The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense partnered to establish Operation Warp Speed. The purpose of this effort is to quickly generate and distribute millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses, while making sure that the vaccines are safe and effective.

The plan is for the federal government to host a centralized system to obtain, disburse, and record vaccines. The CDC will order all vaccines. Vaccine administrators will receive shipments of vaccines either directly from a vaccine manufacturer or from the CDC’s centralized system.

There are many vaccines at different levels of development and manufacturing. Two vaccines have been emergency approved and are being distributed. The steps of vaccine distribution include:

• Implementing and testing logistics plans with businesses partnering with the CDC’s centralized system
• Distributing vaccines and associated supplies from central locations to the rest of the country
• Ordering additional vaccine doses
• Receiving and storing vaccines at their required temperatures
• Deciding how vaccines should be distributed
• Safely administering vaccines
• Tracking vaccine stock, administration, and safety
• Increasing and establishing safety surveillance programs
• Creating procedures and methods to determine and report vaccine efficacy
• Communicating with the public and with stakeholders regarding all facets of the COVID-19 vaccination program

The overall goal of the federal government is to secure sufficient COVID-19 vaccine doses for all residents in the United States who want to be vaccinated. A safe and effective vaccine is key to reduce the burden of COVID-19 disease in the United States.

The CDC has worked with state, tribal, territorial, and local jurisdictions on vaccination programs and released a playbook on September 16, 2020 that was updated on October 30, 2020.

The CDC has collaborated with private partners and federal agencies on implementing effective vaccination plans. Private partners include pharmacies, such as those offering vaccination to residents in long-term care facilities. Federal agencies include the Indian Health Service.

No. Although there is not a national campaign regarding COVID-19, the CDC does follow the Vaccinate with Confidence guidance which addresses vaccine hesitancy, preventing disease outbreaks in the U.S, and effectively communicating with members of the public and health care providers.

The Vaccinate with Confidence guidance is being tailored to specific issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and will be provided to members of the community and health care workers.

The CDC is taking several steps to safely vaccinate United States residents. Important steps include:

• Routinely communicating accurate and coherent data so that people are able to understand the positive and negative aspects of vaccination
• Supporting health care workers in getting the vaccine
• Presenting information so that health care providers can answer questions their patients may have about the vaccine
• Partnering with communities and individuals fairly and equitable so that people can ask questions and obtain accurate date regarding the COVID-19 vaccines
• Providing straightforward access to vaccines
• Reducing or eliminated the costs associated with a vaccine

You should practice physical distancing by staying 6 feet away from other people, avoid people who are sick, avoid crowds, wash your hands with soap and water, and cover your nose and mouth with a mask.

Yes. According to the CDC, you should wear a mask to cover your nose and mouth when in contact with people outside your home and when receiving any vaccine. People who cannot breathe or who cannot remove their masks without help should not wear a mask.

Vaccines help your immune system defend you from disease. It’s important to keep using measures like social distancing and wearing masks to reduce your risk of exposure to the virus and spreading it to others. Additionally, it will take at least several months to vaccinate millions of people in the United States.

Yes. Additional studies are needed to determine how long protection from the vaccines will last and if you can still infect others after receiving two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. Until more information is available, you should keep social distancing and use a face mask to reduce your risk of contracting COVID-19 and spreading the virus to other people.

There is not enough information to estimate when the CDC will recommend that measures no longer have to be followed. Studies are ongoing and information will be provided to the public when possible. Additional components affecting the CDC’s recommendations include the number of people who get vaccinated and how the virus spreads within communities.

When you get sick, you acquire natural immunity, meaning you’re protected against that disease for a certain period of time. This natural immunity is dependent on the disease and person. COVID-19 is a relatively new disease, so we don’t know how long natural immunity will last.

Some reports suggest that natural immunity may not last long. Scientists are obtaining additional information on how long natural immunity lasts. Additional data is also being obtained on how long vaccine-induced immunity will last.

Experts currently do not know what percentage of the population must be required to achieve herd immunity, a term which refers to sufficient people having protection against COVID-19 to protect non-immune people within the community from COVID-19. This protection can come from either natural immunity or vaccine-induced immunity. The percentage of the population who must be immune so that herd immunity can be reached is different for each disease.

The CDC and FDA promote the use of the national Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a system where serious side effects or adverse events are reported and tracked. Vaccine safety is critical.

Health care providers are mandated to report specific adverse events after vaccine administration to VAERS. If the FDA modifies any safety reporting requirements during its Emergency Use Authorization, health care providers must also follow these requirements, which are listed on the FDA’s website.

The CDC is executing a smartphone application (app) termed v-safe. This app allows you to record any side effects or adverse events after receiving a vaccine for COVID-19.

