Professor Dr Victor Hoe was invited by the Penang International Dental College (PIDC) to speak on the topic “COVID-19 Vaccine: Is our saviour here?” on the 27th March 2021 at one of their regular public webinars. His talk focused on alleviating the fear of the COVID-19 vaccine and touched on the history of vaccine and how vaccine has contributed to the improvement of the health status of the Nation. It also covered the process of development of vaccines, the type of COVID-19 vaccine available, and clarifying all the FAQ that is currently floating around in cyberspace.
Vaccination will be able to protect most people from getting sick from the COVID-19 infections. When we are given the COVID-19 vaccine, our immune system will produce the antibodies and memory cells that will be able to protect us from the disease. We must remember that people will not get the COVID-19 disease from the vaccination.
We don’t need to worry that the vaccine will enter our cells and changed its DNA. We understand the concern as the Comirnaty and Moderna vaccine are mRNA vaccine, which is something new. The mRNA vaccine just stimulates the immune response to produce antibodies and memory cell that will be able to protect us from the COVID-19 disease.
Vaccination will be able to protect most people from getting sick from the COVID-19 infections. When we are given the COVID-19 vaccine, our immune system will produce the antibodies and memory cells that will be able to protect us from the disease. We must remember that people will not get the COVID-19 disease from the vaccination as the vaccine will only produce an immune response and not the disease.
The Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccine does not contain any eggs protein or latex. People with a history of Eggs and latex allergy, are not considered precautions or contraindication for taking the vaccine.
The current research has shown that the all of COVID-19 vaccine have not been found to cause severe side effects in most people who receive the vaccine. There is only a very-very small percentage of people who develop anaphylaxis. The number is between 4.5 and 18.8 per million. If you previously have severe reactions to medication, you just need to inform the healthcare workers and they will advice you accordingly.
There is no evidence that the vaccine will cause infertility. The role of the vaccine is to stimulate the immune response towards the SARS-CoV-2 virus and has no effect on the DNA. Actually, all vaccine that is being used now has not been shown to cause infertility.
The only time when we can take off our mask and do not need to have social distancing is still our immediate family members. Although you have been vaccinated, you still need to wear a mask and maintain social distancing. This is because we still do not have enough data to know if vaccination can protect people from transmitting the diseases to others. This is because the current trials are not designed to answer the question. The current trial is to see if the vaccine protects people from getting sick and overwhelming the healthcare system.
There is no contraindication for people with immune compromise patient or cancer patient from getting vaccinated. The advice that if immune compromise or cancer patients is undergoing treatment than the vaccine should wait till the treatment has been completed.
The reason to get vaccination is to protect yourself and the people you love. It will take a long time to wait for everyone to be vaccinated. We suggest if you are given the chance just get the vaccine.
Most people who are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus will get mild to moderate disease, and they will recover completely. However, there are people who get very severe disease, and the outcome is not pleasant. We don’t know who will get the severe disease. Although there are some risk factors for people that may get severe disease, however, there are evidence of health individuals who get very severe disease, some of them even need double lung transplant.
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