State officials try to answer vaccine questions

As the first round of COVID-19 vaccines begin to be administered to health care workers in the state, there are many questions, confusion and false claims regarding the vaccines.

But state officials are championing the safety of vaccines despite misinformation they say is circulating.

“I want to ensure you this vaccine is safe and highly effective,” said Missouri Gov. Mike Parson during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. “The vaccine’s followed all the traditional standards for safety. Both (Moderna and Pfizer) vaccines showed 95% effectiveness.”

Dr. Randall Williams, director of Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, also said the vaccine is safe.

“We hope every Missourian will consider getting this vaccination,” Williams said Wednesday. “People will have questions, we understand that.”

There are many questions circulating due to misinformation according to officials, much of which is being spread over social media.

One of the most common claims is that the vaccine will give you COVID-19, which is false. According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, every day, a healthy immune system successfully fights off thousands of germs. Antigens are parts of germs that cause the body’s immune system to go to work to build antibodies, which fight off diseases. The antigens in vaccines come from the germs themselves, but the germs are weakened or killed so they cannot cause serious illness. Even if people receive several vaccinations in one day, vaccines contain only a tiny fraction of the antigens they encounter every day in their environment. Vaccines stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies to fight off serious vaccine-preventable diseases.

Other rumors, such as the vaccine will alter a person’s DNA or cause female sterilization are also false.

Williams said two reasons people may not want to take the vaccine is they want to make sure the process was safe and they are worried about side effects.

He added the FDA has been looking at drug and vaccine safety for over 100 years and they used the same process with the COVID-19 vaccines as others.

“Both the scientists at Pfizer the internal scientist and the external scientists at the FDA approved it then the advisory council approved it, then the FDA itself approved it,” Williams said. “It got to Missouri this weekend and we approved it as being safe. We very much think it is safe and effective.”

While side effects are a concern with many people, Williams said 90 out of 100 people will not have any side effects and less than 10 would have “mild” side effects, most likely to occur after the second vaccine. Those side effects, which include fatigue, headache, muscle pain or chills will usually go away in a day.

Parson said Missouri has received almost 51,000 vaccinations of the first Pfizer shipment and expect to see the second shipment next week. The state is also expected to receive over 100,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine next week pending FDA approval.

“Vaccines will initially be at a limited supply,” Parson said. “We are hopeful they will become more available as we continue to receive shipments and work through the three phases of our distribution plan.”

The first phase is to give the vaccination to healthcare workers, essential workers and high-risk populations, including those living and working in long-term care facilities.

“Four percent of our cases come from long term care facilities but 43% of our mortality sadly comes from long term care facilities,” Williams said.

Locally, Missouri Delta Medical Center’s goal is to receive its first round of vaccine before the end of December.

Williams said that with their projections, they hope to offer the vaccine to all residents by the spring.

“Hopefully we get to Phase 3 in mid-April and have a vaccine available (to all residents) in mid-April, May and June,” Williams.

Williams said it will take about 75% of the state taking the vaccine to obtain herd immunity and if that happens the state could get to herd immunity by June.