How long immunity lasts and the most common side effects

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, in the United States, more than 72 million people, or 21% of the population, have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine. And President Joe Biden recently said he will lead states to make all adults 18 and older eligible for the coronavirus vaccines by May 1.

There are currently three coronavirus vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use, from drug manufacturers Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.

As the vaccine supply grows and more people qualify for the injection (to check your eligibility, use NBC News’ plan your vaccination tool), you may have questions about the vaccination process beyond the logistics of making an appointment to get. Here’s What You Should Know.

Moderna and Pfizer’s Covid vaccines use an innovative vaccine technology called messenger RNA, or mRNA, that gives cells instructions on how to make a non-infectious piece of the coronavirus spike protein. Once the immune system detects the copies of the spike protein, it makes antibodies against it. And if you’re exposed to the coronavirus in the future, your body can remember how to make the antibodies to fight it.

In clinical studies, the Moderna vaccine was 94.1% effective in preventing laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 disease in humans receiving both doses, and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 95% effective.

J & J’s Covid vaccine, on the other hand, uses adenoviruses, a type of virus that causes the common cold, as a vehicle to give instructions to cells on how to fight the virus. Likewise, when the vaccine is injected into people’s arms, it triggers the immune system to make antibodies.

J & J’s vaccine was 72% effective against moderate to severe Covid-19 infection in the US, and 66% protective against moderate and severe disease in general worldwide.

Each state has its own vaccine eligibility plan, so it’s a good idea to start with your state or local health department’s website. You can also call your doctor if you are unsure whether your specific conditions or underlying factors meet the criteria.

The CDC’s VaccineFinder tool can point you in the direction of suppliers and pharmacies near you that have the vaccines. (Private practices do not currently receive vaccines for patients, but your doctor may have a better understanding of how to make an appointment.) In most locations, you will need an appointment to receive your vaccine.

Depending on where you live, there may be additional resources run by volunteers to get you a vaccination appointment. In New York City, for example, the TurboVax website helps people match with government-run vaccination sites in the area. Likewise, VaccinateCA helps California residents.

President Biden announced on March 11 that a federally supported website for finding a vaccine would be available by May 1. “No more searching day and night for an appointment for you and your loved ones,” he said during the primetime address. .

There has been a lot of excitement and anticipation around vaccination appointments. If you are someone who is afraid of needles, focus on taking a deep breath to relax in the moment and consider talking to the person giving the injection to provide a distraction.

After your admission, you will be asked to wait 15 minutes to watch for responses. You will also receive a card stating which vaccine you received and the return date for your second dose.

It is normal to experience side effects from the Covid vaccines a few days later; this is a sign that your immune system is working. Young people tend to have more intense side effects than older people because young people’s immune systems are more robust.

Common side effects include pain near the site where the vaccine was injected, redness and pain, as well as fatigue, headache, chills, fever, and nausea, which can last for several days.

For both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, side effects are more common after receiving the second dose, which makes sense: the first dose is designed to elicit an immune response, and the second dose builds on that.

The reported rate of fever and chills was more than four times higher after the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine compared to the first, according to data from the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, collected between December 14 and January 13.

In Moderna’s clinical studies, less than 1% of people reported a fever after the first dose, but 15.6% of the vaccine recipients had a fever after the second dose.

The CDC says it’s okay to take over-the-counter pain relievers after you get the vaccine to cope with some of the side effects, but it’s not recommended that you take it ahead of time because it increases the effectiveness of the drug. vaccine.

You may also have heard that European countries are discontinuing use of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine (which is not currently used in the US) after reports that a small number of people developed a certain blood clot after receiving at least one dose. .

The World Health Organization said on Monday that “there is no evidence that the incidents are caused by the vaccine.” Experts say the number of blood clot cases detected is “much lower than would naturally be expected in a general population of this size and comparable to other approved COVID-19 vaccines,” in a statement Sunday.

It takes your body some time to build up an immune response after you get a vaccine, about two to three weeks, said Dr. Andrew Badley, the Mayo Clinic’s Covid Research Task Force Chair on Feb. 17.

If you receive one of the two-dose Covid vaccines, it means that you will have partial immunity to Covid about two weeks after the first dose.

Then, 10 to 14 days after the second dose of both two-dose vaccines, “you get a 10-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, at the Precision Medicine World Conference. on February 12.

In clinical studies, J & J’s vaccine showed protection against Covid-related hospitalization and death from 28 days after vaccination. In J & J’s clinical data, neutralizing antibodies to Covid were picked up in 90% of people at 29 days and in 100% of people at 56 days after receiving the injection.

So a person is considered “fully vaccinated” for Covid two weeks after receiving the second dose of a two-dose vaccine (such as Moderna and Pfizer) or two weeks after receiving the J&J single-dose vaccine, according to the CDC. For some time before that, you are not fully protected and you must continue to practice social distance and wear a mask.

At this stage, it is unclear how long vaccine-induced immunity to Covid lasts. But Fauci said antibodies can last at least six months and possibly several years. There are also other forms of immunity that occur, such as T cells, that can aid in more extensive immunity, but these are currently being studied.

There is some evidence that fully vaccinated people are less likely to transmit the virus to others, the CDC said. Some early data from Israel suggesting the Pfizer vaccine reduces transmission. And in J & J’s studies, they found a 74% reduction in developing asymptomatic infection, indicating that the vaccine reduces transmission, former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb on March 1 on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”.

The CDC recently released new guidelines for people who are fully vaccinated, stating that it is safe to visit fully vaccinated with other people who are also fully vaccinated, as well as some unvaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or social distancing , according to the guidelines.

But since only 11% of the US population is fully vaccinated and there is not enough data on the effect of vaccines on transmission, it is important to keep track of safety precautions outside the home, even if you have received your vaccine.

“Everyone – even those who have been vaccinated – must proceed with all mitigation strategies in public settings,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky in a statement on March 9.