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Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe? Medical Reporter Lorie Johnson Weighs In

Is the COVID-19 vaccine safe? Medical Reporter Lorie Johnson Weighs In Read Transcript


(upbeat music)

- Well, the Food and Drug Administration's

Advisory Committee is meeting today

to decide whether Americans

can begin getting Pfizer's vaccine shot.

- But will it be in time to slow the surge

and to save cripple businesses?

Charlene Aaron has more.

- Across the nation, new cases are soaring

and states are imposing newrestrictions to stop the spread.

In California, the numberof hospitalizations

is around 10,000.

- We're running out of space,we're running out of supplies

and we have a shortage of providers.

- [Charlene] New stay at home orders

ban indoor and outdoordining at restaurants,

and impose restrictionson social get togethers.

Businesses are struggling to survive,

especially during the holiday season.

- This is the busiest timeof the year for restaurants.

And generally speaking, Iwould say a lot of people

would normally getting togetheror having holiday parties.

So we've lost all of ourprivate party business,

we've lost all catering businesses.

- [Charlene] Tuesday, a California judge

ruled the ban on outdoordining is arbitrary,

but the three week lockdown down order

still prevents restaurants from opening.

California churches are pushing back

against prohibitions on indoor services.

Attorney Matt Staver, theFounder of Liberty Council,

is arguing a case on behalfof Harvest Rock Church

in Pasadena, California.

- These restrictions ofno worship that cover

99% of California, actually goas far back as July the 13th.

And the no worship also includes,

no worship in your home orBible study in your home

with anyone who doesn't live there.

- [Charlene] On the vaccine front,

the FDA now releasing itsanalysis data from Pfizer,

showing the vaccines impact in trials.

The blue line represents peoplewho received the vaccine.

The red line is those who had a placebo.

Of those given a placebo, 162people contracted the virus,

but only eight people who gotthe vaccine were infected.

At his Vaccine Summit atthe White House Tuesday,

President Trump signed an executive order,

giving Americans first priority

for US-made COVID 19 vaccines.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden isoutlining steps he would take

to control the virusin his first 100 days.

- At least 100 million COVID vaccine shots

into the arms of the American people

in the first a hundred days.

A hundred million shotsin the first hundred days.

- He's also pledging to signan order requiring masks

in all federal buildings.

He's also aiming to see most schools

in the country open again.

Charlene Aaron, CBN News.

- Well, CBN MedicalReporter, Lorie Johnson,

joins us with more onall things COVID related.

And Lorie, tell us about this vaccine,

are there any side effects to it?

- Yes there are some side effects Gordon,

but they're temporary andthey're relatively minor.

What do I mean by that?

I'm talking about painat the injection site,

so your muscle mighthurt for a little while,

maybe a day, two, three days.

Fatigue, fever, general achiness.

These have been detectedin about 10 to 15%

of the people in the trials.

So not everyone will have them,

in fact, a small proportion will get them.

But again, they're temporary,

they won't last but afew days at the most.

And this is a very natural response,

this is a very normal, good response,

because it shows that your body

is mounting an immune defense.

- Well, as I understandit, you need two shots.

So if you have the reaction,

is that going to deter youfrom getting the second one?

- Well this is why it'simportant to point out

that people might behaving these responses.

And so, yes, the concern amongsome health professionals

is that people will getthe first shot and think,

"Wow, I did not like that,

I'm not going back for my second one."

That's very concerningbecause we need both shots.

So it's important toadvise people ahead of time

that they might have these difficulties,

and point out that theseside effects are only rare,

and if they do occur,it's a lot less worse

than what you're gonna feel

if you get the coronavirus, right?

- Yeah, well, that's true.

I've been warned in lookingat vaccines for shingles.

Every year I get a flu vaccine

and the warning comes with that.

Are these greater than what you can expect

from a flu vaccine orfrom a shingles vaccine?

- I'm glad you point itout, and kudos to you

for getting both the flu vaccineand the shingles vaccine,

you and I are on the same team.

I get my flu shot every single year

and I also got my shingles vaccines.

And actually, this is avery similar comparison,

the COVID vaccine to the shingles vaccine,

there are two shots andI was told ahead of time,

this is gonna probably hurt and it did.

I couldn't even sleepon this side of my body

for the first three days afterI got my shingles vaccine,

and I did feel like Iwas almost getting sick,

and then of course it went away

and I definitely went back and got it.

And if you've ever knownanyone who's had shingles,

it's excrutiatingly painful,

it's an attack on the nervous system.

So I was happy to havethese mild side effects

compared to ever getting shingles.

Now, as far as the flu vaccine,

that's kind of a walk in the park,

a lot of people don't even feel it.

- Well, if someone has had COVID,

do they need to get the vaccine

or are they immune to the disease?

- Well, we definitely know that people

who have recovered from COVID are immune,

but the question is for how long?

We know at a minimum,it's a number of months.

So if you recovered from COVID-19

within the last few months,it might be a nice idea

to get the back of theline when it comes time

to get a vaccine so that someoneelse can have their chance.

