Which vaccines will be available?

Two vaccines have now received emergency use authorization from the FDA for their COVID-19 vaccines. On Friday, December 12, the FDA issued its authorization for individuals age 16 and older for the Pfizer vaccine, and on Friday, December 18, the vaccine produced by Moderna was approved by the FDA as well. Visit the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine page on the FDA website for more information about the Pfizer vaccine.

In addition, several other coronavirus vaccines are expected to be approved in the coming months. All vaccines approved for emergency use will have been reviewed for safety and effectiveness.

Michigan Medicines COVID-19 Vaccine & Therapeutics Task Force has identified the first groups to be vaccinated based on guidance from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). MDHHS follows Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations based on input from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a CDC advisory committee made up of medical and public health experts who develop recommendations on the use of vaccines in the United States.

The CDC and ACIP have defined populations for different vaccination phases:

The vaccine will be available to patients when supply substantially increases in 2021, possibly in late spring.See the chart above for the general phases of vaccine distribution.

The most efficient, convenient way for a Michigan Medicine patient to be notified when you are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine is through our MyUofMHealth patient portal.

Based on information in your electronic medical record, you will receive a notification through the portal when you are eligible to receive the vaccine, and will be able to self-schedule your vaccine appointment directly through the portal.

Check your MyUofMHealth patient portal account now to be sure your email address is up to date and you are able to log in successfully. If you do not have an account, set one up today.

Patients who do not have active MyUofMHealth patient portal accounts will be contacted directly when they are eligible to receive the vaccine, but it is highly recommended that you set up a portal account for the most efficient, convenient way to be notified and schedule your appointment.

It is expected that pharmacies and local health departments will also begin offering the vaccine as supply is increased and the general public becomes eligible to receive the vaccine. We will update this page to help you understand your options for receiving the vaccine as more information becomes available.

Yes, the goal is to administer the initially limited supply of vaccines to those most at risk, following CDC guidelines for a phased rollout.

According to CDC, vaccination should be offered regardless of history of prior symptomatic or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. Data from phase 2/3 clinical trials suggest vaccination is safe and likely efficacious in these people.

Current evidence suggests that people who have had COVID-19 may be protected for up to 90 days after their initial infection, so they may decide to wait until after this period, if desired.

Go to your study team coordinator with any questions you have about your eligibility to receive the COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available.

Each vaccine uses a slightly different approach with the same goal: to induce an immune response in the body against SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna are both mRNA vaccines.

This type of vaccine operates somewhat differently than other types, like the seasonal flu vaccine. mRNA vaccines contain a message from the virus that causes COVID-19 and gives our cells instructions for how to make a harmless protein 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 immune cells that will remember how to fight the virus that causes COVID-19 if we are infected in the future.

Most of the vaccines will require two shots, with the second shot received 21 to 28 days after the first, depending on the vaccine.

The Pfizer vaccine contains:

Side effects that have been reported with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine include:

More people experienced these side effects after the second dose than the first one. For more information, visit the FDA website's Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine page.

Producing a vaccine against COVID-19 has been the top priority of scientists and governments around the world to help bring an end to the pandemic. With the coordinated and enormous investment of resources, development of these vaccines has been accelerated, all while maintaining standards for safety and efficacy.

Rather than eliminating steps from traditional vaccine development timelines, steps are proceeding simultaneously, such as scaling up manufacturing while safety and efficacy data are collected.

Before receiving approval for emergency use, pharmaceutical companies must provide evidence that their vaccines are safe. A team of experts from the FDA, CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and other agencies reviewed all available data on safety and efficacy before recommending them for use.

Pregnant women and women trying to conceive were not included in the first round of clinical trials for the COVID-19 vaccines, so no safety data is currently available for these groups.

However, CDC recommends that pregnant women consider their personal risk of contracting COVID-19 by occupation or other activities, risk of COVID-19 to her and her pregnancy, efficacy of the vaccine, and known side effects of the vaccine when deciding whether to be vaccinated. Pregnant women and women trying to conceive should have a discussion with their healthcare provider about risks and benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Health care professionals and researchers are still learning about COVID-19 and new information is discovered nearly every day that is helpful in the fight against this disease. Because COVID-19 is still a relatively new virus, it is difficult to know exactly how the virus affects the body long-term and how long immunity from natural infection lasts.

Therefore, it is also difficult to predict how long a vaccine will provide protection against the virus. As the vaccines are administered and new information is gathered, additional data about how long it will protect against the virus will be made available.

This is not known at this time. Scientists are continuing to collect data about long-term immunity to SARS-CoV2.

Based on our experience with other vaccines and early data from the COVID-19 vaccines, it is likely that people who are vaccinated will have enough immunity where they will not pass the virus to others if exposed, but this is not 100 percent certain.

Yes.While experts learn moreabout theprotectionthatCOVID-19 vaccines provide under real-life conditions, it will be importantforeveryoneto continue usingall the toolsavailable to us tohelpstop this pandemic, like covering your mouth and nose with a mask, washing hands often, and staying at least 6 feet away from others.Together, COVID-19 vaccination and following CDCs recommendations forhow to protect yourself and otherswill offer the best protection from getting and spreading COVID-19.

There is still more to learn about the protection that COVID-19 vaccines provide before deciding to change recommendations on steps everyone should take to slow the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. Other factors, including how many people get vaccinated and how the virus is spreading in communities, will also affect this decision.

See the article here:

COVID-19 Vaccine Information and Update - University of Michigan Health System News