Page 5 - HealthcareNews Jan_Feb 2021

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 WWW.HEALTHCARENEWS.COM 5
Amy Hamel administers the vaccine to Nick Hebert at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.
maybe you’ll feel comfortable tomorrow,” said Lindsey Tucker, associate commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH). “We want to be sure that, when you’re eligible for the vaccine, you can access it when you’re ready for it.”
Tucker said those words during a webinar held earlier this month by the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, which also featured input from state Sen. Eric Lesser and Dr. Sarah Haessler, lead epidemiologist and infectious-disease specialist at Baystate Health, who has emerged as a leading
“We recognize it’s a journey, and folks might not feel comfortable with it today, but maybe you’ll feel comfortable tomorrow. We want to be sure that, when you’re eligible for the vaccine, you can access it when you’re ready for it.”
local voice in public information around COVID-19.
Haessler detailed the amount of data that emerged from clinical trials for
the vaccines, and noted that the FDA will approve one only if the expected benefits outweigh potential risks.
“The FDA reviewed all the data — it’s pages and pages and pages of data — around every single thing they did in these clinical trials to be sure of the safety and efficacy of the vaccination,” she said, noting that multiple mecha- nisms are currently in place to track instances of side effects.
While significant side effects are rare — anaphylaxis is one, which is why individuals receiving the shots must remain at the vaccination site for 15
to 30 minutes — most people experience nothing more than arm soreness, fever, chills, tiredness, and headache; most symptoms fade after a day or two, although they last longer in rare cases. Many people feel no effects at all.
“It’s certainly a lot safer to get the vaccine knowing there are just minor side effects than to take your chances getting infected with COVID-19,” Haessler added. “The more people we vaccinate, the closer we get to herd immunity, and the closer we get to going back to life, where we can see our family and friends and return to pre-pandemic activity.”
The Next Phase
After prioritizing specific groups of people in phase 1 of the vaccination
Please see Vaccines, page 7