However, if you gotCOVID way back in March,

you might seriously thinkabout getting vaccinated now,

because Gordon, we just don'tknow how long immunity lasts.

There's every reason to believe

that it might last for a year or two,

because the good news isthat the COVID-19 virus

does not seem to mutate that much,

which is what we see with the flu virus.

- Well that was the concern,and certainly a concern I had

at the start of this, that it was related

to rhinoviruses, the cold virus,

and therefore was mutatingall over the place,

and there would neverbe an effective vaccine.

Are you saying that we need to line up

for our COVID vaccine, justlike we do the flu vaccine

every single year?

- No, as a matter of fact,

the health experts don't know this yet.

But right now the earlyindications are that this COVID-19

vaccine might be effectivefor a long period of time,

perhaps even longer than a year,

but it's a little bit too soon to say,

but there's every reason to hope.

- We've got some viewer questions.

This one comes in from David on Facebook.

"What is in it and is it healthy for us?

- Great questions, David,there are two of them.

What's in it and is it healthy?

Is it healthy?

Well, it's going to prevent death,

so I think that qualifiesas being healthy.

What's in it?

So remember we're talking aboutnot just one COVID vaccine,

probably next year, we're going to see six

COVID vaccines that are approvedand they're all different,

which means there are differentingredients in each of them.

So let's talk about the one

that's probably going to be approved today

and maybe given to peoplein America next week,

which is the Pfizer vaccine.

It's a messenger R andA vaccine, which means,

it contains synthetic, genetic material,

that causes our own bodies to produce

that spike protein thatyou see on the COVID virus,

and then our body mountsan immune response to that.

It produces antibodiesto fight against it,

that's what's in it.

Now, here's what's not in it,

nothing that's aliveor has ever been alive.

So no live virus, no virus that was alive

and has been deactivatedand no protein from a virus

that has been deactivatedand also no material

that has ever beenassociated with an abortion.

- Well, here's anotherquestion from Instagram,

"Is it dangerous for peoplewith low immune systems?"

- Actually quite the opposite.

It's very highly recommended for people

who don't have a verystrong immune response,

because if you have astrong immune response,

like people who are young and healthy,

they can fight off the viruson their own in many cases.

But you need this extrahelp from the vaccine,

to help you with your immune response.

Now, having said that,people who have extremely low

immune systems, weak immune systems,

may still get COVID-19, buthere's the great news Gordon,

this vaccine is 100% effectiveagainst severe COVID-19.

Which means you might still get COVID-19,

but you won't die from it.

You won't have a severe reaction to it.

And this is what we seewith the flu vaccine too.

That a lot of timespeople get a flu vaccine

and then they get the flu,

but they have a less severe case of it.

So what that means is yourbody is still mounting

an immune response to it,but not producing enough

of those antibodies to actuallykeep you from getting it,

but enough to keep you fromdying from it, that's important.

- Okay, we had a poll,it was on Instagram,

so by definition, it's not scientific.

And we asked people, wouldthey take the COVID vaccine?

And as you can see here,80% said, "No way."

Most viewers said they were concerned

with how quickly the vaccine was made,

and there hasn't been enough testing.

What do you say to that?

- So 20% of those people saidthey do trust the vaccine,

let's focus on the positive.

A more reliable polls, I'mglad you pointed that out,

like a Gallup poll said,about 60% of people

trust the vaccine.

I've done my own polling Gordon,

it's also not very scientific,

I ask doctors all thetime, I talk to doctors

and healthcare professionals all the time,

and every time I do,

I ask them what they think of the vaccine.

And I can tell you 100% of the people

I've talked to trust it.

And so I would say to all ofthe viewers watching right now,

if you have concerns about the vaccine,

talk to somebody with a medical degree,

somebody who knows themost about the vaccine,

who is best able to talk aboutthe facts of the vaccine.

So call your general practitioner,

your primary care physician

and talk to them aboutyour concerns about it.

Also Gordon, you mayremember one week ago today,

I was part of a webinar,a seminar that was online,

that was headlined by Dr. Francis Collins,

who's a strong Christian andalso the Head of the NIH,

and Russell Moore,

who's with the SouthernBaptist Convention.

And that entire seminarwas about the vaccine

and it is on our website, CBNNEWS.com.

And they do address the factthat some people are concerned

about the rapidity, howfast it was manufactured.

No safety corners were cut,but other corners were cut,

as far as taking risks financially.

They made the vaccine in huge quantities

before they even finished testing it,

so that when it received approval,

then it would be ready to ship out.

Things like that made it fast.

- Well, Lorie, thanks for being with us.

You can always get thelatest update on the vaccine,

COVID and all the latest news,

by downloading the CBN News Channel app.

It's available for a lotof different devices.

You can watch a 24 hournews channel on your TV,

on Apple TV, Roku.

But you can also get it foryour smartphone and tablet

and get alerts on a regular basis

of what's happening in the world today.

Find Peace with God

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