Q. I am hesitant to get my COVID-19 vaccine as I am concerned with long-term side effects. Can you give me some insight into this?
A. There are many people who feel the way you do and are holding off getting vaccinated in the hopes of learning more about the long-term safety profile of the vaccines. Though this may have been a somewhat defensible decision six months ago, the passage of time (along with the injection of literally millions of doses of vaccines) and the emergence of the devastating Delta variant have changed the parameters of the decision-making process.
The important thing to remember is that, despite our recent gains, we are still in the midst of a pandemic and we need look no further than our neighbours to the south should we require any confirmation of this fact. Some key points of interest that will be discussed below are;
1. The vaccines are proven to be extremely effective at preventing hospitalization and death from COVID-19
2. Of the new cases that are found in Grey Bruce in recent weeks, 99% of them are the Delta variant form.
3. Most of the new cases are among the unvaccinated.
4. Even fully vaccinated people can contract and spread the virus (albeit very rarely).
5. The effects of long COVID are more debilitating than the vaccine.
With respect to the vaccines themselves, people argue that they feel the whole research into and subsequent manufacturing process were really rushed. Though the mRNA vaccines may appear to be relatively new, they are not new in the research department. Clinicians have been studying and working on mRNA vaccines for some time now so they have not been “invented” just for this pandemic.
Also, vaccines are quite different from the medications that many people take daily. Sometimes long-term safety data gets called into question on these said medications due to the fact that they are being administered on a daily basis for years, which gives the medication an opportunity to build up in the body. Vaccines on the other hand are designed to leave the body fairly quickly after giving your body the ability to build up antibodies to the offending virus.
The mRNA vaccines are no exception. They break down very quickly and then are eliminated from your body leaving you with only the antibodies to protect you. Due to this fact, any adverse safety issues that have been found with vaccines have been within weeks (usually 1 to 8 weeks) of administration.
Vaccine hesitancy is in fact not a new phenomenon. Many decades ago, there were massive safety concerns among the public when the polio vaccine was introduced in 1955 and the swine flu vaccine in 1976. Yet despite these worries, these two vaccines were absolute game-changers right from the start.
Before the polio vaccine in the United States, in a single year there were 60,000 children infected and more than 3,000 children who died from polio. Then in 1955 they rolled out a mass vaccination program. The result of this is that polio has effectively been eradicated in most parts of the world due to this intense vaccination program. What many people forget is that the vaccine was discovered to induce paralysis in about 1 in 2.4 million people within 1 to 4 weeks of being inoculated with it. Despite the potential for this horrible side effect, there is no ongoing debate as to whether this vaccine was a good idea.
Any person with a grade 2 education in math can look at the numbers and come to the unavoidable conclusion that, on the whole, the polio vaccine was a medical breakthrough. Most people that are old enough to recall just how debilitating polio can be would agree that the benefit was well worth this risk.
For the swine flu example back in 1976, it was discovered that within 8 weeks of being inoculated with this vaccine, 1 in 100,000 individuals acquired Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a medical disorder in which your immune system attacks your nerves. What is interesting to note is that the swine flu itself can cause GBS and you are in fact 17 times more likely to acquire it from the flu than the vaccine.
The point is vaccines have always had the potential for side effects, and yet, along with cleaner drinking water and better sanitation, they are one of the main reasons we are living longer than ever.
As for the COVID vaccine roll-out, we are by now well aware that the Astra-Zeneca vaccine is associated with a 1 in 100,000 chance of causing a clotting disorder (thrombotic thrombocytopenia) which appears to occur between 6 days to 2 weeks after vaccination. This has also been associated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) has been discovered with both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and appears within a month of vaccination. This side effect is extremely rare (about 1 in a million) and also very treatable. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine also has been linked to GBS (100 cases in 12.8 million) and occurs within 2 weeks of vaccination and mostly among men over 50. As well, the other possible side effects associated with the COVID vaccines are short lived ones such as fatigue, headache ……
In terms of the Delta variant, we need to be extra vigilant since it has taken hold of our local area. We did quite well during the first and second wave with the virus as we heeded the restrictions and precautions legislated upon us. As bad as it did get for many people with the “original” COVID-19 infection, the new Delta variant has proven to be far more contagious and has caused our local daily case numbers to spike.
It caused us to “make the news” provincially but likely we can all agree that we would prefer to be newsworthy for more uplifting reasons. One study shows that people infected with the Delta variant carry 1000 times more of the virus in the nose as compared to the original virus which helps explain why it is more contagious.
President Joe Biden reported that the United States is now in a pandemic among the unvaccinated. Of the people infected with the Delta variant, 97% of severe cases are in unvaccinated people. Many people love to heed the advice from those whom they deem as prominent people in their world.
A Conservative radio talk show host in Nashville, Phil Valentine, has downplayed the virus and the vaccine during the pandemic. Even when he did announce on July 11th that he had indeed contracted COVID-19, he noted that he would undoubtedly be back on the air in a day or two. He has now changed his tune as he lies in a hospital bed in critical condition and requiring a ventilator to breathe.
So here is your chance if you were sitting on the fence about getting vaccinated. It would be much better to change your tune now than wait until it is too late. The alarming number of COVID cases in the United States (doubled within a matter of weeks) can be attributed to the loosening of restrictions and all of the public gatherings they had to celebrate July 4th.
That is also seemingly the case in Grey-Bruce as the majority of the recent infections are among large groups of close contacts that chose to not vaccinate. Did they not believe we were in a pandemic? Did they think they wouldn’t be affected? Did they not trust science? There are a plethora of rumours and conspiracies being spread around as to why people should not vaccinate and none of them are realistic or convincing enough to put your life, or the lives of others at risk.
As we have discussed in prior columns, if you choose to not vaccinate yourself, that is of course your decision. However, it is important to recall that not only can you contract the more virulent Delta variant, you can also transmit the more virulent Delta variant to others. These “others” do not have to be close contacts of yours either.
As stated earlier, even fully vaccinated people can get COVID-19. Though being fully vaccinated strongly protects you from serious illness, hospitalization and death, it is not fool-proof in everybody. There are some individuals that are fully vaccinated who do not have a strong enough immunity against the virus due to their immuno-compromised immune system. Exposing them to the virus, puts them at risk despite their vaccinated status. There are also some people that due to other medical conditions are advised against getting vaccinated and thus rely upon the rest of society to vaccinate and gain herd immunity. So, to decide to not vaccinate is putting the health of others around you at risk if you choose to leave your abode for work, recreation and chores such as grocery and pharmaceutical shopping.
Lastly, as we discussed in the last few columns, if you are concerned about long-term health, as we all should be, consider the ravages that long COVID has wrecked upon the lives of many of the survivors of the acute infection. Stop delaying, call your local pharmacy as they more than likely have plenty of vaccines left. It would be a shame to see vaccines go to waste when there are still numerous individuals that could be getting dosed. For more information on this or any other topic, contact your pharmacist.