The foremost concern of vaccination studies is safety. Sometimes, clinical trials are paused when an adverse event is identified. This pause allows scientists and doctors to identify the cause or causes of the safety issue and to determine if the clinical trial should continue.

As of November 24, 2020, there were 5 Phase 3 clinical trials in progress or in preparation in the United States.

Vaccine manufacturers can use the same methods for the yearly flu vaccine to create vaccines against newly identified flu strains, such as the 2009 H1N1 strain. Using the same methods saves a substantial amount of time and resources. However, there have not been any vaccines against coronaviruses and COVID-19 is a newly discovered virus, so additional research is needed to create a vaccine specifically for COVID-19.

Neither the Pfizer nor the Moderna vaccine contain the COVID-19 virus. Both of these vaccines help you make antibodies to a protein that is located on the surface of the COVID-19 virus. This means that if you come into contact with the virus, your immune system is able to recognize the virus, attack it, and fight off infection.

No. Neither the Pfizer nor the Moderna vaccine contain any form of the virus—neither live, attenuated, nor inactivated vaccines. They only contain the gene for a viral protein. This means that these vaccines will not infect you with COVID-19.

COVID-19 virus is not in the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine. It includes messenger RNA and lipids. The main ingredients or components are:

• The nucleoside-modified messenger ribonucleic acid (termed modRNA) encodes the viral spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.
• Salts act as pH buffers
• Sugar (specifically sucrose)
• Four types of lipids, including PEG
• Polyethylene glycol (PEG) – This lipid is commonly used in laxatives and in patient bowel preparation before colonoscopy procedures. It is the most likely vaccine component that could cause allergic reaction symptoms.

The Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines do not contain any mercury, thimerosal, antibiotics, or preservatives.

The FDA is responsible for evaluating safety information of any vaccine used in the United States. Vaccines must be both safe and effective to be approved. They must undergo meticulous preclinical and clinical testing before they can be approved.

Usually, it takes years to develop vaccines. Previous coronavirus outbreaks, including SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003 and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) in 2012 have prompted research into vaccines specifically targeting coronaviruses. Scientists had already made important research discoveries which were then used to create the 2020 Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against SARS-CoV2, which is the name of the virus that leads to COVID-19.

All medications or vaccines can lead to side effects. Usually, these side effects are relatively minor, such as a sore arm where the vaccine was injected or a low-grade fever. Side effects usually only last a few days and do not lead to long-term consequences.

COVID-19 vaccines are only approved by the FDA when data from clinical trials shows that they are both safe and effective. No serious side effects have been observed with the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine.

An Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is a special designation issued by the FDA if an unapproved medical product or a different use of a medical product is used in the event of an emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this authorization is to diagnose, treat, or prevent disease in cases where no treatments exist. In the case of COVID-19, no preventative vaccines existed before the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were granted an EUA.

Companies must submit a request which is reviewed by the FDA. If granted, the product or device can then be used for a specific purpose.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the South Carolina COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee (VAC) have made recommendations on the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Currently, South Carolina is in Phase 1a—the underlying goal of the VAC and this phase is to prevent as many deaths as possible. People in this category include patient-facing medical workers and long-term care facility staff and residents. People in this category have preferred access to vaccines before people in any other category.

Additional vaccines will undergo FDA authorization and possible approval. As additional vaccines undergo this process and more vaccines are produced and distributed, COVID-19 vaccines will be available for everyone. In the coming months, we will have greater vaccine availability.

Federal government and California have plans in place to notify the public of vaccine availability. These plans include notifications via news releases, website updates, and social media updates. Public service announcements will include print, radio, TV ads, mailers, and community-level outreach information efforts. These sources of information will include how residents will obtain their vaccine. Health care providers will also alert patients regarding vaccine availability. They ill not be registering residents on a list.

The vaccine cost will be covered by the federal government, meaning no out-of-pocket costs for individuals. Vaccine administration will be covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers. Some health care providers may charge for an office visit or for vaccine administration. The Health Resources and Services Administration’s Provider Relief Fund will cover administrative costs for uninsured people receiving the vaccine.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are administered by an injection into the muscle of the arm, termed an intramuscular injection. Two doses are required for each vaccine.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine both require two doses. The Pfizer vaccine doses require an interval of 21 days between doses while the Moderna vaccine requires an interval of 28 days. You will receive a second dose of the same company’s vaccine, meaning if your first dose was a Pfizer vaccine, your second dose will also be a Pfizer vaccine.

You will receive a physical (paper) immunization record at the time of your first vaccination. This record will detail the type of vaccine you received, date, location, and the date of your next vaccine. You will be reminded of your next vaccine date by your health care provider.

