With the COVID-19 vaccination, hope seems to be on the horizon. As the rollout moves into phase 1B and beyond, more and more Americans around the country are becoming eligible for receiving the vaccine. While many are anxiously wondering when they might get their shot, others question its effectiveness and some are even hesitant to take it for fear of side effects. Three local experts in the medical field join our hosts to address these concerns about the COVID-19 vaccination and more.
Guests on the Show
Jonathan Pinsky, MD – Medical Director of Infection Control & Prevention, Edward Hospital
Kevin Most, DO – Chief Medical Officer, Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital
Rashmi Chugh, MD, MPH – Medical Officer, DuPage County Health Department
“There have not been any severe adverse reactions to the vaccine,” said Pinsky. He discussed the trials of 30,000 people who took the vaccine and said there had been no deaths and the amount of people who had a anaphylactic (allergic) reaction was about 2.5 people out every one million. For the average person, side effects are minimal. “You hear about people having fevers, feeling a little achy for a day but getting sick enough to miss a day of work, that’s very rare.”
“Any transient side effects, which are expected, you can plan for it or plan to have it on a day where you don’t have too much on your schedule and just let your immune system respond to it,” said Chugh. “But that’s really nothing compared to the tragic impact that this has had on our community.” She explained that there have been more than 67,000 cases in DuPage County, with more than 1,090 deaths.
“For people that are vaccine hesitant, if they’re in that healthy group by the time they are able to receive the vaccination, the vaccine will be in the arms of millions and millions of people,” said Most. “So by the time we get to the summer, weather it’s 100 million or 150 million it will be the largest vaccine study, if not the largest.
