Minneapolis offering free COVID-19, flu vaccinations in February Star Tribune
Melanie Swift, M.D., COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation and Distribution, Mayo Clinic: When we get vaccinated, we often experience some side effects and the reason that we get side effects is that our immune system is revving up and reacting. Now when you get sick, the same thing happens and actually a lot of the symptoms from illnesses that we get like influenza and COVID, are actually caused not by the direct action of the virus, by our immune system, so our bodies react and that gives us these general symptoms like fever, achiness, headache.
When you take two doses of vaccine, the first vaccine is the first time for your body to see this particular protein, the spike protein that the vaccines produce and your body begins to develop an immune response. The second vaccine dose goes into your body, start to make that spike protein and your antibodies jump on it and rev up and your immune system responds.
The vaccine side effects that we've seen resolve within about 72 hours of taking the vaccine. At the most, those side effects can last up to a week. And we really have not seen long-term side effects from the vaccine beyond that. It is so important to get this vaccine when it's offered to you, even if you're healthy, even if you might not be at risk for complications from COVID yourself. You could catch it and transmit it to other people who are and our society really needs everyone to be vaccinated so that we can stop transmission.
Vaccine has an open access companion journal titled Vaccine: X.
Vaccine is unique in publishing the highest quality science across all disciplines relevant to the field of vaccinology - all original article submissions across basic and clinical research, vaccine manufacturing, history, public policy, behavioral science and ethics, social sciences, safety, and many other related areas are welcomed. The submission categories as given in the Guide for Authors indicate where we receive the most papers. Papers outside these major areas are also welcome and authors are encouraged to contact us with specific questions. We also invite authors to submit relevant basic science and clinical reviews, methodological articles, opinion and commentary pieces, visual pieces, and letters. Authors are required to consult the Guide for Authors as the submission guidelines are dynamic and therefore subject to change.
The Editors retain the right to desk reject submissions without peer review when it is clear that the Guide for Authors and the submission categories have not been consulted.
Vaccine has an open access companion journal titled Vaccine: X.
Vaccine is unique in publishing the highest quality science across all disciplines relevant to the field of vaccinology - all original article submissions across basic and clinical research, vaccine manufacturing, history, public
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What are the different types of flu vaccines?
Flu vaccines are routinely available for seasonal influenza. Pandemic vaccines may also be developed for specific strains of the flu virus that cause widespread disease, such as occurred with the H1N1 virus in 2009.
Each year, composition of the influenza viruses changes, making the vaccine used in previous years ineffective. Each year, a new vaccine must be prepared that will be effective against the types of influenza virus that are expected to circulate in the upcoming influenza season. These are known as seasonal flu vaccines. The reason for the differences in circulating strains of the flu virus is that the virus can mutate (or change its structure) rapidly, leading to new subtypes of the virus. The key is to be able to predict which influenza viruses are going to cause infection and to prepare a vaccine against those viruses. Usually, scientists can predict accurately which types of influenza virus will cause infections and prepare an appropriate vaccine. Typically, the viruses used to prepare flu vaccine are grown in eggs, but a newer, egg-free version of the vaccine has been developed. In 2017, updated guidelines from the Influenza Vaccine and Egg Allergy Practice Parameter Workgroup commissioned by the Joint Task Force on Practice Parameters (JTFPP) stated that the risk is so small that even asking patients about egg allergy is no longer necessary. Health care professionals can now safely administer flu vaccines to people who are allergic to eggs. Flu viruses may also be made using recombinant technology that does not involve growing the actual flu virus in eggs.
The vaccine is generally effective against the influenza virus within two weeks of administration. The vaccine is only effective against the strains of the virus that match the vaccine. These strains vary from flu season to flu season each year. This is the reason that revaccination is required annually with the vaccine that matches the strains of influenza that are currently prevalent.
Flu vaccine is an inactivated vaccine, meaning that it contains killed influenza virus, or a recombinant vaccine, meaning that it was made without using virus particles at all. Health care providers inject the vaccine into muscles or skin, stimulating the immune system to produce an immune response (antibodies) to the influenza virus.
Medical professionals administer the "flu shot" vaccine as a single dose of liquid injected through the skin into muscle (intramuscular or IM). Typically, health care professionals inject the flu vaccine into the deltoid muscle at the side of the arm, using alcohol rubbed over the skin for sterilization. Health care professionals administer the vaccine annually, each fall. Side effects of the flu vaccine are uncommon.
Two types of vaccines are available: a trivalent vaccine that targets three strains of flu virus, as well as a quadrivalent vaccine that targets four strains. Both the trivalent and quadrivalent vaccines are available as an intramuscular injection. Special vaccines preparations are available for people over 65 years of age that produce a stronger immune response.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the use of injectable influenza vaccines (either trivalent or quadrivalent, including inactivated influenza vaccines and recombinant influenza vaccines) or the nasal spray vaccine for the influenza season of 2019-20.
The nasal-spray flu vaccine (sometimes called LAIV for live attenuated influenza vaccine, brand name FluMist) was first licensed in 2003. It is directed against the same strains of virus as the flu shot but differs in that it contains weakened live influenza viruses instead of killed viruses and is administered by nasal spray instead of injection. The vaccine is termed an attenuated vaccine because the vaccine viruses are weakened so that they themselves do not cause severe flu symptoms. The nasal spray flu vaccine is approved for use in non-pregnant individuals 2-49 years old. It should not be used for people with certain underlying medical conditions. All LAIV are quadrivalent (four-component).
The live viruses in the nasal-spray vaccine are weakened so that they do not cause severe symptoms. However, mild symptoms can occur as a side effect of the vaccination. Side effects of the nasal-spray flu vaccine can includedrunny nose, headache, sore throat, and cough. Children who receive the vaccine may also develop mild fever and muscle aches.