The brand of vaccine you receive, when you receive it, and the date of your second dose, are confidential health information. Your information will be protected to maintain your privacy.

Yes. People who have been previously infected with COVID-19 should receive the vaccine. The CDC notes that people are able to be reinfected approximately 90 days after infection.

Reinfection is rare within the first 90 days of the onset of COVID-19 symptoms. According to DHEC, if people are eligible for the vaccine in phase 1a but had COVID-19, these people should consider delaying their vaccination. This delay will allow other, more vulnerable people, to be vaccinated.

No. Current recommendations are to receive only one type of vaccine as the administration of different brands has not been tested and safety data remains unknown. When receiving several doses of the vaccine, such as is the case with Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, both doses should be provided by the same company.

Pregnant women are not included in vaccine clinical trials. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have not yet been tested in pregnant women. These two mRNA vaccines do not contain a live virus, but instead lead your immune system to generate antibodies against a protein found on the surface of the coronavirus.

In theory, mRNA vaccines should not harm a fetus. As more information regarding vaccine safety for pregnant women emerges, vaccine guidelines will be updated. According to the Society for Fetal and Maternal Medicine, healthcare workers who fall into the phase 1a category should be offered the vaccine if pregnant.

The first phase of vaccination will include people working in health care settings who are at risk of contracting COVID-19 and people with medical conditions that put them at risk of contracting severe COVID-19 infection.

Vaccination will be available through pharmacies, hospitals, health care providers, and community clinics.

Information regarding vaccine availability will be conveyed by via public service announcements, website updates, media briefings, letters to doctors, and other methods.

In order to obtain and administer a vaccine against COVID-19, health care providers must be enrolled in a federal vaccine distribution plan. Some national chains are able to directly register with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The federal government disburses vaccines and accompanying supplies without charge to the enrolled providers.

Both Walgreen’s and CVS Pharmacies have already been directly enrolled into the COVID-19 vaccination program with the CDC. These pharmacies will receive vaccines to administer to California residents and people working in long-term health care facilities.

Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines must be kept refrigerated or frozen, ranging in temperatures between -90° C and 8° C throughout their storage and transport. The manufacturers of these vaccines are in the process of testing the temperatures at which the vaccines remain stable and will notify the relevant federal and state organizations.

Training materials and information regarding the storage and handling of COVID-19 vaccines is being developed and will be communicated to health care providers.

After vaccine administration, patients should be observed in a health care facility by health care providers for approximately 15 minutes. In drive-through vaccination programs, there should be sufficient parking for this post-vaccination observation to take place.

Yes. Specific guidelines have been developed for satellite clinics, pharmacies, temporary settings, and large-scale clinics. In addition to these vaccine administrations sites, drive-through sites, curbside clinics, mobile clinics, and homesite visits may be utilized to administer vaccines. Local Public Health will provide additional information.

General principles for health care facilities should be employed in the case of alternative sites, including physical distancing. These principles include:

• Scheduling specific appointment times to avoid unnecessary physical crowding of patients and efficiently vaccinating patients
• Securing adequate resources and staff to administer vaccines to patients in a safe and effective manner
• Reducing the overall number of patients at the vaccine administration site, especially in the case of high-risk patient populations

DHEC and the CDC recommends that children and adults who are older than six months should receive an influenza or flu vaccine each year.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is especially important to reduce the health care burden of respiratory diseases. Vulnerable populations are at a higher risk of severe COVID-19. Administering the flu vaccine will reduce hospitalizations; health care providers should encourage flu vaccines whenever possible.

According to the General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunizations an inactivated vaccine can be injected at the same time or after a separate inactivated or live vaccine.

If possible, receiving the COVID-19 Pfizer or Moderna vaccine separately from other vaccines unless necessary. This is because recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine might experience uncomfortable temporary symptoms including fatigue, muscle aches, or a fever. These symptoms range from mild to moderate.

No. In the event that a person is suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19, vaccination should be delayed, even if the person is asymptomatic. Vaccination can take place after self-isolation.

Lots of options neatly organized into sections that allows you to build website without any coding knowledge. Please take some time and navigate through each option tab, most things are self explained. Go to Cosgrove Options to start. Don’t forget to click on Save All Changes to save your settings once you are finished.A mild case of COVID-19 is not a contraindication to receiving either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. However, postponing the vaccination of people with COVID-19 will reduce the burden on health care workers and other patients. Patients should be instructed to contact their health care provider before their vaccination should they have or develop any symptoms of COVID-19.

People who were previously sick with either COVID-19 or the flu are not protected against the flu. Yearly flu vaccination is recommended.

