Tonya Breaux-Shropshire, Ph.D., MPH
How long would the COVID-19 vaccine protect you against infection, hospitalization, and death? There has been over 300 million vaccination given here in the United States (US) and the vaccine program is working. However, there has been a decline in vaccines over the last 2 months. But in recent days, the vaccination rates are up all over the US in part due to the fear of the Delta variant.
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COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to be pretty safe although some people have suffered mild to moderate symptoms. According to reports for the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions vaccine reporting system, it is rare that some people have had severe reactions or even died from COVID-19 vaccines. On June 21, 2021, the American Medical Association press release revealed that 96% of doctors are fully vaccinated.
Of course, just like with any other drug or anything, you will have some casualties. Really, in my humble opinion, it’s helpful to see the statistics to determine my risk so I can make informed decisions about my health. 
But some casualties could be prevented and some not so much. For example, premedication is a real intervention that we use in the hospital all the time. When someone gets blood and we suspect that they might have an allergic reaction, we pre-medicate them with Benadryl and Tylenol.
I have been allergic to the flu shot for many years and I had to be cleared by my allergist to get the COVID shot with premedication over the course of a week. I was prescribed Zyrtec, an over-the-counter antihistamine, two tablets at bedtime, one week before my shot, to continue one week afterward. My allergist said he preferred Zyrtec instead of Benadryl due to the long-term effects without multiple dosing doing the day. Also, he mentioned that Zyrtec should not give me daytime drowsiness.
A blood test could be used to measure your blood to detect if you have the “S” antibodies. A person infected with COVID-19 would likely have produced “S”, “M”, and the “N” antibodies. If you do have these antibodies, then you are likely still protected against COVID-19 including the Delta variant. I am not a doctor nor an immunologist; so, contact your doctor for advice about this.
One might wonder why we do not pre-medicate for the COVID vaccine since most of the untoward effects could be minimized by premedication. Well, at least pre-medicate the vulnerable and avoid certain mediations in the appropriate demographics.
Research has shown that you have about a one in a million chance of getting COVID if you had two doses of the vaccine. If not, and you are unvaccinated, you have a one in 30 chance of dying from COVID if infected. A recent study done by Cleveland Clinic showed that people who had COVID-19 in the past but did not get vaccinated had the same risk as people who were vaccinated.
Still, it is recommended that people who have been infected get vaccinated because this study was done before the Delta variant. 
Israel data has suggested that the effects of the vaccines are weaning. Nevertheless, the most current findings have shown that the vaccine is not weaning after 20 months.
Children 12 and older can be vaccinated, but most kids are at low risk for COVID-19. Fatigue, sleepiness, and loss of focus, are symptoms that children may experience. One in 25 kids who catch covid may have long-term effects, which we sometimes refer to as long COVID.
Breakthrough Cases
Fully vaccinated people have contracted the Delta variant and other variants. The Centers for Disease Control conducted a study in July 2021 on fully vaccinated people who attended multiple large public events in Massachusetts. The CDC found that 346 out of 469 fully vaccinated people (74%) were infected with the COVID-19 infection.
Almost all (90%) of the people who were infected in this study had the Delta variant. This is partially the driver of the Centers for Disease Control’s decision to recommend masks for people who are fully vaccinated as well as for the unvaccinated. However, only .01% of these fully vaccinated people were hospitalized (4 people).
Essentially, the CDC study showed that the people who were fully vaccinated had similar amounts of virus in their nostrils (cycle threshold) as people who were unvaccinated. Nevertheless, many businesses including daycares here in Alabama are not requiring masks to enter. Some are strongly suggesting but not requiring and most parents that I saw at a local daycare did not wear a mask to enter.
Based on real-world data, as of July 2021, there have been roughly 163 million people vaccinated with two-shot in the US. So far, there have been only 6,587 breakthrough hospitalizations.
Moderna’s study has shown that the Moderna vaccine is 93% effective against COVID-19 after six months of being fully vaccinated. Of course, more research needs to be done to know how effective the Moderna shot is against the Delta variant.
Other Variants of Interest
In June 2021, the World Health Association made the Lambda variant a variant of interest. The Lambda variant was first identified in Peru in December 2020 and it is the dominant virus currently. To date, the United Kingdom has seen 7 cases of the Lambda variant and to my knowledge, no one has died in the UK due to this variant.
The US has seen 621 cases of the Lambda variant and the first cases were identified shortly after New Years Day (January 2-June 23, 2021). Most states (42) in the US have had Lambda variant cases with 118 cases identified in California between March 13-June 22, 2021.
Most mutations on the Lambda variant are found on other mutations of the COVID-19 virus. Experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci are concerned about the Lamba variant because they believe it has the potential to be more infectious and the capability of immune escape is unknown. In other words, the Lambda variant has the potential to decrease the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Boosters
As of Aug 4, 2021, current research has shown that boosters are not necessary at this point unless you are immune-compromised. As was said before, the vaccines are holding up. Pfizer has reported that their vaccine effectiveness has reduced from 95% to 84% after a few months. But, Moderna has reported a decline to 93% from 95%.
According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, immune-compromised include people who had an organ transplant, chemotherapy, or cancer therapy. He said that these people would need a boost as soon as possible because they probably did not produce enough antibodies to protect them initially.
People who have had the COVID-19 virus, would need at least one vaccine, according to Dr. Fauci based on a new study. However, at this time, two vaccines are recommended by the CDC. Protect yourself and get at least one vaccine. One dose of the vaccine after you had COVID-19 has been shown to be the best protection surpassing even two vaccine doses in someone who never had COVID-19. See the video below for more information.
COVID SHPOT AND PREG.mp4
Fertility and COVID-19 vaccine
As of August 4, 2021, there has not been any evidence that the COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility in women or men. In fact, one small study was done by researchers at the University of Miami Florida with men 18-50 years old. The men who received the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine showed there was no decrease in sperm count.
Conclusion
No matter what the COVID-19 variant, at this point, we know that the vaccine and public health measures will protect you from the virus. Even if the vaccine proves to be ineffective towards the new COVID-19 variants, public health measures will still prevail. Also, don’t forget about keeping adequate amounts of vitamin D in your system, eating a healthy diet, and exercise daily to keep your immune system healthy.
Your immune system will help you fight off any variant that comes around. The science is suggesting that we all could stop the new variants from developing if most people could get vaccinated and practice the health care measure. Perhaps we could do these things for the greater good.
