to create an immune response after vaccination, about two to three weeks, said Dr. Andrew Badley, president of the Covid Research Task Force at the Mayo Clinic on Feb. 17.
If you receive one of the two-dose Covid vaccines, this means that you will have partial immunity to Covid about two weeks after the first dose.
Then, 10 to 14 days after the second dose of both two-dose vaccines, “you will get a 10-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases, is daid during the conference. World Precision Medicine on February 12.
In clinical trials, the J&J vaccine has shown protection against Covid-related hospitalization and death from 28 days after vaccination. In J & J’s clinical data, neutralizing antibodies to Covid were taken in 90% of people after 29 days and in 100% of people 56 days after receiving the vaccine.
So a person is considered “fully vaccinated” for Covid two weeks after receiving the second dose of the two-dose vaccine (such as Moderna and Pfizer) or two weeks after receiving the J&J single-dose vaccine, according to the CDC. . At any time before that time, you are not fully protected and must continue to practice social distance and wear a mask.
At this stage, it is unclear how long Covid vaccine-induced immunity lasts. But Fauci said the antibodies could last at least six months and probably several years. There are also other forms of immunity that come in, such as T cells, that can help with a wider immunity, but which is currently being studied.
What you can do once completely vaccinated
There is evidence that fully vaccinated people are less likely to transmit the virus to others, according to the CDC. Some early data from Israel suggest that the Pfizer vaccine reduces transmission. And in J & J’s studies, they found a 74% reduction in the development of asymptomatic infection, indicating that the vaccine reduces transmission, former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on March 1. .
The CDC recently launched new guidelines for people who are fully vaccinated, saying it is safe for fully inoculated to visit other people who are also fully vaccinated, as well as some unvaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or social distancing. , according to the guidelines.
But given that only 11% of the US population is fully vaccinated and there is not enough data on the effect of vaccines on transmission, it is important to keep up with safety measures outside the home, even if you have received the vaccine.
“Everyone – even those who are vaccinated – should continue with all mitigation strategies when in public,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a March 9 statement.