Don’t let these myths hold you back from getting your shot

Don’t let these myths hold you back from getting your shot

 

There is an easy way to crush Covid-19 -- one that would let businesses fully reopen safely, ditch the need for social distancing and restore a mask-free lifestyle.   But as myths and misunderstandings spread, many Americans don't want to get vaccinated.   "Facebook runs a survey every day ... and that's shown that vaccine confidence in the US has been slowly but steadily going down since February," said Dr. Christopher Murray, director of the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.   "We were at 75% of adults saying they wanted the vaccine. Now we're down to, in those surveys, about 67%."   Among the most common myths stopping people from getting the shot:    'The vaccine might hurt my fertility': There's no evidence that people have lost any fertility because of the Covid-19 vaccines. The rumor apparently started with the myth that the coronavirus spike protein, which is mimicked when you get a vaccine, also mimics the protein on the surface of placental cells, said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia and a member of the FDA's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.   "So the false notion was that when you're making an immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, you also were inadvertently making a response to a placental protein -- which would then make you less likely to be fertile," Offit said.    "So it's all nonsense. It's not true," he added.    'I'm young and healthy, so I don't need to get vaccinated': It’s critical for young people to get vaccinated. The B.1.1.7 variant is now the most dominant strain of coronavirus spreading in the United States. And unlike the original strain, this one is heavily impacting young people.   Also, young, healthy people have turned into Covid-19 "long-haulers” suffering chronic fatigue, chest pain, shortness of breath and brain fog months after their infection. A recent study found that 30% of people who had Covid-19 still had symptoms up to nine months after infection.   Remember, the benefits of the vaccine aren’t just about protecting yourself -- but protecting the community. The more people who get the vaccine -- the better chance we have at actually stopping transmission within our community.