COVID-19 Vaccines: From Your Dentist
What do flossing, fluoride and the COVID-19 vaccine have in common? Preventing disease.
Your dentist cares for your mouth because your oral health is essential to your overall health. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, your dentist has been working to put your health and safety first by taking extra steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the dental office.
Now, we have COVID-19 vaccines to add to the other tools we’ve all been using to fight the pandemic — like wearing masks, washing our hands and avoiding crowds. Here’s what the CDC (and your dentist!) want you to know about COVID-19 vaccines.
1. The Vaccines are Safe and Effective
As doctors of oral health, credible scientific information is important to us when recommending treatments for our patients. While these vaccines were developed in a shorter time frame than some other vaccines, it’s important to know that the science behind them was not rushed. And by mid-August, 167 million people in the US and 1.23 billion people worldwide were fully vaccinated.
As an additional safety measure, the CDC has set up expanded safety monitoring systems like the V-Safe smartphone tool to monitor vaccinations in real time. These systems have shown that serious side effects are rare.
2. The Vaccine Won’t Make You Sick, But It Does Have Some Side Effects
There is no possible way COVID-19 vaccines can give you COVID-19. They might, however, come with some side effects that make you feel uncomfortable for a short time.
Because vaccines teach your body how to recognize and fight off a COVID-19 infection, you might feel some of the symptoms you’d get if your body were fighting off the real virus, such as a fever, according to the CDC. While unpleasant, this is actually a sign the vaccine is working in your body.
3. You Should Still Get the Vaccine Even If You’ve Had COVID-19
Those who have recovered from COVID-19 have some natural immunity that may protect them from getting sick again. Data from the CDC shows that vaccination of people who have had COVID-19 significantly improves their level of protection against being infected again and against having serious COVID-19 illness. The CDC recommends that people who’ve had COVID-19 still get the vaccine.
4. Get All Recommended Doses
Generally, if you are receiving the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, you need two doses to get the same level of efficacy seen in the clinical trials. For the Pfizer vaccine, the second dose is recommended three weeks after the first. For the Moderna vaccine, the second dose is recommended four weeks after the first. And if you get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you only need a single dose.
In some cases, people who have received Pfizer a third dose may be recommended. Ask your healthcare provider if this recommendation applies to you.
The FDA has also granted emergency use authorization for a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine to be administered six months after the second shot for:
- People 65 and older
- Long-term care residents and staff
- People 18+ who have underlying medical conditions such as asthma, diabetes and obesity
- People 18+ who work and live in places that put them at high risk of infection like health care workers like dentists, teachers or grocery store employees
5. Vaccine Eligibility Expands to All Americans 12 and Older
Anyone 12 and older can now receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Adolescents 12 – 17 are eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine, and anyone 18 or older may receive any of the currently available vaccines.
The CDC created easy-to-use tools to help you find a vaccine nearby:
- Visit Vaccines.gov to search by vaccine type and zip code.
- Text GETVAX (438829) for English or VACUNA (822862) for Spanish to receive vaccine sites on your phone.
- Call the National COVID-19 Vaccination Assistance Hotline at 1-800-232-0233.
6. Mask Guidance: Depends on the Environment
Vaccines can help you resume the activities you enjoyed doing most before the pandemic. Being vaccinated is your best projection against becoming serious ill with COVID-19. With the rise of the Delta variant, the CDC has updated its guidance to recommend that everyone – regardless of vaccination status – wear masks in public indoor settings and even outside in areas with crowds. This is because the Delta variant is very effective at infecting people who aren’t vaccinated, including those too young to be vaccinated. The Delta variant can even infect some people who have been vaccinated and, even though the vaccine prevents them from getting seriously ill, they can spread the virus to others.
7. You Can Get the Vaccine If You Are Planning to Get Pregnant
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) recommends vaccination for those who are pregnant. Whether you are planning to get pregnant soon or in the future, you should still get the vaccine when it is available to you. The CDC states there is no evidence that the antibodies created from COVID-19 vaccines will cause problems with a pregnancy. The CDC also says there is no evidence that fertility issues are a side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine, or any other vaccine.
See full article on MouthHealthy.org or visit the CDC’s website for more information about COVID-19 vaccines.
Call Prima Family Dental at 781-944-4450 and make an appointment with us today.
