January 25, 2021 - Healthy Living
The Benefits of Getting Vaccinated
It’s important to take a moment and review COVID vaccine benefits for you, your loved ones, and the world around you. While more COVID-19 vaccines are being developed as quickly as possible, routine processes and procedures remain in place to ensure the safety of any vaccine that is authorized or approved for use. Safety is a top priority, and there are many reasons to get vaccinated. It starts with understanding exactly what a vaccine is.
A vaccine is something that helps a person build up immunity to an infectious disease. It works by intentionally introducing the body to an inactive form of a disease-causing germ, or something similar to it. This then stimulates the immune system’s production of antibodies, the proteins that help to protect the person from a future infection if he or she ever comes across the real germ.
It has been described this way: think of it like a workout for your immune system: You’re sending it to the gym and preparing it to be able to do something when it encounters the real thing in the future. The vaccine is teaching the immune system how to handle something before you actually encounter the real thing. COVID-19 vaccination will help protect you by creating an antibody (immune system) response without having to experience sickness.
COVID-vaccine benefits include protecting yourself. The CDC reassures us that All COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States have been shown to be highly effective at preventing COVID-19. In addition, all COVID-19 vaccines that are in development are being carefully evaluated in clinical trials and will be authorized or approved only if they make it substantially less likely you’ll get COVID-19. Based on what infectious disease specialists know about vaccines for other diseases and early data from clinical trials, experts believe that getting a COVID-19 vaccine may also help keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID-19.
Protecting others is one of the most important COVID vaccine benefits. COVID-19 can have serious, life-threatening complications, and there is no way to know how COVID-19 will affect you. And if you get sick, you could spread the disease to friends, family, and others around you. Experts continue to conduct more studies about the effect of COVID-19 vaccination on severity of illness from COVID-19, as well as its ability to keep people from spreading the virus that causes COVID-19.
Getting COVID-19 may offer some natural protection, known as immunity. Current evidence suggests that reinfection with the virus that causes COVID-19 is uncommon in the 90 days after initial infection. However, experts don’t know for sure how long this protection lasts, and the risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19 far outweighs any benefits of natural immunity. COVID-19 vaccination will help protect you by creating an antibody (immune system) response without having to experience sickness.
Helping to stop the pandemic is another of the important COVID vaccine benefits. Stopping a pandemic requires using all the tools we have available. Wearing masks and social distancing help reduce your chance of being exposed to the virus or spreading it to others, but these measures are not enough. Vaccines will work with your immune system so it will be ready to fight the virus if you are exposed.
As experts learn more about how COVID-19 vaccination may help reduce spread of the disease in communities, the CDC and other world health organizations will continue to update the recommendations to protect communities using the latest science. Knowing that COVID vaccine benefits including playing a role in ending the pandemic reinforces the importance of receiving the vaccine
The Gables of Brighton Vaccination Plan
The health and well-being of our residents, staff and their families is always our first concern at Peregrine Senior Living. A plan for rollout of vaccinations is underway, which involves finalizing a partnership with CVS Pharmacy to arrange clinics at our communities for residents to receive the vaccination. Click here to learn how you can be among the first to receive the vaccine →
