Basic things you need to know about COVID-19 Vaccines, by CDC

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Authorities, civil society organisations and nonprofits across the world have continued to engage the populations to help in stopping the pandemic by getting vaccinated.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also reveals studies have shown that COVID-19 vaccines are effective at keeping you from getting COVID-19.

The regulatory agency noted in a post on its Web site, that getting a COVID-19 vaccine will also help keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID-19.

It noted COVID-19 vaccination is an important tool to help us get back to normal, as the CDC urges all to learn more about the benefits of getting vaccinated.

COVID-19 vaccination

The regulator stated that COVID-19 vaccines teach our immune systems how to recognise and fight the virus that causes COVID-19.

It typically takes two weeks after vaccination for the body to build protection (immunity) against the virus that causes COVID-19.

That means it is possible a person could still get COVID-19 before or just after vaccination and then get sick because the vaccine did not have enough time to provide protection.

People are considered fully protected two weeks after their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, or two weeks after the single-dose Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccine, CDC said.

It further explained that people should keep using all the tools available to protect themselves and others until you are fully vaccinated.

“After you are fully vaccinated, you may be able to start doing some things you had stopped doing because of the pandemic. Learn more about what you can do when you have been fully vaccinated,” it stated.

What we do not know

Although COVID-19 vaccines are effective at keeping you from getting sick, scientists are still learning how well vaccines prevent you from spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 to others, even if you do not have symptoms.

Early data show the vaccines do help keep people with no symptoms from spreading COVID-19, but we are learning more as more people get vaccinated.

We’re also still learning how long COVID-19 vaccines protect people.

For these reasons, people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 should keep taking precautions in public places, until we know more, like wearing a nose mask, staying six feet apart from others, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces, and washing your hands often.

COVID-19 vaccines are safe

Millions of people in the United States, for instance, have received COVID-19 vaccines, and these vaccines have undergone the most intensive safety monitoring in US history. This monitoring includes using both established and new safety monitoring systems to make sure that COVID-19 vaccines are safe.

These vaccines cannot give you COVID-19. CDC has developed a new tool, v-safe, to help us quickly find any safety issues with COVID-19 vaccines.

V-safe is a smartphone-based, after-vaccination health checker for people who receive COVID-19 vaccines.

You may have side effects after vaccination, but these are normal

After COVID-19 vaccination, you may have some side effects. These are normal signs that your body is building protection.

The side effects from COVID-19 vaccination, such as chills or tiredness, may affect your ability to do daily activities, and they should go away in a few days.

In the coming months, vaccines will become widely available

Although the vaccine supply is currently limited, the federal government is working toward making vaccines widely available for everyone at no cost.

Who pays for COVID-19 vaccines?

COVID-19 vaccination providers cannot the following:

Charge you for the vaccine

Charge you any administration fees, copays, or coinsurance

Deny vaccination to anyone who does not have health insurance coverage, is underinsured, or is out of network

Charge an office visit or other fee to the recipient if the only service provided is a COVID-19 vaccination

Require additional services in order for a person to receive a COVID-19 vaccine; however, additional healthcare services can be provided at the same time and billed as appropriate

COVID-19 vaccination providers can:

Seek appropriate reimbursement from the recipient’s plan or programme (e.g., private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid) for a vaccine administration fee

However, providers cannot charge the vaccine recipient the balance of the bill

Providers may also seek reimbursement for uninsured vaccine recipients from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s COVID-19 Uninsured Program.

In the coming months, doctors’ offices, retail pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics will offer COVID-19 vaccine.

Your doctor’s office or local pharmacy may have contacted you with information about their vaccination plans. Use this tool to find more information on how to get vaccinated in your area:

How do I get a Vaccine?

CDC makes recommendations for who should get the vaccine first, then each state makes its own plan.

When you’ve been fully vaccinated

After you are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, you may be able to start doing some things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic.

COVID-19 vaccines and herd immunity

What we know

Herd immunity means that enough people in a community are protected from getting a disease because they’ve already had the disease or because they’ve been vaccinated. Herd immunity makes it hard for the disease to spread from person to person. It even protects those who cannot be vaccinated, like newborns or people who are allergic to the vaccine.

The percentage of people who need to have protection to achieve herd immunity varies by disease.

What we do not know

We are still learning how many people have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before most people can be considered protected. As we know more, CDC will continue to update our recommendations for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

COVID-19 vaccines and new variants of the virus

We are still learning how effective the vaccines are against new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Early data show the vaccines may work against some variants, but could be less effective against others.

We are learning more each day about the characteristics of new variants. CDC will share updates as soon as they are available.

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