Top COVID-19 Vaccine Questions

COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to be effective at protecting you from COVID-19, especially from severe illness and death. COVID-19 vaccines reduce the risk of people spreading SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/keythingstoknow.html

Side effects are normal and are expected to go away in a few days. It is extremely unlikely to suffer serious side effects from the COVID-19 vaccines that cause long-term health problems. Experience with vaccines suggest that if side effects are going to occur after vaccination, they tend to happen within six weeks of receiving the vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) required each of the COVID-19 vaccines to be studied for at least eight weeks after the final dose. Millions of persons have been vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccines and long-terms side effects have been exceedingly rare.

Persons receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be aware that there is a rare risk of blood clots with low platelets, particularly for women younger than 50. There have been no reports of blood clots with low platelets with either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines.
cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/safety-of-vaccines.html

For more information about COVID-19 vaccine side-effects, please visit the CDC website: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/expect/after.html

When viruses mutate, new variants are expected to occur. The Delta variant has been shown to spread much faster than other variants. It may also cause more severe cases. COVID-19 vaccines continue to reduce a person’s risk of contracting the virus that causes COVID-19, including the Delta variant. Evidence suggests that while fully vaccinated persons can still spread the Delta variant to others, the risk of transmission is less in vaccinated persons than in unvaccinated persons because the viral load (the amount of virus circulating in the body) in vaccinated patients decreased more rapidly when compared to that in unvaccinated persons.

medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.28.21261295v1
cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant.html
cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/delta-variant.html

Yes. Young and healthy people can still become infected with COVID-19 and some may develop serious illness. Even if you develop a mild case, you can spread the virus to other people. Some individuals with mild cases can develop ongoing health problems. Getting the vaccine not only protects you but also those close to you — your family, your friends and the people you care about. More people vaccinated means fewer targets for the virus to infect, which can help stop new variants from emerging and help bring the pandemic to an end.

cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/vaccine-benefits.html
cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/delta-variant.html

Yes. While recovering from a COVID-19 infection means you have developed antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it remains unclear how protective those antibodies are against newer variants of the virus, and how long that protection lasts. Also, there is no clear data on how protective antibody responses are from a mild infection compared to a severe infection from SARS-CoV-2. Studies do show, however, that the COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States are safe and effective against the prevalent variants including the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2.
cdc.govcoronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html

There is evidence demonstrating that people get better protection by being fully vaccinated when compared to having had COVID-19. Additionally, evidence suggests that unvaccinated persons who have already had COVID-19 are more than two times as likely than fully vaccinated persons to become re-infected with COVID-19.
cdc.govcoronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html

YYes, they are safe. There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines cause issues with pregnancy or being able to get pregnant. Both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), the two leading organizations in obstetric care, recommend that all pregnant individuals be vaccinated against COVID-19. Infection with SARS-CoV-2 has been shown to put people who are pregnant at increased risk of severe complications and even death.

The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine recommends that people who are lactating receive the COVID-19 vaccine. There are even studies suggesting that vaccine-induced antibodies may be transferred to neonates both in utero and during lactation that confer immunologic protection against COVID-19.

acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-advisory/articles/2020/12/covid-19-vaccination-considerations-for-obstetric-gynecologic-care

https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.smfm.org/media/3049/Provider_Considerations_for_Engaging_in_COVID_Vaccination_Considerations_7-30-21_%28final%29_2_.pdf

https://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.smfm.org/media/3040/COVID_vaccine__Patients_JULY_29_2021_final.pdf