Photo: WDIO-TV

By Emily Ness of WDIO-TV - March 11, 2021

As the largest vaccination effort in American history continues, Northland medical experts are weighing in on commonly asked questions.

On Thursday, they gave a virtual presentation about COVID-19 vaccines and invited the public to ask them questions.

One of the first questions to be asked was whether or not one of the three COVID-19 vaccines was better than the others? To this, medical exerts said that two shots—offered by both Pfizer and Moderna—are not necessarily better than one.

Instead, they said any protection is better than no protection. Therefore, people should not turn down an available dose of any of the three shots.

“Vaccines main role is to help our bodies produce these antibodies that will basically act as a surveillance system to keep us protected from having things infect us,” Dr. Glenn Simmons Jr., professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Minnesota’s Medical school in Duluth said.

Another question to be asked was whether people should be concerned about long term effects of the COVID-19 vaccine?

To this, medical exerts said they are still gathering data, so it is hard to say. However, they noted that we still don't know the long term effects of the disease itself and so far, they say any possible symptoms caused by the vaccine appear to be far less severe than symptoms caused by COVID-19.

“Vaccines as a whole are a very ancient technology, Simmons said. “They are based on the idea of introducing very small amounts of things that are potentially dangerous and then allowing our bodies the chance to learn how to fight them.”

Next, was: Should people who have had COVID-19 still get vaccinated?

To that, medical experts said yes, absolutely because there are new variants of the disease circulating and unfortunately, people who have had it can catch it again.

Another question was whether those who have been vaccinated can see others who have not?

Medical experts said it is not recommended because there is still chance of transmitting the virus.

At large, the medical experts said all three COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. More information about the vaccines can be found here.

To see the original story and read related reporting, follow this link to the WDIO-TV website.  https://www.wdio.com/duluth-minnesota-news/northland-medical-professionals-answer-commonly-asked-que...