Is One Vaccine Better Than The Other

Will I Test Positive After Getting The Vaccine

“The test for COVID-19 detects the virus, our genetic material, or the virus, or an antigen from the virus. The vaccine will make you produce antibodies against the virus. So if you do a specific antibody test on the one that the vaccine makes you produce, that will show that you have the vaccine, that you weren’t exposed to the vaccine. Active COVID-19 infection would not be positive.”

So Which One Should We Take

“The best approach for protecting everyone’s health amid the pandemic is to provide different vaccines to different people according to need and availability, at least in the short term. The best vaccine is always the one you can get to the communities that need it before they urgently need it,” the Sydney and Melbourne academics recommend.

“Because Australia is essentially COVID-free at present, it means we’re in a unique situation that permits a ‘combination’ vaccine strategy.

“The Pfizer vaccine is perfect for preventing the most extreme outcomes for people at very high risk of infection or disease: people on the frontlines of the fight against COVID and older people or people with high-risk health conditions.

“The AstraZeneca vaccine has the ability to protect a large number of people against disease quickly, because we can make it easily and distribute it quickly.”

As vaccination takes place, we will learn how well vaccines prevent transmission of the disease. Indications are that it will and that would be a game-changer.

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Is Moderna Really Better Than Pfizeror Is It Just A Higher Dose

Its possible that a good deal of the difference in the shots performance can be summed up with a simple phrase: More is better.

Way back in February, when COVID-19 vaccines were still largely restricted to the most vulnerable among us, public-health leaders were determined to send a unified message: Dont worry about the differences among the vaccines. All three of them are really quite good, and people should take the one thats most available to them, Anthony Fauci said on Meet the Press.

Now that hundreds of millions of vaccine doses have been distributed in the United States, we have plenty of reason to doubt that story. A recent study of more than half a million U.S. veterans showed that the Johnson & Johnson shots protection against infection had plummeted from 88 percent to 3 percent by mid-August, while the other vaccines effectiveness had declined much less. Research published in the past few months also signals that Modernas shot beats out Pfizers in terms of both antibody count and hospitalizations prevented, while a National Institutes of Health study released earlier this month found that Modernas booster shot lifted participants antibody levels a bit more than Pfizers, and that both mRNA boosters were miles ahead of J& Js.

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How Effective Is It

The FDAs analysis found that, in the U.S., the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was 72% effective at preventing all COVID-19 and 86% effective at preventing severe cases of the disease. While there is still a chance a vaccinated person could get sick, this suggests they would be much less likely to need hospitalization or to die from COVID-19.

A similar trial in South Africa, where a new, more contagious variant is dominant, produced similar results. Researchers found the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be slightly less effective at preventing all illness there 64% overall but was still 82% effective at preventing severe disease. The FDA report also indicates that the vaccine protects against other variants from Britain and Brazil too.

How Long Can You Wait Between The Shots For Pfizer Or Moderna

Question: “How long can you wait between the two shots for Pfizer or Moderna?”

Answer: “If you get a first dose, and there’s some kind of delay and there’s nothing you can do about it, then it’s okay to do it up to 42 days, but after 42 days, you really have to start the whole series over again. Better to do it in the right time frame.”

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Will We Eventually Have To Pay For The Vaccine

Question: “Will we eventually have to pay for the COVID-19 vaccine?”

Answer: “The federal government has spent billions of dollars on the research and production of the vaccination. This is just a drop in the bucket because the cost of COVID-19 on the economy is in the trillions of dollars, so I am thinking and I am hoping that it will continue in this way.”

Is A Booster Dose Recommended For This Vaccine

A booster dose may be considered 4 6 months after completion of the primary vaccination series,starting with the higher priority-use groups, in accordance with the WHO Prioritization Roadmap.

WHO recommends the dosage of the booster dose is half the dose used in the primary vaccination series .

The benefits of booster vaccination are recognized following increasing evidence of waning vaccine effectiveness against mild and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection over time.

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Fda Now Recommends Taking 3 Home Tests If Exposed To Covid To Boost Test Accuracy

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines now being used in the U.S. and numerous other countries must be kept frozen, while the J& J shot can last three months in the refrigerator, making it easier to handle. AstraZeneca’s vaccine, widely used in Europe, Britain and Israel, is made similarly and also requires refrigeration but takes two doses.

J& J tested its single-dose option in 44,000 adults in the U.S., Latin America and South Africa. Different mutated versions of the virus are circulating in different countries, and the FDA analysis cautioned that it’s not clear how well the vaccine works against each variant. But J& J previously announced the vaccine worked better in the U.S. — 72% effective against moderate to severe COVID-19, compared with 66% in Latin America and 57% in South Africa.

