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Page A-2 Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020
Vaccine questions answered
By Isabella Breda
isabe//a@masoncounty com
While vaccine skepticism is no
new concept, many are questioning
the safety and efficacy of a vaccine
produced less than a year after the
virus began to spread.
The Shelton—Mason County Journal
reached out to local health experts
and'sifted through recent research to
answer some reader questions about
the Pfizer-BioNTech and Modema
COVID-19 vaccines.
Do you still need the vaccine if
you have already had COVID-l9?
Yes.
“We don’t know how long the anti--
bodies that your body builds last,” said
Nicole Eddins, doctor of pharmacy and
senior director of Ancillary Services
at Mason Health in 3 Zoom interview.
“We don’t know if those are going to be
circulating your system for a month, a
year or 10 years — and so the rationale
is ensuring that everyone has anti-
bodies whether. you’ve had (COVID-
19) or not.”
Is the vaccine safe?
“I understand the fear that the
public might have,” Eddins said. “But
I also have immense faith in our scien-
tific community and although the trials
have only been a few months, they’ve
been working on this vaccine for over
10 years in the making... they started
making this years ago, when there
was a different coronavirus outbreak.”
Coronaviruses, including COVID-
19, belong to the family Coronaviridae,
which has been studied for years.
The first coronavirus infection
was identified around 1960 and most
recently the coronaviruses SARS-00V
and MERS-CoV emerged in 2002-03
and 2012—13, respectively.
The research and development of a
coronavirus vaccine paused as no new
cases of SARS were reported in the
last 17 years, but it left building blocks
for the development of the COVID-19
vaccine.
A total of 43,448 individuals took
part in Pfizer’s clinical trials 21,720
received the COVID-19 vaccine and
21,728 received the placebo. There
was a total of eight cases of COVID-19
reported among those who received
both doses of the vaccine, according
to the report published in the New
England Journal of Medicine.
While no long-term effects among
those who participated in the trials
have been reported; those with a
history of anaphylaxis or severe
allergies may suffer an anaphylac-
toid reaction as a handful of cases
have been reported among vaccine
recipients.
An anaphylactoid reaction may
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include a skin rash, breathlessness
and drop in blood pressure this
differs from anaphylaxis, which can be
deadly.
While this is a more rare side effect,
common side effects include pain
and swelling at the injection site, a
low—grade fever, chills, tiredness and
headache, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
“1 think, particularly if you look at
the Pfizer study, over 20,000 people
received the vaccine,” Eddins said.
“They have done extensive research on
making the safety profile of it and...
an independent group (of experts
created) by. a group of states in the
Pacific Northwest have also indepen-
dently reviewed this. So, I personally
feel very confident.”
The Western States Scientific
Safety Review Workgroup — a group
of doctors, researchers and public
health experts from Washington,
Oregon, California, and Nevada - also
reviewed the safety and efficacy of both
the Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna
vaccines and approved both vaccines.
Moderna’s vaccine trials also
demonstrated about 95% efficacy.
Half of the 30,000 participants in
Moderna’s clinical trials received two
doses of the vaccine, and only five of
those who received both doses of the
vaccine developed COVID-19. There
were 90 cases of COVID-19 reported
among the placebo group.
“The side effects are much better
than having COVID-19,” Eddins
said. “I think the key is knowledge
and education about that and under-
standing that.”
Can the vaccine affect fertility?
Some misleading articles circu-
lating on social media have claimed
that the vaccine could make women
sterile.
Jerica Pitts, director of media rela-
tions at Pfizer, told the the Associated
Press that their vaccine candidate has
not been found to cause infertility.
“It has been incorrectly suggested
that COVID-19 vaccines will cause
infertility because of a shared amino
acid sequence in the spike protein of
SARS-COV-2 and a placental protein,”
she said in an email to the Associ-
ated Press. “The sequence, however,
is too short to plausibly give rise to
autoimmunity.” ‘
Why do I need to continue wearing
a mask after I am vaccinated?
According to a report in the Annual
Review of Virology, it will take months
to produce and distribute enough doses
to vaccinate a “substantial” number of
people.
“Vaccination will not be sufficient
to achieve effective COVID-19 control.
Continued Vigilance in personal
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3mm Comr. Reg. No. NORTHRIOBSNO
Shelton-Mason County Journal
What is an
mRNA
vaccine?
The vaccine contains
no live virus and
cannot give you
COVID-‘lQ.
mRNA is a piece of
genetic code that gets
read by your immune
cells.
Sources: CDC; Pfizer
behavior including mask-wearing and
physical distancing, expanded and
improved testing and contact tracing,
and development and use of other
therapeutic modalities, including anti-
viral drugs and antibodies, also will be
required,” the report states.
In addition, Columbia Univer-
sity Virologist Dr. David Ho said the
protective effect of the vaccine may
take more than a month to be fully
developed and the vaccine isn’t 100%
effective.
How many vaccine doses are going
to be delivered to Mason County
Within the next few months?
Mason County received 975 doses
of the Pfizer BioN Tech vaccine on Dec.
17 and is in line to receive 4,500 doses
of the Moderna vaccine, according to
the Washington State Department of
Health. .
Because the vaccine comes in two
doses, this is enough to vaccinate
about 2,737 individuals.
The DOH determines how many
doses each county will be allocated as
shipments arrive and updates will be
available at masongeneral.com/about/
covid-19.
Mason Health is currently working
through Phase 1A, which includes
those at highest-risk of contracting
the virus — healthcare personnel
including hospital staff, EMTs and
first responders, COVID-19 test—
takers as well as long-term care facili-
ties personnel and residents.
How soon will immunocompro-
mised seniors in Mason County
get vaccinated?
Once the county completes Phases
1A and 1B.
“Our website will let everybody
know when we’re at a point of being
able to vaccinate Phase IB and 1C
(those) would be the next phases,”
Eddins said. “That would be our essen-
tial personnel. or grocery workers, our
(Department of Corrections) officers
and teachers. And then, shortly after
that would be the high—risk vulner-
able populations, so those over 65,
those with health conditions that keep
making them more vulnerable for
COVID-19.”
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