Colon said one of the first fabrications about the vaccine that comes up is the fear it will give people the novel coronavirus.
“This is absolutely false,” he said. “None of the vaccines that are being studied contain the actual live COVID virus. They cannot give you any infection. There is zero chance that any of these vaccines can give you COVID.”
Colon said the only risk of contracting COVID-19 from getting the vaccine would be from the person administering it, “and even that is going to be very, very small.”
Another rumor is about infertility. This fictitious claim comes from the fact that a protein on top of the virus is similar to another protein that lives in the placenta. Colon said there are four amino acids in common out of a long sequence of amino acids that make up that protein, so it’s “way, way too small” to be considered similar and have any cross-reactions.
“If that were the case, it would cross-react with dozens of other proteins in the body and there would be side effects related to that as well,” Colon said.
There were also no shortcuts taken in developing the COVID-19 vaccine, Colon said. While the timeline to develop the vaccine was accelerated “at no point did they deviate away from any of the safety and the efficacy hurdles that had to be overcome,” Colon said.
He said the scientists took additional safety steps when Pfizer presented to the FDA for their emergency use authorization. They said minors under 16 should not take it because they felt they did not meet the burden of proof to show efficacy.
But along with any approval of the vaccine, there will be continued review, Colon said.
There are no foreign substances to track people taking the vaccine. He said the myth likely started because a study conducted on animals used a dye to ID which had taken the vaccine. Colon said that never made it to human trials.
The mRNA vaccine developed by Pfizer and another that received emergency use authorization Friday by Moderna cannot change a person’s DNA.
Early-stage clinical trials that use mRNA vaccines have used for influenza, Zika and rabies, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
There are two local myths about the vaccine that Butler County Health Commissioner Jennifer Bailer hopes to bust.
Neither the Butler County General Health District nor any other public health department will administer the vaccines. Also, public health departments are not “taking lists” or “reservations” from the public.
Bailer said her staff is working to help get people vaccinated as fast as possible “because we know it is the light at the end of this dark tunnel.”
“We want our citizens to be healthy and we want all our businesses and schools to be open and thriving as soon as possible,” she said.
Bailer said the health department has been told “that everyone who wants one will be able to get the vaccine, just not at the same time.”
“The state has given public health guidelines to work through and we will start with those at the highest risk: those on the front lines of taking care of COVID patients, and those who live in congregate settings,” she said. “Once these people are vaccinated, we will work down the list of priorities. The speed at which this happens will depend on the supply that Ohio and Butler County receive.
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