Dr. Robin’s Covid-19 Updates

Eighteen Vaccine Questions Answered in Under Six Minutes

My friend, a front-line critical care doc at Children’s, beaming behind her mask, as she receives her first vaccine against COVID-19

Here are answers to eighteen common questions about the two approved vaccines: Pfizer’s vaccine (first one out of the gate, the one which health care workers started getting first) and the Moderna vaccine (just arriving at hospitals this week).

Q. Can I get infected from the vaccine?

A. No. Period. No. There is no virus in the injection so you cannot get COVID-19 from getting the vaccine.

Q. How effective are these vaccines?

A. Every vaccine trial has two groups of people — one who gets the vaccine and one who doesn’t (they get a placebo). Then the scientists count up who gets sick.

Here’s the results:

Pfizer:

18,000 people RECEIVED the vaccine: 8 got Covid

18,000 people DIDN’T GET the vaccine: 162 got Covid

Moderna:

14,000 people RECEIVED the vaccine: 11 got Covid

14,000 people DIDN’T GET the vaccine: 185 got Covid

So in total:

32,000 people RECEIVED the vaccine: 19 got Covid

32,000 people DIDN’T GET the vaccine: 347 got Covid