It’s not too late to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

If you haven’t chosen to get your COVID-19 vaccine yet, there’s still time to do so. Local clinics and pharmacies have vaccine doses available to immunize patients 12 years of age and older.

Vaccines work. Safely. Growing scientific evidence shows the vaccine effectively reduces hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19. What’s more, the vaccines are safe. In order to receive Emergency Use Authorization, all vaccines were carefully tested through clinical trials. Plus, the FDA and CDC continuously monitor the vaccine for any adverse effects that arise. 

Vaccine benefits outweigh risks. While you may experience some mild side effects for a couple of days after a vaccine injection, it beats being sick with COVID-19 for 10 to 14 days or more. In addition, once you’re fully vaccinated, you can start to do things you miss—like safely hug, shake hands and have close contact with other people who are also fully vaccinated; travel domestically without testing for COVID or quarantining after returning home; and no longer needing to quarantine if you have close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19. 

Vaccine mRNA technology has been around for 20 years. Research on mRNA technology, like that used in the COVID-19 vaccine, started in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania discovered how to effectively introduce mRNA to the immune system. Human trials of cancer vaccines using mRNA have been taking place since 2011. What’s more, mRNA vaccines do not alter your DNA nor do they cause you to become sick with COVID-19. In fact, because mRNA technology can be deployed so quickly and clinical trials have been so successful, we’ll likely see new mRNA vaccines in the future.

Make the right choice for your health. Get vaccinated. Learn how at brookingshealth.org/Vaccine.