A message from Dr. Liu, Imperial Medical Director

Hi I’m Dr David Liu,

I’m here to speak to you about the coronavirus vaccine.

Getting vaccinated protects both you and others.  While the vaccines don’t protect against getting infected or a mild case, they do protect about serious cases and death.  This protection is important for people who aren’t vaccinated, and for getting the pandemic under control.  Although it may be that we never completely eradicate the virus, we can hopefully reduce it to the level of the flu or a common cold, depending on the combination of people who were infected and people who get vaccinated.

SARS-CoV-2, or the novel coronavirus, causes the disease COVID-19.  This disease has caused over 400,000 deaths in the US as of February 2021, and infected 27.4 million people.  Worldwide, more than 2.3 million people have died, and 107 million have been infected.

• Everyone needs to be vaccinated because that is the only way that we can get to herd immunity, and to some sort of normalcy.
• The most common side effects from the corona virus vaccine are muscle aches and tiredness.
• Some people are concerned that getting a coronavirus vaccine will alter their DNA. The vaccines cannot do this.
• The vaccine is not a live coronavirus so that you can’t get COVID-19 infection from the vaccine.
• Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should ask their obstetrician.
• Some people are worried that the vaccines were rushed, and not given enough time for testing for whether they work and potential side effects. Although the processes for the emergency use approval and production were records for vaccines, the actual testing protocol, from stages one through three, was not rushed. Enough time was given to each stage to ensure that the vaccine was safe and works. Also, there was no successful political involvement in the approval process.

For more questions, please contact your primary care provider.

Thank you.