Vaccine

All Minnesotans 5+ are eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine!

An additional dose is for people who may not have had a strong enough immune response from their initial vaccine series. Alternatively, a booster shot is for people whose immune response was sufficient after their first two (or one, in the case of J&J) doses, but has now begun to wane over time.

People who are eligible for an additional dose include those who have:

• been receiving active cancer treatment for tumors or blood cancers
• received an organ transplant and are taking immunosuppressive medication
• received a stem cell transplant within the last 2 years or are taking immunosuppressive medication
• moderate to severe primary immunodeficiency (e.g. DiGeorge syndrome, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome)
• advanced or untreated HIV infection
• active treatment with high-dose corticosteroids or immunosuppressive drugs

All Minnesotans 12 and older qualify for a booster shot.

• Individuals 18 and older can receive a Moderna or Pfizer booster shot at least 5 months after their second mRNA dose or at least 2 months after their single J&J dose.
• Folks who are 16 or 17 years old can get their Pfizer booster shot at least 5 months after their second dose.
• Younger children, aged 12 to 15 years old, are eligible for their Pfizer booster shot at least 5 months after their second dose.

One easy way to stay updated about the vaccine rollout and learn when you are eligible is to sign up for the MN Vaccine Connector (now available in English, Spanish, Hmong, and Somali). This tool will notify you when it is your turn to sign up for a vaccine and help you figure out how to get your shot.

Even after you sign up for the Vaccine Connector, you can increase your chances of getting a vaccine earlier by getting on a waitlist at your primary care provider, if you have one, and searching with other tools. Here are a few options:

• MDH Find My Vaccine tool
• Vaccine Spotter
• Find A Shot and Dr. B can both notify you when appointments or extra doses become available due to cancellations or extra stock that needs to be used.
• Facebook groups where people help each other find vaccines – here is one for Minneapolis and one for Saint Paul (despite the city-specific names, each group will help any Minnesotan in any location find their shot).

Our COVID community coordinators are a great resource to help you navigate this process. Call the COVIDLine at (612) 254-0116 to speak to someone today.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are given in 2 doses, 3 or 4 weeks apart. Protection kicks in about 2 weeks after the second dose. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine only requires one dose and protection begins after two weeks. In line with CDC guidelines, the state of Minnesota deems masks optional for those who have been fully vaccinated (e.g. anyone who has received either their second Pfizer or Moderna dose OR the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine two or more weeks prior). However, due to the presence of circulating variants, it is important to give some extra thought to whether you choose to mask in public. Consider the caseload and vaccination rates wherever you’re going, what activity you’ll be doing, and the health of both yourself and those around you. If you are in a place where a majority of the population is vaccinated and you are only spending time with fully vaccinated individuals, then wearing a mask is not as crucial. But, if you are uncertain about the vaccination status of your location and the people around you, or if you feel more comfortable wearing a mask, it is always best to play it safe and mask up for extra protection.

For a walkthrough of one person’s experience, check out Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s livestream of her recieving the Pfizer vaccine here.

Some people experience side effects for a few days after the vaccine, including soreness in the arm where the vaccine was injected, muscle aches, fatigue, headaches, and occasionally fever. Watch this video for more details about what causes side effects.

In extremely rare cases, there have been reports of more serious side effects from the vaccines. Reports of adverse events suggest an increased risk of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) or Guillain Barre syndrome following the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as well as an increased risk of myocarditis/pericarditis following administration of the mRNA (Pfizer or Moderna) vaccine in adolescents. If you experience any of the following symptoms listed on these pages, contact your health care provider right away: TTS page, Guillain Barre syndrome page, myocarditis/pericarditis page.

The risk of these events occurring is exceptionally low. That being said, if you have received a COVID-19 vaccine in the last few weeks, you should be aware of symptoms (linked above) that occur if these conditions develop. The FDA and medical/public health professionals concur that the benefits of receiving all three of these vaccines far outweigh the slight risks of side effects. It is still highly recommended that you get vaccinated against COVID-19 as a way to protect both yourself and your community.

COVID-19 vaccine will be provided to everyone at no cost. The cost of the appointment will be covered either by your insurance or, if you are uninsured, by government funds.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines do not contain any live virus. Instead, these vaccines use messenger RNA (mRNA) to teach our cells how to fight off the virus. The mRNA in the vaccines cannot chance your DNA in any way. For more detail on how mRNA vaccines work, visit the CDC website.

The third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, works a little differently. From Yale Medicine:

“This is a carrier vaccine, which uses a different approach than the mRNA vaccines to instruct human cells to make the SARS CoV-2 spike protein. Scientists engineer a harmless adenovirus (a common virus that, when not inactivated, can cause colds, bronchitis, and other illnesses) as a shell to carry genetic code on the spike proteins to the cells (similar to a Trojan Horse). The shell and the code can’t make you sick, but once the code is inside the cells, the cells produce a spike protein to train the body’s immune system, which creates antibodies and memory cells to protect against an actual SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

There are no eggs, preservatives, latex, or pork products in any of the vaccines. They are halal. For a complete list of ingredients, see the fact sheets for the three vaccines that have been authorized by the FDA so far:

• Pfizer
• Moderna
• Janssen/Johnson & Johnson

See this page from Yale Medicine for more details about the differences between the various vaccines. All three options have been tested extensively and determined to be safe and effective.

There are no laws broadly requiring Americans to get the COVID vaccine. However, employers may require their employees to get vaccinated in order to keep working there. Check with your employer about their rules and requirements for vaccination. Often, there are exemptions for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.

This vaccine was developed much more quickly than many others mostly because it was the top priority for scientists around the world – a lot of money, resources, and labor have gone into creating a safe vaccine. The requirements for this vaccine were the same as all other vaccines and no stages were skipped in the development process. Instead, some of the clinical trials were done at the same time rather than one after the other. In addition, scientists were able to build on years of research about other coronaviruses and mRNA vaccines. The vaccines that have been authorized for use have been tested on tens of thousands of people and reviewed by many scientists. For more details on how the vaccine was made, see this short document from the MN Department of Health.

It is recommended that all adults get the vaccine even if they have already had COVID-19. Although getting the virus can give you a certain amount of immunity, we don’t know for sure how long it lasts and the vaccine will offer better protection against becoming re-infected.

No, the vaccine is available and free for everyone regardless of citizenship status. You will not be asked for proof of citizenship at any point in the vaccine process. You may be asked to provide proof of residency in Minnesota (i.e. your address).

Yes. Research demonstrates that all of the available vaccines provide protection against infection, severe illness, and hospitalization cause by the current coronavirus variants.

If you experience symptoms of Covid-19, it is recommended that you get tested, even if you are fully vaccinated. If you are fully vaccinated and have been exposed to someone with Covid-19, it may be wise to get yourself tested and quarantine while you wait for your results. While vaccine breakthrough infections are uncommon, they do occur. As always, it is better to be safe than sorry.