2021 - 2022 Southeast Georgia Healthcare Guide™

Relief from the COVID-19 Pandemic:

Vaccines and More

A chain of events changed the nation and world’s history in January 2020 when the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak a global health emergency. COVID-19 is a strain of coronavirus belonging to the same virus family that triggers the onset of upper respiratory infections associated with the common cold. Now COVID-19 has forever changed life as we know it. Both local and international restrictions were implemented to slow the spread of COVID-19, including stay-at-home orders, travel bans and social distancing of at least six feet. Many nonessential businesses were closed including stores, restaurants, universities, gyms and more. This highly infectious disease poses a greater risk for the elderly and people with underlying health conditions. It has been found that a combination of natural immunity and vaccine-induced immunity is one of the most effective ways individuals can stay safe against COVID-19. The COVID-19 vaccine has been an important part of helping the world return to some form of normalcy. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “COVID-19 vaccines teach our immune systems how to recognize and fight the virus that causes COVID-19. It typically takes two weeks after vaccination for the body to build protection (immunity) against the virus that causes COVID-19. That means it is possible to still get COVID-19 before or after vaccination and then get sick because the vaccine did not have enough time to provide protection.”

The Development and Implementation of the COVID-19 Vaccine

Various vaccines use either a whole virus or parts of a virus to cause the immune system to respond and in turn, remember how to fight a virus. The COVID-19 vaccines contain a spike-like structure on the surface of the COVID-19 virus referred to as an S protein. The S protein is responsible for helping the virus get inside the body’s cells to start the infection. Three main forms of vaccination have been created and implemented for use in the United States. These include the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine,