My Primary Care Physician sent me this today, when I wrote her asking when I might be able to get the new vaccine

 My Primary Care Physician sent me this today, when I wrote her asking when I might be able to get the new vaccine:

Currently we are in phase 1b for the vaccine - only health care personnel

You would qualify under phase 1c - no clear dates yet but I suspect possibly late jan early Feb - we will keep our patients posted with emails

https://www.cdc.gov/.../evidence-table-phase-1b-1c.html

Some information regarding the vaccine:

How do the vaccines work:

The Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine use synthetic mRNA that contains information about the coronavirus's signature spike protein. The vaccines essentially work by sneaking in instructions that direct the body to produce a small amount of the spike protein, against which our bodies develop the antibodies for immunity. Neither vaccine contains the full virus. It is unclear how long this immunity remains.

There are two available vaccines:

•BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine) is indicated for individuals aged 16 years or older.

•mRNA 1273 (Moderna COVID-19 vaccine) is indicated for individuals aged 18 years or older.

Dose and administration:

•BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine) is administered in two intramuscular doses of 0.3 mL each, given three weeks apart. If more than 21 days have elapsed after the first dose, the second dose can be given as soon as feasible without repeating the series.

•mRNA 1273 (Moderna COVID-19 vaccine) is administered in two intramuscular doses of 0.5 mL each, given one month apart. If more than 28 days have elapsed after the first dose, the second dose can be given as soon as feasible without repeating the series.

Study Data:

Pfizer:

In a large placebo-controlled phase III trial, this vaccine had 95 percent efficacy (95% CI 90.3-97.6) in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 at or after day 7 following the second dose

Moderna:

According to an FDA briefing document that described phase III results, mRNA-1273 had 94.1 percent vaccine efficacy (95% CI 89.3-96.8) in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 at or after 14 days following the second dose

Commonly seen side effects: fever, severe fatigue, headache, myalgias, and arthralgias, soreness at injection site

Contraindications

CDC considers a history of the following to be a contraindication to vaccination with both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna

COVID-19 vaccines:

Severe allergic reaction (e.g., anaphylaxis) after a previous dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine or any of its components

Immediate allergic reaction of any severity to a previous dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine or any of its components (including polyethylene glycol [PEG])*

Immediate allergic reaction of any severity to polysorbate (due to potential cross-reactive hypersensitivity with the vaccine ingredient PEG)*