Volunteer Speaker Notes– Please familiarize yourself with the brief responses and if possible visit the links for more detailed information.

How do vaccines work?

• Vaccines help our bodies develop immunity without us having to get the illness. They teach our immune systems how to recognize and fight the virus that causes COVID-19. It typically takes a few weeks after vaccination for the body to build protection (immunity) against the virus.
• Experts believe that getting a COVID-19 vaccine may also help keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID-19 and that getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you
• The benefit of vaccines is that we get protection without ever having to risk the serious consequences of getting sick with COVID-19. Any temporary discomfort experienced after getting the vaccine is a natural part of the process and an indication that the vaccine is working

What is the science related to vaccine creation?

• Messenger RNA vaccines—also called mRNA vaccines- teach our cells how to make a protein—or even just a piece of a protein—that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies.
• Viral vector vaccines use a modified version of a different virus (the vector) to deliver important instructions to our cells. For COVID-19 viral vector vaccines, the vector (not the virus that causes COVID-19, but a different, harmless virus) will enter a cell in our body and then use the cell’s machinery to produce a harmless ****piece of the virus that causes COVID-19. This triggers our immune system to begin producing antibodies and activating other immune cells to fight off what it thinks is an infection. At the end of the process, our bodies have learned how to protect us against future infection with the virus that causes COVID-19.
• These vaccines cannot give someone COVID-19 or other infections and they do not affect or interact with DNA in any way.

What are the different types of vaccines available in the US?

• Currently three vaccines are authorized and recommended to prevent COVID-19:
  • Pfizer-BioNTech (mRNA) -2 shots 21 days apart
  • Moderna (mRNA) - 2 shots 28 days apart
  • Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen (Viral Vector) - 1 shot

Who should get the COVID-19 vaccine?

• The Pfizer vaccine is recommended for everyone 16 and over and the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen is recommended for everyone 18 and over.
• You do not need to provide a social security number or residency status in order to get the vaccine
• The CA Department of Public Health recommends that people who have had COVID-19 still get the vaccine. This is because immunity from the vaccine is likely much stronger than immunity from infection.

Who should NOT get the COVID019 vaccine?

• If you are allergic to any of the ingredients in the vaccines, you should NOT get the vaccine. See more information here:

  cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/specific-groups/allergies.html

How much does it cost? Do I need health insurance to get the vaccine?

• The COVID-19 vaccination is available free of cost to anyone eligible and does not require health insurance

How many vaccines have been administered?