Tag: vaccine

Claim: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is safe for children 12 years old and above.
Rating: This claim is TRUE. The CDC recommendations have been echoed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the European Union, and the World Health Organization. The Pfizer vaccine is safe for children 12 years old and above—within the age group 12-15, the vaccine was shown to be 100% effective at preventing COVID-19 infections. Vaccinating kids will also enable them to go back to in-person school.

Claim: Many Vietnamese Americans believe that the two-shot vaccines (from manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna) is better than the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 
Rating: This claim is FALSE. All of the vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and death. Many medical experts, including White House advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, say that the best COVID-19 vaccine is the one that’s available to you.

Claim: The recent pause of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S. has led many people to believe that the vaccine causes blood clots. 
Rating: This claim is MOSTLY FALSE. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending a pause on the J&J vaccine does not mean that the vaccine is unsafe. While 15 people who have received the vaccine developed a rare form of blood clot, the CDC did not say that the J&J vaccine causes blood clots. The pause was recommended “out of an abundance of caution,” to figure out what caused the clots, and how doctors should treat patients who develop these clots. Dr. Anthony Fauci has said that the risk of getting a blood clot from the J&J vaccine is less than one in a million. Patients are more likely to get blood clots from COVID-19, or from taking certain medications, such as birth control. On April 23, the CDC reapproved the J&J vaccine for public use, saying the benefits outweigh the risk.

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.