COVID-19 Vaccine Information

• After vaccination, you may have some flu-like side-effects. This does not mean you are sick – it’s a sign that your body is building protection and will be ready to fight the virus!
• Most people feel slightly stronger side-effects after their 2nd dose if it’s a 2 dose vaccine. Over-the-counter pain relief medication can help with these side-effects.
• Most people have reported feeling happy, healthy, and back to 100% after 24-48 hours!

Moderna & Pfizer vaccines

• The Moderna & Pfizer vaccines are a new type of vaccine that use messenger RNA (mRNA)
• mRNA vaccine explained: mRNA is like an email that tells your immune system what the virus looks like, instructions to kill it, and then disappears. 30 years ago, scientists started developing mRNA vaccines – which do not contain the virus, unlike traditional vaccines such as the flu shot.
• How we got to the COVID-19 vaccine: mRNA vaccines are much faster to make than traditional vaccines. When the pandemic struck, scientists used the coronavirus’s gene structure to create the right mRNA sequence. Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, a black female physician and scientist, was instrumental in the development of the Moderna mRNA vaccine. Moderna and Pfizer were the first two vaccines authorized by the FDA.
• Safety protocols and adequate testing: Both were a part of developing the COVID-19 vaccine. Global funding for COVID-19 vaccines allowed for very large, well-run clinical trials that have shown us that the vaccine is safe.
• Vaccine effectiveness: The Moderna & Pfizer vaccines are 94-96% effective in preventing you from getting very sick from COVID-19 two weeks after you’ve received your second shot. Most importantly, they and both 100% effective in preventing you from hospitalization or death.

Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine

• The Johnson & Johnson Janssen vaccine is an adenovirus vaccine.
• Adenovirus vaccine explained: The adenovirus is a type of virus that causes the common cold, which is no longer an active virus. The vaccine uses an inactive adenovirus to act as a carrier to deliver a gene from the coronavirus into our body to produce coronavirus proteins (NOT the virus itself). The proteins then pretend to be the virus to help your immune system understand how to fight the virus, similar to the Moderna & Pfizer vaccines.
• You only need one shot!
• Vaccine effectiveness: The Janssen vaccine is 72% effective two weeks after you’ve received your shot. Most importantly, just like Moderna & Pfizer, it is 100% effective in preventing you from hospitalization or death.
• Vaccine trials: The Janssen vaccine trials included more diverse participants who identified as Hispanic/Latino and Black or African American. It also included more participants who were over 60 years old and more who had more than one medical condition. Trials were also done in locations where there were some of the new variants circulating, and was still completely effective in preventing hospitalization and death!

Here are vaccine facts to read before receiving the vaccine:

• Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Sheet – English
• Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Sheet – Spanish
• Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Sheet – English
• Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Sheet – Spanish
• Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Sheet – English
• Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Fact Sheet – Spanish
• V-Safe After Vaccination Health Checker | CDC– V-safe is a smartphone-based tool that checks in on you after your COVID-19 vaccination. Your participation helps keep COVID-19 vaccines safe — for you and for everyone!