While the overall effectiveness data may suggest the J& J candidate isn’t quite as strong as the two-dose Pfizer and Moderna options, all of the worlds COVID-19 vaccines have been tested differently, making comparisons nearly impossible, CNBC reported.

“If you kind of do a comparison for influenza vaccines, which we do annually, influenza’s efficacy can range anywhere from 40% to 60% – and that’s a good year,” Monica Hendrickson, public health administrator for the Peoria County Health Department said Wednesday. “So again, something that’s high public health was, you know, we were hoping for something above 40%. To get to 95%, even 65%, that’s a homerun.”

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One study found that mix-and-match regimens could be more effective than two doses of an mRNA vaccine. Immunologist Thierry Walzer, at Inserm and the University of Lyon in France, and his co-authors analysed data from 2,512 health-care workers who received a combination of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines, and more than 10,000 who received two doses of the latter. The team showed that SARS-CoV-2 infection rates in the mix-and-match group were half that of the group that received two doses of Pfizer.

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Why Vaccines May Be Helping Some With Long Covid

As more people get vaccinated against COVID-19, a surprise discovery has been that vaccines seem to provide some relief for some patients with whats being called long COVID. A prominent Yale researcher is working with colleagues to launch what she predicts will be a large collaborative study to learn more.

Should You Get The Vaccine If You Are Pregnant Or Trying To Get Pregnant

One person asked if there was any research showing whether she’s okay to be vaccinated if she’s trying to get pregnant, or during pregnancy.

“The vaccines do not affect fertility, they don’t affect your menstrual cycle. They are safe in pregnancy. The American College of Obstetrics has put out recommendations that if you’re pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant and want the vaccine, you should be offered it. They’ve also shown that vaccine antibodies have been in breast milk or cord blood, so there may be some protection to the newborn.”

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Vials: Of: Moderna: And: Pfizer: Vaccinejpg

In the first head-to-head comparison of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, Moderna edged out its competition with a 21% lower risk of infection and a 41% lower risk of hospitalization over 24 weeks, according to a study yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine .

A team led by researchers from Harvard University and the US Department of Veterans Affairs analyzed the electronic medical records of veterans nationwide, almost all of whom received two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from Jan 4 to May 14, 2021. The study period was dominated by the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant.

“Both vaccines are incredibly effective, with only rare breakthrough cases,” said study coauthor Juan Casas, MD, PhD, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a Harvard associate professor, in a VA news release. “But regardless of the predominant strainAlpha earlier and then Delta laterModerna was shown to be slightly more effective.”

Is One Vaccine Better Than The Other

Question: “Is one vaccine better than the other?”

Answer: “They all have very high efficacies, Pfizer about 95%, Moderna 94%, Johnson & Johnson 85% at preventing severe illness, and it was tested against some of the newer variants. All of them are excellent, and I recommend get any one that is available to you.”

Could the vaccine do more harm than good?

Question: “Could the vaccine do more harm than good?”

Answer: “Not at all. The virus has caused more than 580,000 people in this country dead. A lot of them are suffering from long haul symptoms. It’s better to get the vaccine than to be intubated and die from COVID-19.”

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Adenovirus Vector Vaccines Arent New

Janssens phase three clinical trial included more than 40,000 participants. In addition, Janssens viral vector platform is supported by an even larger body of evidence, including an Ebola vaccine that’s already been tested in pregnant women and children and approved in Europe, said Dr. Fryhofer. More than 193,000 peopleincluding patients of different ages and conditionshave been vaccinated with various investigational vaccines using this adenovirus platform.

The adenovirus vector vaccine uses a modified cold virusan adenovirus called Ad26as the viral vector and several genes have been removed from this virus, she explained. Its replication deficient, so it cannot multiply in the body.

This means that it cannot give someone COVID-19, said Dr. Fryhofer. The company says this safety sign imbalanceblood clots and low plateletsdid not show up in the phase three trial or with their research on other Ad26 based viral vector vaccines.

However, in the phase 3 trial, one patient, a 25-year-old male, did suffer CVST, had low platelets and also had PF4 antibodies, she added.

The Vaccine Is Here: Your Questions Answered

The new COVID-19 vaccine is here. But its still hard to know exactly what this will mean in our individual and collective lives.

For questionsbig and smallwe went to our foremost expert for a frank, socially distanced question-and-answer session. Onyema Ogbuagu, MBBCh, is a Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist and the principal investigator of the COVID-19 vaccine studies supported by the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation at Yale School of Medicine, in partnership with the Yale New Haven Health System.

