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It’s vaccine day for me! I want to first say I’m glad that @_DCHealth is now prioritizing vaccines for child care teachers – both as a fellow educator & a mom who respects how these teachers have been on the frontline of this pandemic for months (& cared for my son since Aug)
My hope is our govt uses all of its power to prevent this from becoming a Hunger Games situation more than it already has – we have seen how the vaccine rollout further exacerbates existing schisms along lines of wealth and racial privilege in our city. https://twitter.com/AlexCTaliadoros/status/1350236342182096905?s=20
I want to share some of the research I used to inform my decision to get the vaccine (obviously you know I <3 STEM!). While this is deeply personal, the decision to NOT get the vaccine also has profound health impacts on our comms., esp. those most “at-risk” for COVID.
Vaccine hesitancy is understandable & in my view it is the job of @_DCHealth to better respond to historical & ongoing concerns about the development of this vaccine. For context they had 1 session for teachers about the vaccine that was canceled because of tech difficulties.
There was 1 info session from OSSE scheduled during teaching hours. FYI I did not know about EITHER of these until after they happened. They did invite @AnkoorYShah to a @dcpublicschools panel PD, but did not allow time for him to respond to educator questions in the chat.
In this thread I want to make my learning public & share the big questions/concerns I’ve seen around the vaccine & please chime in! I am (obviously) not a medical professional but rather a committed googler and STEM research lover. Here is what I’ve found with cited sources.
1) “They’ve never had a RNA-based vaccine before/this is new” – scientists have been testing mRNA vaccines for 20+ years. They have been used in trials/therapies for cancer patients since early 2000s & tested for infectious diseases: flus, Zika, & rabies https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2019.00594/full
The only reason we haven’t been using them more widely is mRNA is trickier to work with (and expensive to research). Scientists recently discovered that by putting mRNA in a fat bubble they could keep the genetic info stable enough to stick to our cells! https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/the-promise-of-mrna-vaccines-68202
2) “The virus technology isn’t safe” – mRNA vaccines are actually safer by design than your typical DNA vaccine! “mRNA is an intrinsically safe vector as it is a minimal and only transient carrier of information that does not interact with the genome.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3597572/
Many vaccines inject stunted live virus (or DNA of virus) into your body to have it replicate to form an immune response. This vaccine takes SOME genetic info of COVID but not all of it. That means your body what it needs to form a response but the virus cannot grow inside you!
Basically the vaccine uses mRNA you already have & gives it the info it needs to grow your own immune response. You can’t get full-blown COVID from the vaccine because the genetic material is incomplete but you can build your own natural immune response. https://www.uchealth.org/today/coronavirus-vaccines-101-what-you-need-to-know/
You can read more about COVID vaccine ingredients besides mRNA here – a fat to bind to cells, sugars, & salts. Most of these are the same/similar to those already used in other vaccines & COVID vaccines actually have fewer additives than typical vaccines https://www.news10.com/news/whats-in-the-pfizer-and-moderna-covid-vaccines/
3) "Will this vaccine work?" Research suggests this type of vaccine might actually work BETTER than ones we have had in the past! Scientists would have approved the vaccine w/only a 50% effective rate (it is that impt. to have immunity) but the vaccines available now have 94%+!
From @HarvardHealth"They also learned that, compared to traditional vaccines, mRNA vaccines can actually generate a stronger type of immunity: they stimulate the immune system to make antibodies & immune system killer cells — a double strike at the virus." https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-are-mrna-vaccines-so-exciting-2020121021599
They use fractions (!!) to decide how effective a vaccine is. The total number of people sick out of all who got the vaccine & the total number of people sick out of all who didn't get the vaccine. Then they calculate the difference - how many FEWER people got sick w/vaccine...
...and subtract to calculate the percent efficacy! So if "a/b" is the amt. of people who got the vaccine & got sick & "c/d" is the amt. of people who got the placebo & got sick then they solve "c/d - a/b" to see how much MORE likely people were to sick without the vaccine...
