The Vaccine: Everything You Should Know About It!

One of the first steps I took in writing an important article like this was to decide which vaccine to look at. There are several vaccines that are already in circulation, but I thought it would be best to focus on one and really milk the data on that particular vaccine.

Based on the research it looks like the Moderna vaccine has the highest efficacy rate at 94% along with the biggest production with a goal of 300 million shots by July 2021.

Pfizer was not far behind but for the sake of exploring a COVID vaccine in detail we are going to focus on Moderna.

NAME: mRNA – 1273

MANUFACTURER: MODERNATX, INC

TYPE: mRNA

NUMBER OF SHOTS: 2 Shots 28 Days Apart

HOW IS SHOT GIVEN: Upper Arm Muscle

DOES NOT CONTAIN: Eggs, Latex, Preservatives

INGREDIENTS: messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), lipids (SM-102, polyethylene glycol [PEG] 2000 dimyristoyl glycerol [DMG], cholesterol, and 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine [DSPC]), tromethamine, tromethamine hydrochloride, acetic acid, sodium acetate, and sucrose.

How Was It Tested?

Clinical trials for the Moderna vaccine were conducted in three phases.

A Phase 3 randomized, placebo-controlled, observer-blind clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of the Moderna COVID‑19 Vaccine in participants 18 years of age and older is ongoing in the United States (NCT04470427).

Randomization was stratified by age and health risk: 18 to <65 years of age without comorbidities (not at risk for progression to severe COVID‑19), 18 to <65 years of age with comorbidities (at risk for progression to severe COVID‑19), and 65 years of age and older with or without comorbidities.

Clinical Trial Data | Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine (EUA)

Who Should Take It?

WHAT WE KNOW

Most everyone is being pushed to get vaccinated. It is the clearest message we have received from our government on response to COVID-19. The only rival was the message to isolate and close down business.

• Anyone with allergies to ingredients in the vaccine or allergies to intramuscular medications should consult a physician before taking the vaccine.
• Pregnant women may CHOOSE to be vaccinated while breastfeeding. According to YALE’s COVID VACCINE PROGRAM
• Those who are immunocompromised can take the vaccine but should be monitored and, of course, not put themselves at risk during or after the procedure.
• There is no vaccine for children, yet. It has not been tested on kids younger than 16 years old.
• Even those recently diagnosed with COVID-19 can receive their first dose of the vaccine.

WHY WE ARE CONCERNED

The first test in a Phase 1 study to begin creating the vaccine happened in early March of 2020. The findings of that trial were announced in July and Phase 2 started.

Moderna has done something incredible, and I don’t think anyone is doubting that.

Overall, we are worried about the fact that this vaccine is not much older than a year and we are giving it to everyone and making claims that there are no long term side effects.

Is It Effective Against The Virus?

WHAT WE KNOW

The Moderna vaccine has proved to be 94% effective against the original strain of SARS-COV-2. Since then, we have seen the emergence of 2 new variants of the COVID-19 hit the US.

These variants have already traveled from California to the East Coast.

WHY WE ARE CONCERNED

There is no concrete evidence that these strains are more deadly or even more communicable than the original strain. However, the UK is on a new lockdown as they face a strain that scientific advisors are saying could be as much as 70% more deadly.  This is known as the B.1.1.7 variant.

Moderna says that it’s vaccination will keep you safe for up to one year. After that you will need to be vaccinated again.

However, like the flu shot, we are all wondering how this vaccine will work against the growing number of variants.

What Are The Side Effects?

WHAT WE KNOW

This vaccine, like all others, is not without side effects. The clinical trial by Moderna listed a number of side effects and the degree to which they affected patients.

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• Pain at the injection site (92.0%)
• Fatigue (70.0%)
• Headache (64.7%)
• Myalgia (61.5%)
• Arthralgia (46.4%)
• Chills (45.4%)
• Nausea/vomiting (23.0%)
• Axillary swelling/tenderness (19.8%)
• Fever (15.5%)
• Swelling at the injection site (14.7%)
• Erythema at the injection site (10.0%).

These are also documented by the CDC.

WHY WE ARE CONCERNED

Before the vaccine was taken by a large chunk of the population there were a few voices in the woods shouting about the vaccines long term affects on male and female fertility.

In early December, a German doctor and epidemiologist named Wolfgang Wodarg, who has been skeptical about the need for vaccines in other pandemics, teamed up with a former Pfizer employee to ask the European Medicines Agency (the European Union counterpart to the FDA) to delay the study and approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

One of their concerns was a protein called syncytin-1, which shares similar genetic instructions with part of the spike of the new coronavirus. That same protein is an important component of the placenta in mammals.

If the vaccine causes the body to make antibodies against syncytin-1, they argued, it might also cause the body to attack and reject the protein in the human placenta, making women infertile.

Why COVID Vaccines are Falsely Linked to Infertility

Since we have no long term data on how this vaccine will affect the human body, many people are still, rightfully, concerned about what could happen not just if we take the necessary doses this year but if people begin to take this vaccine on an annual basis.

How Many People Have Been Vaccinated?

WHAT WE KNOW

In the US 133 million doses have been administered.

More Than 501 Million Shots Given: Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker 

We are well on our way to getting vaccine into every American who wishes to partake.

The messaging from the US government and senior health advisors has been clear: TAKE THE VACCINE.

From my research it looks like this number will vastly increase through the summer, remember, it’s a two dose vaccine. This is America and at the moment most of us have the option to take the vaccine or not.

WHY WE ARE CONCERNED

As the vaccine rollout progresses it is clear the fears that a vaccination will become necessary to access certain parts of our pre-COVID life.

Rutgers university is going to require returning students to be vaccinated.

Many employers are mulling over the same kind of requirement and people are rightly concerned about this. While the government pushed the pace on this vaccine and is rapidly immunizing, we have to be careful about the downstream effects and the messaging.

Will those who forgo vaccination be discriminated against by employers, schools and restricted from other avenues of daily life? It seems there is a growing sentiment to do just that.

Final Words

Writing this article took me out of my comfort zone but I want to say that one thing stood out above all. It was the fact that our science and medical professionals are unbelievable. What they pulled off under the greatest amount of pressure was amazing.

I would feel better if they would just say, “There are some long term risks that we cannot be sure of, but we can protect people from this virus here and now.”

Instead, the American people have had their risk chosen for them. In other words, we weren’t allowed to choose our risk for a year. We couldn’t risk sending our kids to school, going to the gym, or opening our businesses. These were things that were far too risky, said the government.

This vaccine presents risks, for sure, and people have died from it. If I am to write sensibly then I have to say that we could not expect any vaccine to be 100% effective and 100% flawless and void of side effects.

We all would have preferred the freedom to choose our risk rather than being fed the idea that it was our daily lives that put people at great risk and the vaccine is the ONLY answer because it’s the risk worth taking.

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