Debunking the Top COVID Vaccine Myths
COVID-19 information is changing constantly, and there’s a lot of misinformation out there. Often, it’s hard to know what’s really accurate. This is especially true for the much-anticipated, newly released COVID vaccines. We asked Dr. Alejandro Perez-Trepichio, Chief Medical Officer for Millennium Physician Group to set the record straight.
“One of the top questions I get is if you’ve had COVID, should you get the vaccine? The answer is yes, but you should wait. This data may change, but you could safely wait 90 days from the day you were diagnosed with COVID to get the vaccine.”
Dr. Perez-Trepichio says there’s a lot of confusion when it comes to getting the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. “If the vaccine that you have received is two doses, it’s extremely important that you receive both,” he advises. “This is the way that the studies were done. We have no certainty as to what will happen if we then change that.”
Herd immunity is the other topic, Dr. Perez-Trepichio says a lot of people misunderstand. He says approximately 70 to 85-percent of the population would need to get the COVID shot to make its continued spread unlikely.
Dr. Perez-Trepichio warns that we can’t let our guards down just because more people are getting vaccinated. “Vaccination is important,” he says, “But so are those other measures that we need to continue for several months until sufficient numbers have been vaccinated and the appropriate authorities advise to maybe getting back to normal.” This includes wearing masks, hand washing, and social distancing.
Don’t stress about when or which vaccine you get. The important thing is that you get it.