People who are allergic to the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine’s components or who have experienced anaphylaxis or a serious allergic reaction to another vaccine or injection (whether subcutaneous, intramuscular, or intravenous) are contraindicated against the COVID-19 vaccine.

Currently, no contraindications or interactions are known in instances where patients receive antiviral treatments for influenza. However, this has not been tested in Phase 3 clinical trials.

Yes. The CDC has announced its Interim Guidance for Immunization Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic. These guidelines help vaccination or immunization providers in health care settings to safely vaccinate residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guidelines will continue to be updated as epidemiological results relating to COVID-19 within the United States are circulated.

Infection prevention protocols should be implemented as health care providers administer COVID-19 vaccines. Infection prevention strategies include physical distancing, surface decontamination, source control, and respiratory and hand hygiene.

The CDC’s General Practices for Safe Delivery of Vaccination Services details these recommendations. The Immunization Action Coalition has released a guide: Protective Measures for Vaccinating During the Pandemic detailing PPE, signage, and patient management.

Individual facilities will determine whether or not they require the COVID-19 vaccine, as is the case in flu vaccine requirements. CDC recommends that health care workers interacting with COVID-19 patients or workers at high risk of severe COVID-19 (including people who work in long-term care facilities) receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

To understand how COVID-19 vaccines work, it helps to first look at how our bodies fight illness. When germs, such as the virus that causes COVID-19, invade our bodies, they attack and multiply. This invasion, called an infection, is what causes illness. Our immune system uses several tools to fight infection. Blood contains red cells, which carry oxygen to tissues and organs, and white or immune cells, which fight infection. Different types of white blood cells fight infection in different ways:

• Macrophages are white blood cells that swallow up and digest germs and dead or dying cells. The macrophages leave behind parts of the invading germs called antigens. The body identifies antigens as dangerous and stimulates antibodies to attack them.
• B-lymphocytes are defensive white blood cells. They produce antibodies that attack the pieces of the virus left behind by the macrophages.
• T-lymphocytes are another type of defensive white blood cell. They attack cells in the body that have already been infected.

The first time a person is infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, it can take several days or weeks for their body to make and use all the germ-fighting tools needed to get over the infection. After the infection, the person’s immune system remembers what it learned about how to protect the body against that disease.

The body keeps a few T-lymphocytes, called memory cells, that go into action quickly if the body encounters the same virus again. When the familiar antigens are detected, B-lymphocytes produce antibodies to attack them. Experts are still learning how long these memory cells protect a person against the virus that causes COVID-19.

COVID-19 vaccines help our bodies develop immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 without us having to get the illness. Different types of vaccines work in different ways to offer protection, but with all types of vaccines, the body is left with a supply of “memory” T-lymphocytes as well as B-lymphocytes that will remember how to fight that virus in the future.

It typically takes a few weeks for the body to produce T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes after vaccination. Therefore, it is possible that a person could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 just before or just after vaccination and then get sick because the vaccine did not have enough time to provide protection.

Sometimes after vaccination, the process of building immunity can cause symptoms, such as fever. These symptoms are normal and are a sign that the body is building immunity.

Currently, there are three main types of COVID-19 vaccines that are or soon will be undergoing large-scale (Phase 3) clinical trials in the United States. Below is a description of how each type of vaccine prompts our bodies to recognize and protect us from the virus that causes COVID-19. None of these vaccines can give you COVID-19.

• mRNA vaccines contain material from the virus that causes COVID-19 that gives our cells instructions for how to make a harmless protein that is unique to the virus. After our cells make copies of the protein, they destroy the genetic material from the vaccine. Our bodies recognize that the protein should not be there and build T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes that will remember how to fight the virus that causes COVID-19 if we are infected in the future.
• Protein subunit vaccines include harmless pieces (proteins) of the virus that cause COVID-19 instead of the entire germ. Once vaccinated, our immune system recognizes that the proteins don’t belong in the body and begins making T-lymphocytes and antibodies. If we are ever infected in the future, memory cells will recognize and fight the virus.
• Vector vaccines contain a weakened version of a live virus—a different virus than the one that causes COVID-19—that has genetic material from the virus that causes COVID-19 inserted in it (this is called a viral vector). Once the viral vector is inside our cells, the genetic material gives cells instructions to make a protein that is unique to the virus that causes COVID-19. Using these instructions, our cells make copies of the protein. This prompts our bodies to build T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes that will remember how to fight that virus if we are infected in the future.

All but one of the COVID-19 vaccines that are currently in Phase 3 clinical trials in the United States use two shots. The first shot starts building protection. A second shot a few weeks later is needed to get the most protection the vaccine has to offer. One vaccine in Phase 3 clinical trials only needs one shot.

Mild Side Effects Among All Study Participants*