Healthy Living: COVID-19 vaccine frequently asked questions

As distribution begins for both the Pfizer and Moderna coronavirus vaccines, Oregon Medical Group is one of many healthcare organizations working to educate patients and inspire confidence.

Healthy living until members of the general public can get the covid-19 vaccine.

In the meantime, experts are getting ready to educate patients about the shot and inspire confidence.

Chris lueneburg shows us how in today's healthy living, sponsored by oregon medical group.

"at this point, there's a lot of information that we do know about the pfizer and moderna covid-19 vaccines... but as the rollout get's underway, oregon medical group says it's getting lots of questions from patients who want to feel confident when it's their turn to get the shot."

Clinical pharmacist natalie gillespie is part of the group's effort to collect frequently asked covid-19 vaccine questions from patients and providers.

"the first couple of days we had over 20 questions, so people are using that forum and are interested."

Here are some of the top questions people are asking: first... have there been alergic reactions?

Gillespie says a high percentage of vaccine recipients experience simple redness and pain at the injection site for a couple of days at most.

"we like to say that it kind of shows that it's working.

Your body is building that it immune response."

Headaches or muscle sorness are less next-- if you have a history of severe allergic reactions, should you take the vaccine?

There have been some reports of anaphylaxis after taking the pfizer vaccine... but gillespie says the fda guidance is that you should still get the shot even if you have severe allergies... "most patients we will monitor for 15 minutes after the vaccine.

For patients with a history of allergy, we will increase the monitoring to 30 minutes."

Another big question-- are there any ingredients inside the vaccine you have to worry about?

"any time we have vaccines, there's always quite a few questions about, 'does it have latex?

I have a latex allergy.

Does it contain preservatives?"

Gillespie says neither vaccine contains preservatives, and the vial stoppers are not latex.

Lastly... can patients who have been putting off vaccines get them at the same time as the covid-19 shot?

The short answer-- no.

The covid-19 vaccine should be taken alone and not within 14 days of a different shot.

"they can't be given the same day just because we don't have enough data yet."

Overall, gillespie sees these questions as a signal that oregonians are ready for the vaccine.

"there's a lot of excitement.

Some hesitancy, but we can work through some of those concerns."

Oregon medical clinic still hasn't recieved vaccines for their workers but expects to after hospitals and other higher risk medical settings.

It's still not clear when oha will open vaccines up to which parts of the general public.

In the studio, chris