...your answer or "e/f" is expressed as "e" divided by "f" (fractions are division) and express that answer as a percent! That won't tell you your personal chance of getting the virus but the overall efficacy based on trials. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/20/health/covid-vaccine-95-effective.html
This doesn’t tell us how EFFECTIVE a vaccine is – that has to happen outside of trials with people & their COVID exposure. But based on who has been vaccinated so far we have initial research that shows it is working to stop the spread of COVID and lessen severe reactions to it.
Israel has vaccinated the most people so far proportional to population & findings show that it is working. I should also pause to address how the convo about Israel must be contextualized in excluding Palestinians from vaccine programs BUT see data here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00140-w
Also studies show that both Pfizer & Moderna have been found initially effective at combatting the new variant strains that are popping up. See Pfizer info vs. mutant strains here: https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/20/pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-works-just-as-well-against-variant-first-detected-in-u-k-study-indicates/
And Moderna info here vs. mutant strains here: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55797312
Moderna also announced that they have already begun creating “booster” options to help combat existing and future variants of COVID.
Moderna also announced that they have already begun creating “booster” options to help combat existing and future variants of COVID.
Mutant strains are a SERIOUSLY impt. reason for the most people to get vaccinated ASAP from a public health perspective. The more virus spreads, the more likely it is to replicate in unexpected ways creating new strains. The UK/South Africa/Brazil strains are already in the US.
4) The last & perhaps most important concern that @_DCHealth needs to address are the deep, historical & racialized ways that medicine & medical research has harmed BIPOC communities. As a white woman, medicine responds to my needs, listens to my pain, & works hard to protect me
That is white privilege at work in our medical communities & true trust-building needs to be done to both address these harms & inequities & ensure that BIPOC communities feel safe in vaccine rollout – esp. when these communities are more likely to be harmed by COVID itself
You can watch more about the demographic breakdown of trials here. 10% were Black (about 4,000 people), 26% LatinX (about 11,000) & 5% (2,000 ppl) Asian for Pfizer. Moderna trial participants were 10% Black (3,000 ppl), 20% LatinX (6,000) & also 5% Asian
In DC @MayorBowser & @DrLNesbitt have addressed "if you are waiting for more people to go first" by saying that millions have already received the vaccine. This is true, but more data reporting is critical esp. demographic breakdowns to show exactly WHO is getting the vaccine.
Here is a great graph/visual map that tracks vaccine participation in the US. FYI that 5.8% vaccinated means .058 x 331 million or 19,198,000 (a little over 19 million people) who have had at least 1 shot thus far. https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2021/01/14/covid-vaccine-distribution-by-state-how-many-covid-vaccines-have-been-given-in-us-how-many-people/6599531002/
I’m not in the business of telling people choices to make. I do think that vaccines are a critical component of combatting COVID. I also fundamentally believe that in all things more, better, & transparent data reporting is needed to not just tell people "it's safe, trust us"...
…but rather that math & science can prove it to communities over time. Our officials MUST reach out to our most marginalized communities, listen to their concerns, & respond accordingly. Actions that aren't intentionally antiracist in vaccine rollout will be, by design, racist.
Tonight at Dunbar I’ll get my first Pfizer shot. I’m planning on having expected symptom reaction (as my immune system kicks itself into gear!) but grateful for this chance to protect myself & my family. https://www.jhsph.edu/covid-19/articles/side-effects-and-covid-19-vaccines-what-to-expect.html
Thanks for joining me on this lunch break thread journey. I’ll link some other resources I found below (I intentionally did not include CDC resources as distrust in the Federal Govts’ role in vaccines could be a whole other thread but the CDC does have many, as does the FDA).
You can google anything by the New England Journal of Medicine for more studies ( @NEJM) but also here are some links: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/is-the-covid19-vaccine-safe
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-vaccine/art-20484859
