November 20, 2021
I received the second dose of my covid-19 vaccine last Thursday, November 18. I got the Pfizer vax. Though, I'm not really picky when it comes to the brand. I know that different brands have different efficacy rates. And I heard that the US and some European counties are not accepting those who received some Vaccine brands. Rumor has it that they are not accepting those who received the Sinovac Vaccine. Is it because of the low efficacy rate? or is it because it was made in China? The former is a more valid reason if you ask me.
Greetings, once again dear readers. By the time of writing, a lot of people have already received their covid-19 vaccine. In the Philippines, 36.7% of the population has been fully vaccinated already. Have you received yours already? Now, here is my question. Now that I have received my vaccine already, should I be complacent already? Can I now go wherever I go?
As mentioned above, the different brands of the vaccine have different efficacy rates. But these rates were based only on the available data. Considering the vaccines were developed in a relatively short period of time, will these numbers change as more people are vaccinated?
Anyway here is a table of the efficacy rate of the available vaccines.
See the complete table here:
As you can see, the vaccines may be effective in preventing severe cases of the disease, but they are not 100% effective in preventing mild cases. Meaning, those who got vaccinated, may still have a chance of getting the virus. But the symptoms will be not as deadly. Chances are, you will just exhibit some mild syptoms.
A few weeks ago, while I was doing my morning walk, I came across a friend of mine who was doing his morning walk also. He said he got Covid-19 last September. But the symptoms were mild. At first, he just had a runny nose and a slight sore throat. He thought it was nothing. But when he lost his sense of smell, he had himself tested. The test came out positive. Since he was with his mother who was a senior citizen, he volunteered to stay in the quarantine facility provided by the government.
He said he was already fully vaccinated. And he knew that the vaccine helped keep the virus under control.
A few months ago, I heard this explanation of a doctor over the local radio. The vaccine is not a hundred percent guarantee that you will not get the virus. But the vaccine is like, you cut the fangs off a wild animal. You may get bitten but the bite is less severe. (Well.. that could still hurt).
I guess this is the same with most, if not all, of the vaccines. I remember our son got chickenpox. Only a few lesions appeared on his face and body. When we had him checked with his pediatrician, she said, it's because of the vaccine. The vaccine helped keep the symptoms of chickenpox at a minimum.
When I received my first dose of the vaccine. it was explained to us that the antibodies needed to counter the virus take time to develop. The medical worker explained, that we should be extra careful from the day we received the first dose up to two months. Taking alcohol is prohibited since it may kill the antibodies. Rendering the vaccine useless.
At home, someone insisted that alcohol can be taken six days after. And the one insisted is someone who did not receive and does not plan to get vaccinated.
According to the CDC website, it takes about two weeks after the first dose for the body to build immunity against the virus. So from the first dose to the second week after the second dose, you can still be vulnerable.
Even after the second week, should I be complacent?
At the time of writing, only less than fifty percent in the country are vaccinated. There are people I am frequently in contact with who are not yet vaccinated. I may be immune to the virus after a couple of weeks, but I could be a carrier. And I might carry the virus to the people around me.
So, until there are no more active cases in our city for at least two weeks, I'd rather stay at home most of the time and stay safe.
The pandemic has lingered for almost two years now. It may be over soon. But if we, humans, have not learned the lessons that we were supposed to learn from this global event, we will face something as devastating as this sooner or later.
Stay safe everyone. Thanks For Reading.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/keythingstoknow.html
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Having an adverse reaction is possible. I was originally scheduled for my first dose in September. But I had an itchy throat and I took an anti-histamine on the day of my schedule. I was not given the vaccine that day. Here, we had to go through two stages of screening before we were given the vaccine. So far there are no reports of a fatality caused by the vaccine. But I think there were some who died from covid even after they received their second dose. The question is the time gap between the time they got vaccinated and they got infected.
Thanks
Concerning those who died after taking the vaccine, what's your opinion??
There are lots of factors involved. They may have had underlying conditions, an allergic reaction? A whole lot more.
You are right about not being too complacent. We also had our jabs and we still keep ourselves in our own vicinity. We only go out once a week for necessities. Hoping things will get a lot better soon so we can at least go to the beach hehe
I speak to positive covid cases every day with my work. The vaccine helps lessen the severity of the attacks. But even so, I still speak to patients who are fully vaccinated and are struggling. We still need to be vigilant.
That is true. What I forgot to mention here is, the virus mutates. Who knows it could mutate into something that the vaccine can't handle?
Heavens forbid.
I also had covid last year, right at the beginning of the pandemic. Mine was also rather mind and for that reason I wasn’t planning to take any vaccine. Now it turned out that I am not able to go to France without it, so I took one dose J&J and be done with it 😉
Got my first dose yesterday (Nov 19) and December 10 is the schedule of my second dose. Unlike you, I am picky in what kind of vaccine that I will take and luckily, I got Pfizer which is what I prefer. I don't want to take Sinovac, it has low efficacy rate and cannot trust them that much🤣
Ako, wala pa rin kahit isang dose niyan. Hehe.. Hindi ko alam kung magpapabakuna ba ako. Hehe.. Anyways, congrats po..
Thanks... Pero, bakit ayaw mo?
Ayos lang naman sa'kin po, kaso si papa po ang ayaw. Ang sabi niya, magpabakuna nalang daw pag kailangan na kailangan ko na talaga.. Hehehe
Congrats mate. finally you done it. I completed the Covid 19 vaccine two months ago. Before you.😁However, you got it, that's a lot. Because the vaccine is really very important.
Yes. It may not eradicate the virus right away. but in due time, if the majority of the population is vaccinated, it might.
So bawal muna shot shot, kuya hehe. Congrats!
I have no problem with that. I have been sober since 1998. I do drink occasionally. Maybe once in a blue moon. hehehe.
Thanks for the upvote.
Wow! Hats off, kuya!
Taking the vaccine is something that's always avoided by citizens of my country because it's thought to be something harmful. As there are cases where some had reportedly taken the vaccine and developed some other health problems .
It even happened that someone took the vaccine and still contracted the virus and I have been trying to give an explanation to this. However your explanation in this article settles it....