Now is a great opportunity to take a moment to share our view on why we think you should go get vaccinated for COVID-19 as soon as you are eligible to do so.  New vaccines created by pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Pfizer were recently approved and certified as safe by the FDA, and are being distributed on an accelerated schedule in an effort to protect our community against COVID-19. Given the urgency at developing and distributing these vaccines, as well as more recent movements against immunizations generally, it is understandable that confusion and uncertainty exist around the decision to vaccinate against this disease. 

Let’s take a look at what we do know.  The COVID-19 virus is still raging throughout the United States, with 21.7 million cases and 365,000 deaths as of the time of this writing and life as we all knew it prior to COVID-19 has been profoundly impacted. Regardless of any one individual’s risk profile, many members of our community remain at high risk for developing serious complications associated with COVID-19. There is solid evidence demonstrating that even those with a mild response to the virus may still never regain their sense of taste and smell, or are at risk for other long-term effects. 

We recognize that there are concerns centering on the speed at which these vaccines were developed. Although these vaccines were expedited on a scale at which we previously thought would be unachievable, this was the result of a global, cohesive effort to share critical discoveries about this disease since it was first identified. The fact that these vaccines were able to be developed so rapidly does not mean that they were not subject to a thorough and rigorous testing regimen that is required for approval.  Each of the approved vaccines had to make it through Phase I, Phase II and Phase III clinical trials with each phase including more volunteers. For example, the Pfizer vaccine had 43,661 volunteers in its Phase III trial.  As a reference, that is approximately the capacity of Safeco field.  If you account for Moderna as well, that’s another Safeco Field worth of population.  Since that time, as of the writing of this article, over 6 million doses of these vaccines have been administered.   Despite the millions of doses that have been administered, there really haven’t been any serious reactions that have taken place that can be definitively attributed to the vaccine. 

It is true there have been reports of serious “reactions”, on the scale of a few hundred cases, among millions of doses administered. These side effects are likely unrelated and/or due to underlying health conditions. If you have concerns that the vaccines are in fact causing some serious complications, the chance of this is extremely low. Let’s say there has been 400 (which is a high estimate) serious “reactions” that may or may not be attributed to the vaccine.  If you accept all of these cases, this would be roughly 0.0067% of all of the doses administered.  In other words, roughly 7 cases per 100,000 people.

The most common side effect that can surely be attributed to the vaccines, as is the case with most vaccines, is an allergic reaction to the propylene glycol that the vaccine floats in.  Propylene glycol is the name for the chemical the exists in many processed foods as an additive, so it’s only natural that a minority of people might have an allergy to this particular chemical.  Even though this reaction is rare, completely treatable and appears within 15-30 minutes after vaccination, to be safe, vaccine clinics are having you wait 15-30 minutes after administering the first dose to ensure that you will be treated were you to have a reaction.

To me, the vaccine represents light at the end of this COVID-19 tunnel that has upended life as we previously knew it.  I take solace in the numbers of those that have gone before me and I am aware that within the six million other recipients, there are a number of people with a very similar physical and medical appraisal as myself that are doing just fine and are able to protect themselves and those around them.  I am extraordinarily grateful to receive the vaccine to better protect my patients as a community health provider. I look forward to spending time with my family again in the near future as they anxiously await their turn to be vaccinated.  I will be able to travel more freely and responsibly as our communities across the country recover.  I feel strongly that it’s both the most reasonable, as well as socially responsible, decision one can make to help us move forward from this pandemic.  Please, go do your part and get vaccinated when you can.

We here at Cascadia Dentistry wish you all a very healthy and happy 2021 and look forward to seeing you soon.

Best regards,

David Adams, DDS