Category: COVID-19

Claim: Many Vietnamese-Americans believe that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is not as safe as the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines because it only requires one shot and has a lower efficacy level.
Rating: This claim is FALSE. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is 85% effective in preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations and 100% effective in preventing COVID-19-related deaths, according to a number of health experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Claim: Many Vietnamese Americans believe that people have died after being vaccinated for COVID-19. 
Rating: This claim is FALSE. No deaths have been attributed to the COVID-19 vaccines, while more than 500,000 people have died from contracting COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reports of death following vaccination do not necessarily mean the vaccine caused the death.

Claim: Some Vietnamese-Americans believe that you do not need to get both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and that the additional second dose is unnecessary, serving to only benefit pharmaceutical companies.
Rating: This claim is FALSE. It depends on which vaccine you are getting. Three COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in the United States, one made by Pfizer, the other by Moderna, and the third by Johnson & Johnson. According to the Centers for the Disease Control, for the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, two doses are required to achieve 95% efficacy level. The first dose helps the immune system create a response against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The second dose further boosts the immune response to increase the protection to 95%. The vaccines, from all three manufactures, are also provided free of charge by the federal government; it should not cost you any money to get vaccinated.

Claim: On May 16, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that people who are fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 vaccine do not need to wear a mask.
Rating: This claim is TRUE. Despite criticisms from other doctors in the medical community that the new CDC guidelines are premature, the CDC guidelines is not a mandate. It merely says that those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 can feel safe not wearing a mask, because the vaccines are highly effective at protecting against COVID-19 infections. But you can still wear a mask if you want to. The CDC also recommends you follow any state and local guidelines around masking—so if a business mandates its customers wear a mask, you should follow that mandate. These new guidelines show that the key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic is more people getting vaccinated.

Claim: Some Vietnamese-Americans believe that you do not have to get vaccinated from COVID-19 if you already had the disease.
Rating: This claim is FALSE. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that you get vaccinated from Covid-19 even if you have had it because scientists do not know how long natural immunity lasts. It is also rare, but possible, to become reinfected with COVID-19.

Claim: Many Vietnamese Americans believe that the development of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were rushed and are therefore, not safe.
Rating: This claim is FALSE. Developing and testing a new vaccine usually takes years. But the COVID-19 vaccines, from manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna, took only 10 months to develop. That is because it’s a new type of vaccine made from messenger RNA (mRNA). It does not contain any live viruses, which makes it faster to develop. Research into mRNA vaccines have been ongoing since 1976, so the COVID-19 vaccines were the results of many years of research.