The latest COVID-19 vaccinations are now available from pharmacies and health care providers. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with Northern Arizona University epidemiologist Paul Keim about why vaccine revisions are needed and how they can help protect people from severe illness from the virus.
Therefore, they released a new version of the new coronavirus infection prevention measures for this winter. Why is that necessary? Why do we need to keep updating vaccines?
This means that the virus is constantly mutating. That’s what happens when mutations occur. But what really drives evolution in this situation is selection, and that selection is our immune system, the immune systems of people around the world…and it’s a continuous competition. In evolution, this is always the case between predator and prey, or pathogen and host. We need to continually adapt our vaccines to take into account previous vaccines and viruses that have escaped previous immunity. This is very similar to the flu vaccines we’ve been working on for decades.
Here are some frequently asked questions. The question is: Is it okay to get a COVID-19 vaccination and a flu shot at the same time?
absolutely. In fact, public health officials and the CDC recommend taking both at the same time. However, I’ll put a little asterisk on this one. The reason they’re recommending it is because they want to make sure they cover as many people as possible. If you only get one, you never know if you’ll come back for a second one. So it’s perfectly fine to wait to get the second one.
And now we hope to know much more about vaccine side effects than before. All vaccines come with some side effects. What should I be careful about in the weeks after vaccination?
Therefore, everyone listening should consult with their health care provider. They shouldn’t be taking health care advice from Paul Keim or Melissa Sevigny… Because everyone is different, right? Some people are at high risk for severe disease, while others are not. If you are very young and have never had coronavirus, should you get the vaccine? All of this should be discussed with your health care provider. But in general, people react differently to vaccines. In fact, my reaction to this was very mild, just a sore arm. However, my wife was down for 12 to 18 hours because of it. That’s normal. If it persists for too long, it is of course best to consult your health care provider.
Almost 80% of eligible Arizonans have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, but that number is slightly lower in our northern Arizona county. If possible, could you tell us a little more about why it’s important to get this vaccine?
All of this becomes very important when there is another challenge in health, a category called comorbidity. We know that having comorbidities increases your risk of developing severe disease. And the list of these comorbidities is many pages long. It’s things like lung disease, whether you smoke, whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, etc… Well, age is something you always hear about. We know that 80 per cent of deaths from coronavirus are in people over 65… Now, that doesn’t mean you have a get-home-free card if you’re under 65…. The safest thing to do is to get vaccinated. Because it strengthens your immune system, making it more effective at preventing serious illness and hospitalization.
Paul Keim, thank you so much for speaking with us.
Thank you, Melissa.
