COVID-19 Vaccine Information

Vaccine information

Click here for COVID-19 Vaccine for Children, What Parents Need to Know from the Allergy and Asthma Network

Click here for COVID-19 vaccine information from NH DHHS

What is "herd immunity", AKA "community immunity", and how can we acheive it with COVID-19? Herd immunity, or "community immunity" is when there have been enough people either vaccinated against a specific disease or has had the disease that the rate of that disease spreading is reduced.

COVID-19 vaccination is a safer way to build protection because there are much lower risks of severe illness and death since there is no actual virus in the vaccine. COVID-19 vaccination will help protect you by creating an antibody response without the risk of severe illness.
Getting the virus that causes COVID-19 may offer some natural protection, known as immunity. But experts don't know how long this protection lasts. The risk of severe illness, chronic health issues, and death from COVID-19 far outweighs any benefits of natural immunity.

Some facts about the COVID-19 vaccine:

The statistical risk of an allergic reaction to the vaccine is less than the risk of being hit by lightening (Dr. Parikh, National Spokesperson for Allergy and Asthma Network)
None of the COVID-19 vaccines in use or under development use the live virus that causes COVID-19.
People can experience normal side effects, such as fever, after vaccination. These side effects are signs that the body is building immunity.
It takes a couple of weeks for the body to build immunuty after completing a series of vaccinations. A person could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 just before or just after vaccination and get sick. This is because your immune system has not had enough time to respond to the vaccine to build up protection.
COVID-19 mRNA vaccines will not cause you to test positive on PCR or antigen tests.
There is a possibility you may test positive on some antibody tests, which are used to test for previous infection.
This indicates that the vaccine likely triggered an immune response in your body and that you may have some level of protection againse the virus
People should get the vaccine even if they have already had the virus. This is because a person can become infected with the virus more than once.
We do not know how long someone is protected from getting sick again after recovering.