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Access To The Vaccine

Q. How can I get the vaccine in DC?

A. It is easy to get the vaccine now! All DC residents 5 and older are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, however for children 5-11, the only authorized vaccine is the pediatric dose of the Pfizer vaccine. To find a COVID-19 vaccine, search vaccines.gov, coronavirus.dc.gov, or text your Zip Code to 438829. If you are unable to leave your home, call 1-855-363-0333 and we’ll come to you.

You Have Other Vaccine Choices

The FDA updated the J& J Janssen vaccine EUA with an additional warning, noting that women under 50 should be made aware of a rare risk of blood clots and low platelets following vaccination, said Dr. Fryhofer. They also need to know there are other COVID vaccines out there that dont pose this small risk.

That empowers patient choice. It also means vaccination clinics should make clear which vaccine or vaccines are being offered and when, she added.

With the J& J Janssen vaccine, the benefits of the one-dose regimen far outweigh the risks. But, if people are worried, they can access Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. There have been more than 180 million doses of mRNA vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna administered with no reports of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis with thrombocytopenia.

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Which Symptoms To Look For

After COVID vaccination, patients should expect flu-like symptoms, a mild to moderate headache, fatigue, fever, muscle aches, Dr. Fryhofer said, noting that these symptoms are expected and usually resolve within one to two days.

There is also risk of a rare brain blood clot combined with low plateletscerebral venous sinus thrombosis with thrombocytopenia, or TTS. These adverse events were identified through the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which is jointly managed by the CDC and FDA. The highest reporting rate is in 3039-year-old females within 21 days of vaccination and occurs at a rate of 10 cases per million doses administered.

The risk of this concerning combination of blood clots and low platelets is rare but serious, she said. Patients whove had the Janssen vaccine should seek immediate medical attention if they develop shortness of breath, chest pain, leg swelling, persistent abdominal pain, neurological symptoms including severe or persistent headache or blurred vision, or petechiae beyond the site of vaccination.

Patients with these symptoms should contact their physician and seek medical evaluation, Dr. Fryhofer added.

Patients should seek medical care if they develop weakness or tingling sensations in the legs or arms that worsens and spreads to other parts of the body. Other symptoms to be mindful of are difficulty with walking, facial movements and bladder control or bowel function as well as double vision or inability to move their eyes.

Will The Vaccines Protect Against Omicron

While the emergence of the Omicron variant raises questions regarding whether the current vaccines will continue to provide protection, Schaffner said the focus should remain on getting vaccinated and boosted.

I have been reminding people for the past several days that if you look out in every city and town in the United States theres Delta, and Delta is spreading today in your neighborhood infecting people, making them sick, sending them to the hospital and, Im afraid, causing the deaths of people so the issue in front of us right now is Delta, and both these vaccines provide very superior protection against Delta, Schaffner said.

If it turns out there is some erosion of protection from the vaccines against Omicron, Schaffner said the vaccines are likely to provide partial protection.

And partial protection is always better than no protection. Theres every reason to get vaccinated today, he said.

He believes if everyone who has not been vaccinated and if everyone who is due for a booster got vaccinated now, in 2 weeks, COVID in the United States would drop like a stone.

Fierstein agreed that the take-home lesson is clearly to be vaccinated and then boosted.

However, when it comes to Omicron, he pointed out that scientists will continue to research the following:

If anything, this study would suggest, although not assure, that they are both likely to provide similar degrees of protection, whatever that degree is, said Fierstein.

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Do I Have To Get Both Doses In The Same Arm

“Obviously, you hope that your immune system is going to have a systemic effect. I actually got my first dose this last week, so I got it in my left arm and I am actually going to get it in the other arm. So I think it’s fine to get it in either arm or if you’re comfortable with the same one, that’s fine, too.”

See Study Reveals Declining Covid

While differences in breakthrough infectionsbased on SARS-CoV-2 testswere evident in their results, Venkatakrishnan and colleagues did not observe any significant differences in disease severity between patients vaccinated with either mRNA vaccine. A study of 324,033 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections in a community in Ontario, Canada, also failed to find significant differences in severe disease outcomes between groups fully vaccinated with either vaccinethough full vaccination, regardless of the brand, showed effectiveness of 98 percent against hospital admission or death. Recent reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , however, suggest Modernas vaccine could be also more effective at preventing hospitalization.

Yet another study analyzed SARS-CoV-2 tests of patients admitted to a Yale New Haven Health System hospital from March 23 to July 1, 2021. A total of 969 patients tested positive, regardless of reason for admission, and of those, 14 were fully-vaccinated patients that developed severe or critical disease13 between 71 and 95 years old who had received a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and one 65-year-old female that had been vaccinated with the Moderna shots.

Both of these vaccines are highly effective, this happens to be our finding, he says.

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