How long immunity lasts and most common side effects

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 data from the Centers for Disease Control. And President Joe Biden recently said he will lead states so that all adults, over the age of 18, are eligible for coronavirus vaccines before May 1st.

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 supply of vaccines increases and more people are eligible for the vaccine (to check your eligibility status, you can use the NBC News plan to make your vaccine tool), you may have questions about the vaccination process beyond the logistics of how to get an appointment. This is what you need to know.

Modern and Pfizer’s Covid vaccines use an innovative vaccine technology called messenger RNA or mRNA, which provides cells with instructions on how to make a non-infectious piece of the coronavirus ear protein. 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 will remember how antibodies are made to fight it.

In clinical trials, the Moderna vaccine was 94.1% effective in preventing laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 disease in people who received both doses, and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 95% effective.

J&J’s Covid vaccine, on the other hand, uses adenovirus, a type of virus that causes a cold as a vehicle to deliver instructions to cells 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% in protection against moderate and severe disease in general worldwide.

Each state has its own eligibility plan for the vaccine, so it’s a good idea to start with your state or local health department website. You can also call your doctor if you are unsure whether your specific conditions or underlying factors meet the criteria.

The CDC VaccineFinder tool can direct you to nearby providers and pharmacies that have the vaccines. (Currently, private practices do not receive vaccines for patients, but your doctor may have more information on how to get an appointment.) You need an appointment at most places to get the vaccine.

There may be additional resources run by volunteers who have the opportunity to make an appointment with the vaccine depending on where you live. In New York City, for example, the TurboVax website helps link people to government-run vaccine sites in the area. Similarly, VaccinateCA helps California residents.

President Biden announced on March 11 that a federally-supported vaccine search website would be available by May 1. “An appointment will no longer be sought day and night for you and your loved ones,” he said during the first-hour speech.

There has been a lot of excitement and anticipation around vaccine appointments. If you’re someone who’s afraid of needles, focus on taking a deep breath to relax right now and think about chatting with the person who manages the prey to distract yourself.

After your shot, you will be asked to wait 15 minutes to control the reactions. You will also receive a card telling you which vaccine you have received and the date on which you will need to return the second dose.

It is normal to experience some side effects from Covid vaccines a few days after the fact; this is a sign that your immune system is working. Young people tend to have more intense side effects than older people, because young people’s immune systems are more robust.

Common side effects include pain near where the vaccine is injected, redness and pain, as well as fatigue, headache, chills, fever and nausea, which can last for several days.

For both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, side effects are usually more common after getting the second dose, which makes sense: the first dose aims to elicit an immune response and the second dose is based on it. .

The reported fever and chills rate 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 14 December and January 13th.

In Moderna clinical trials, less than 1% of people reported fever after the first dose, but 15.6% of vaccine recipients had fever after the second.

The CDC says it’s okay to take over-the-counter pain medications after getting the vaccine to deal with some of the side effects, but it’s not recommended to take it beforehand because it could 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 currently not used in the US) after reporting that a small number of people developed a clot. of specific blood after receiving at least one dose.

The World Health Organization said Monday that “there is no evidence that the incidents were caused by the vaccine.” Experts say the number of cases of blood clots detected is “much lower than expected to occur naturally in a general population of this size and is similar in other licensed COVID-19 vaccines,” in a statement on Sunday.

It takes your body a while to generate an immune response after receiving a vaccine, about two or three weeks, Dr. Andrew Badley, president of the Covid Research Task Force, Mayo Clinic, Feb. 17.

If you get one of the two-dose Covid vaccines, it means you will have partial immunity to Covid about two weeks after the first dose.

Then, 10 to 14 days after the second dose of the two two-dose vaccines, “get a tenfold increase in neutralizing antibodies,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, a leading national expert on infectious diseases during the World Health Conference. Precision Medicine on February 12th.

In clinical trials, the J&J vaccine showed protection against Covid-related hospitalization and death from 28 days after vaccination. In J&J clinical data, Covid neutralizing antibodies were collected in 90% of people after 29 days and in 100% of people 56 days after receiving the vaccine.

Therefore, a person is considered to be “completely vaccinated” by Covid two weeks after receiving the second dose of a two-dose vaccine (such as Moderna and Pfizer) or two weeks after receiving the one-dose J&J vaccine. unique, according to the CDC. Any time before that time, you are not fully protected and you must continue to practice social distancing and wearing a mask.

At this stage, it is unclear how long the Covid vaccine-induced immunity lasts. But Fauci said the antibodies can last at least six months and potentially a few years. There are also other forms of immunity that are just starting out, such as T cells, which can help with more extended immunity, but are currently being studied.

There is emerging 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 the J&J trials, they found a 74% reduction in the development of asymptomatic infections, indicating that the vaccine reduces transmission, said former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

The CDC has recently issued new guidelines for people who are fully vaccinated, saying it is safe to completely inoculate visits with other people who are also fully vaccinated, as well as with some unvaccinated people inside without wearing masks. nor distance themselves socially, according to the guidelines.

But given that only 11% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated and there is not enough data on the effect of vaccines on transmission, it is important to follow safety measures outside the home, even if you received the vaccine.

“Everyone, even those who are vaccinated, should continue with all mitigation strategies when they are in public settings,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a March 9 statement.