Uncover the myth of the COVID-19 vaccine that spreads to parents’ Facebook groups

“You are using yourself as a scientific experiment” is a common retort found in parenting social media groups when people share their vaccinations.

However, according to epidemiologists and core faculty members at Walden University Vasileos Margarites, PhD, Master’s Degree, You can’t be far from the truth.

“The COVID-19 vaccine seems to have been developed in record time, which is one of the greatest achievements of medical research,” says Margaritis. “These are the result of unprecedented international scientific cooperation and the enormous allocation of financial and human resources.”

He explained that these vaccine technologies actually existed for years. Vaccine manufacturers have been able to develop these vaccines thanks to previous efforts.

It has made it possible to develop these life-saving vaccines now, coupled with the large amount of money and effort spent moving forward when the need arises.

“All clinical trials and trials were conducted in accordance with the strictest rules, standards and ethical standards without compromising the safety of participants,” said Margaritis. “The vaccine was immediately approved for emergency use because it cut bureaucratic formalism rather than horns.”

And even now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the scientific community continue to closely monitor vaccination processes around the world to ensure the safety of vaccinated people, he said.

According to parenting pod epidemiologists and public health experts Elizabeth Beatrice, Dr., this claim stems from a letter that shared false information about what was included in the vaccine in the first place.

“The information is wrong, but it spread like a wildfire,” Beatrice said.

She also explained that some women who participated in the vaccine trial actually became pregnant shortly after vaccination. In other words, the vaccine did not cause infertility.

“It is especially important for pregnant or thinking women to be vaccinated because if they are infected with COVID, they are at increased risk of serious consequences if they are pregnant.”

Margarites explained that this is a very popular myth for one obvious reason.

“The National Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) accepts and analyzes reports of all post-vaccination health problems,” he said. “Anyone, including the general public, can submit a report to VAERS, but this report does not mean that the vaccine caused a detected health problem, including death.”

VAERS can provide important information to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FDA (leading to further investigation and action as needed), but read these reports without the benefit of context or scientific background. Too much can be misleading.

“Unfortunately, when we vaccinate millions of people around the world, many of them will die for reasons unrelated to their body’s response to the vaccine,” Margaritis said. Explained.

This is what we know: nearly 600,000 people died of COVID-19 in the United States alone — making the infection itself a more dangerous scenario.

This myth stems from information similar to the myth of infertility and is equally inaccurate.

“Many women have been vaccinated during pregnancy and have been successful in dating beautiful and healthy babies,” Beatrice said. “This includes women in clinical trials (pregnant after vaccination) and women who were vaccinated during pregnancy due to the wider availability of the vaccine.”

Vaccine myths seem to respond to people’s fears, and this is no exception. It not only convinces those who believe they will not be vaccinated themselves, but also encourages them to keep themselves away from those who have been vaccinated. And, of course, there is no truth to it.

“Vaccines work by boosting the immune response of the vaccinated person. They don’t become a disease that can spread to others,” Beatrice explained. “The vaccine does not harm the vaccinated person. It only promotes a healthy immune response and does not harm the people around it.”

This is absolutely wrong.

“There is no research to support this claim, and there is no reason to believe that a vaccine can harm mothers and babies based on how it works,” Beatrice said.

“In fact, there are some the study This indicates that women vaccinated during breastfeeding can actually protect their breastfed children from COVID by sharing antibodies through breastfeeding. “

“We need to clarify the effectiveness of different types of vaccines, including the effectiveness of preventing infections and the effectiveness of preventing symptomatic or severe illnesses,” says Margaritis.

In the case of the COVID-19 vaccine, he said that almost all Phase 3 vaccine trials would first assess the effectiveness of preventing symptomatic disease and then the efficacy against infectious and serious illnesses. Explained that it was specially designed.

“Given this study plan, 95% vaccine efficacy suggests that vaccinated people have a 95% lower risk of symptomatological disease than those who have not received equivalent vaccination. We do, “explained Margaritis.

“There are promising data that vaccines distributed in the United States can completely prevent infection, but we are still uncertain about it. Therefore, people can be vaccinated and still be infected. However, the severity of the disease is minimized. “

It may take some time to see how well the vaccine prevents the infection, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t protect against COVID-19 — it does.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about mRNA vaccines and how they work in the body.

“”We will teach muscle cells how to inject an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 into the arm to make some of the new coronavirus peplomer, “says Margaritis. “Then, if an immune response to this protein occurs and the virus invades our body, our immune system is already trained to attack it.”

He explained that mRNA is naturally made in the body, but mRNA from vaccines is not made or entered in the nucleus of the cell that actually contains the DNA.

“In addition, the vaccine mRNA is destroyed by the cells after reading the instructions, so the inserted mRNA does not circulate in the body, only immunoprotection develops,” he said.

In other words, your DNA is safe. And no one who says otherwise simply doesn’t understand how these vaccines are designed to work.

Beatrice said there are two reasons why everyone should be vaccinated, even if they have been infected before.

“The immunity gained from being infected with COVID seems to last only a few months, but the immunity from the vaccine lasts longer,” she said. “So, if you had it some time ago, you might be vulnerable again, or if you had it recently, you would be protected longer with the vaccine. . “

Another factor is that there are currently multiple variants of COVID-19. Vaccines appear to reduce the risk of various mutants, although infection with the virus only provides immunity to that particular mutant.

Vaccine myths are often widespread because they tell the fears that people already have and in some cases are deliberate.

“Most of these claims actually started with supporters of vaccination opponents who spread false claims about vaccines for decades and spread the turmoil,” Beatrice explained. “The claims are deliberately misleading and take advantage of people’s fears.”

Therefore, it is very important to pay attention to the source of the information and to conduct your own research through a reliable source.

“The most reliable source of information is the CDC,” Beatriz said. “CDC provides information in multiple languages ​​and addresses each of these concerns.”

She said she could also contact her doctor and public health authorities locally.

“Don’t be afraid to ask,” she encouraged. “There is a lot of bad information out there. Knowing where that bad information comes from can help you know the facts you need to be safe.

“When [a growing number] Of the vaccinated adult population, we are on track to achieve herd immunity. But that can only happen if more people have promised to protect themselves and others.