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Design health messages to share with your communities.
If you are having trouble getting started, below we included some areas of misinformation that are causing confusion in our communities.
Use the tabs below to get a brief idea of what the issue is and learn some facts that you can use to craft your message. For more up-to-date information use this Google Doc for scientific resources.
What is in the Covid-19 vaccine? Accordion Closed
People fear and distrust what they don’t understand. A common myth is that ingredients are thought to cause harm or the ingredients should not be used.
People fear and distrust what they don’t understand. A common myth is that ingredients are thought to cause harm or the ingredients should not be used.
Q: Do vaccines use aborted fetal tissue?
- A: No. Fetal tissue is not an active ingredient used in currently available COVID-19 vaccines
Q: Are dangerous chemicals used in the vaccine that can harm my body?
- A: The ingredients used in the vaccine do not lead to side effects and are not dangerous in the amounts used
Q: Are we being injected with dangerous viruses?
- A: One currently approved vaccine (Janssen) uses a modified version of a harmless virus (different from coronavirus, the virus that causes COVID-19) to deliver instructions that teach the body to recognize and fight coronavirus in case of COVID-19 infection.
Social Control Accordion Closed
A common myth is that vaccines were developed to control the human population
A common myth is that vaccines were developed to control the human population
Q: Do Vaccines use microchips to track or mind control people?
A: No.
- Microchips are too large to fit in needles and require power to work
- Mind control technology does not exist
- Creating “magnetic” people requires constant electricity to work
Q: Are vaccines biblical marks or tags for the devil?
A: No.
- Vaccines are voluntary and well studied by science to support our health and are not created to target and mark Christians (or other religions)
How safe are vaccines? Accordion Closed
Beliefs of vaccine harm come from science misunderstanding about biology
Q: Was the vaccine made too fast to be safe?
A: No.
- Vaccines normally take years because there is usually a long wait time for applications to be reviewed. COVID-19 was the main focus for the FDA so they moved the paperwork process much faster to cut down time.
- All vaccines go through strict safety steps and trials. COVID-19 vaccines went through the same process
Q: If vaccines are not FDA approved why would it be safe?
A:
- Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine has full FDA approval
Moderna and Janssen vaccines are close to reaching FDA review to apply for full approval
Q: Do vaccines change a person’s DNA or cause problems with getting pregnant or having a baby?
A: No.
- DNA and mRNA exist away from each other; mRNA does not interact with DNA
Vaccines are designed to be quickly destroyed in the body after immune cells are activated. - Vaccines do not interact with the human reproductive system.
Q: Will getting the vaccine cause me to get covid?
A: No.
- current vaccines do not use live or dead coronaviruses as an ingredients
- The 24-hour sick feeling (side effect) is not COVID. This is your immune system activating
How effective are vaccines? Accordion Closed
Q: Who should get vaccinated?
- A: Everyone 12 years and older should get a COVID-19 vaccination, but talk to your doctor if you have concerns
Q: Why do vaccines have side effects?
- A:
Common side effects are swelling, redness, and some pain at the injection site, fever, headaches, chills, nausea, or muscle aches. This is because everyone’s body is different so our immune system activates in different ways. - Side effects of the vaccine are the result of our bodies preparing antibodies (highly trained defense team) and sometimes this leads to uncomfortable short-term effects.
Q: How effective are COVID-19 vaccines?
- A:
No vaccine is 100% effective at preventing a disease but is very effective at preventing you from going to the hospital or reducing the chance of dying from a disease. - In all clinical trials, vaccines were shown to be over 90% effective at preventing severe illness (hospitalization and death) in vaccinated people.
Q: Do you need the vaccine if you already had COVID-19 and recovered?
A: Yes
- Research has not yet shown how long you are protected from COVID-19 after you naturally recover from COVID-19.
- Evidence is emerging that people get better protection by being fully vaccinated compared with having had COVID-19. Recovering from infection gives you small protection; vaccines gives large protection
- Natural re-infections from the coronavirus increase the chance of virants being created
How to prevent COVID-19 infections/re-infections? Accordion Closed
Practices that prevent infection and keep everyone safe.
Q: Are vaccines effective at preventing COVID-19 infections?
A: Yes
- A: Vaccines give our bodies stronger and longer protection against the coronavirus and some variants (including the Delta variant) that natural immunity doesn’t give.
- Vaccines prevent severe harmful symptoms, including death, after infection
Q: I got vaccinated but still got COVID-19, does this mean vaccines don’t work?
A: No
- All vaccines are meant to make you less sick (not end up in the hospital), but no vaccine can be 100% at protecting you from developing milder symptoms if you do get the virus.
- Vaccines prevent serious illness or death, they are not a cure
Q: Wearing a mask looks stupid and does not work, why should I wear one?
A:
- Masks reduce the number of coronavirus air-droplets released which means less risk for others to get sick.
- Wearing masks shows care for people who can’t get vaccinated (children, immunocompromised) and others who are at greater risk (elderly, diabetics, heart conditions)
Q: Does wearing a mask lead to carbon dioxide poisoning?
- A: No, oxygen and carbon monoxide are too small to be trapped inside masks. Surgeons and doctors wears masks for over 10 hour with no sign of oxygen issues
Delta variant, is it actually bad? Accordion Closed
The Delta variant is a high priority concern for public health
Q: Is the Delta variant actually more dangerous?
A:
- The Delta variant has key changes in the spike protein that makes it easier to infect
- The Delta variant is estimated to be 2 times more contagious than the original coronavirus
Q: Are the vaccines effective against the Delta variant?
A:
- Vaccines (full doses) have been shown to be more than 88% effective at preventing severe illness from the Delta variant
- People with only a half dose of the vaccine were much less protected from severe illness
Q: If the Delta variant is more contagious, what’s the point of wearing a mask?
A:
- Masks reduce the number of infectious particles in the air and protect people who can’t get vaccinated for medical reasons
- When two people wear masks, the chances of one infecting the other is much less.
Scientific Resources Accordion Closed
- Center for Disease Control and Prevention
- CDC Resources
- CDC Vaccine myth busting factsheet
- Sped up process during emergency situations
- Fewer risks from vaccination compared to getting Covid-19
- Vaccine safety: short term effects on some but no long term side effects
- “Side effects” from vaccination
Resources from the Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities
- Vaccine resources for diverse communities
- What is in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Pfizer vaccine, Moderna vaccine
- Why and how the vaccine was made so fast and safely, timeline
- Toolkits for diverse population: Elderly, Youth, and LGBTQ+