JoannaRoseA.

Landi
cho

BSE3-
A

“
KeepUpTheRat
es”andGetVacci
nat
edAmi
dstCOVI
D-19

Now thateffecti
vevacci
nesf orCOVID-19hav ebeendevel
opedandarebeingdi
str
ibutedto
member soft hepubli
c,i
tiskeyforf
olkstounder standt
hebenef
it
softheCOVID-
19v acci
nes
and whyt heygr eat
lyoutweigh mi
ld potent
ialsideeff
ect
sori nconv
eni
encethatmaybe
associ
ated.

Thepossibi
li
tyofseriouscomplicat
ionsf oranyonewhoget st
hevirus— al
ongwi t
hthepublic
healt
hconsequencesoft hepandemi c’sconti
nuingit
scour se— ar
est r
ongreasonsinfavorof
getti
ngvacci
nated,explai
nsMi chaelSaag,M. D.,pr
ofessorofmedi ci
neint heUniver
sit
yof
AlabamaatBirmingham Div
isi
onofInf ect
iousDiseases.Butwhatel
seshouldthepubli
cknow?

TheCOVI D-19vaccinat
ionwillhelpkeepyoufrom get
ti
ngt hevi
rus.COVID-
19vacci
neswere
eval
uatedincli
nicalt
ri
alsandhav ebeenapprov
edbecausethosestudi
esshowthatt
hevacci
ne
si
gnif
icant
lyreducestheprobabil
it
yofcontr
acti
ngthevi
rus.

Basedonwhathasbeenpr ovedaboutv acci

nesforot
herdiseases,theCOVID-19vacci
nemay
helpkeepy oufr
om get
ti
ngser
iousl
yil
l,
ev eni
fyoudogetthev i
rus.Gett
ingvacci
nat
edalsomay
protectpeopl
earoundyou—parti
cul
arl
ythoseatgreat
err
iskforsevereill
nessfr
om COVID-
19.

Theav ai
labi
li
tyofasafeandeffect
ivevaccineforCOVID-
19iswell
-r
ecogni
zedasanadditi
onal
tooltocontri
butetothecont
rolofthepandemi c.Att
hesamet i
me,thechall
engesandeffor
ts
neededt orapi
dlydevel
op,eval
uateandpr oducethi
satscalear
eenormous.Itisvi
talt
hatwe
evaluat
easmanyv acci
nesaspossibl
easwecannotpr edi
cthowmanywi l
ltur
nouttobeviabl
e.

To incr
ease the chances ofsuccess (given t he high lev
elofat tr
it
ion duri
ng vaccine
devel
opment),wemustt estal
lcandi
datevaccinesunt i
ltheyfai
l.WHOiswor ki
ngtoensurethat
al
lofthem hav
ethechanceofbei ngtest
edatthei nit
ialstageofdevel
opment.

Thewor l
disinthemi dstofapandemic.I
nconti
nuingtoadminist
erv acci
neswhenev ersaf
ely
possi
ble,count
ri
esar et aki
ngi
nnovat
ivestepstopreventaf urt
herbur denonf ami
li
esand
heal
thsystemsthatcouldbecausedbyoutbr
eaksofvacci
ne-
preventablediseases.