Medical and public health experts, including the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommend that children and adolescents age 5 and older get a COVID-19 vaccine to help protect them from contracting and spreading the virus.

The vaccine is the best way to protect children from becoming severely ill or having long-lasting health impacts due to COVID-19. COVID-19 has become one of the top 10 causes of pediatric death, and tens of thousands of children and teens have been hospitalized with COVID-19. While children and adolescents are typically at lower risk than adults of becoming severely ill or hospitalized from COVID-19, it is still possible.

Another important reason for children to get the COVID-19 vaccine is to protect their friends, family, and the broader community from the spread of the virus. As vaccination rates increase, the lower the chances that the coronavirus will mutate into dangerous variants.

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Yes. Keeping children safe and healthy is top of mind for parents, and scientists have worked to ensure the vaccine is safe for children ages 5-17. Before being authorized for children, scientists and medical experts completed their review of safety and effectiveness data from clinical trials of thousands of children. The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was rigorously tested and reviewed, and more than 11 million adolescents ages 12-17 have already received the COVID-19 vaccine. As of November 2, the Pfizer vaccine is also authorized for children ages 5-11.

Data from trials will continue to be collected for two years after each vaccine is first administered to ensure that they are safe for the long term. As with all vaccines, there will be ongoing monitoring among people who are vaccinated.

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Side effects to the COVID-19 vaccines are typically mild and subside in one to two days — like soreness in the arm, fatigue, headaches, or a slight fever. The risk of a child having a serious adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine is very low. One rare complication that has been linked to the COVID-19 vaccine is myocarditis (inflammation of the heart), and data demonstrate a higher risk for such inflammation among younger males. However, reports of these complications are rare. The risk of developing myocarditis after a COVID-19 infection is much higher than the risk of developing myocarditis after the vaccine. If you have questions about how to protect your children from COVID-19, about the vaccines, or about myocarditis, speak to your health care provider or pediatrician.

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There is no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, can cause female or male fertility problems. There is no evidence that vaccine ingredients or antibodies developed following COVID-19 vaccination will cause any problems with becoming pregnant in the future. Similarly, there is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine affects puberty.

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Millions of people in the United States have now safely received the COVID-19 vaccines and these vaccines have undergone the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history. Over 90% of doctors offered the vaccine have gotten it as soon as they could. At Chapa-De over 200 of our employees have been vaccinated.

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You cannot get COVID-19 from any of the vaccines. They do not have a live virus or other infectious material in them.

COVID-19 vaccination will help protect you from getting sick with COVID-19. After getting a vaccine, you may have some side effects such as a slight fever, headache, nausea, or tiredness. These are normal signs that your body is building protection. These should go away in a day or two.

Some people do not develop side effects at all. This doesn't mean that the vaccine isn't working. In clinical trials, a little more than half of the participants didn’t have any side effects but they were still more than 90 percent protected after receiving the vaccine.

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Serious side effects that would cause a long-term health problem are extremely unlikely following COVID-19 vaccination. Long-term side effects following any vaccination are extremely rare. Vaccine monitoring has historically shown that if side effects are going to happen, they generally happen within six weeks of receiving a vaccine dose. For this reason, the Food and Drug Administration required each of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines to be studied for at least two months (eight weeks) after the final dose. Millions of people have received COVID-19 vaccines, and no long-term side effects have been detected.

Getting infected with COVID-19 is much more likely to cause you long-term problems. Studies show that many COVID-19 survivors, even those who had mild cases that did not require hospitalization, continue to experience a variety of health problems long after the initial infection resolves.

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COVID-19 is by far the more dangerous option. Although people who are older, obese or have other health problems are at highest risk for complications from COVID-19, younger people can become severely ill, too. And as many as one in three people who recover from COVID have chronic complaints, including exhaustion, a racing heart and worse months afterward. Some people who develop long COVID-19 had minimal or no symptoms upon initial infection. COVID vaccines, in contrast, carry little known risk.

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The COVID-19 vaccines were thoroughly tested and no phases of the clinical trials were skipped. Due to the urgent need to save lives and reduce hospitalizations, more scientists and doctors were involved in these studies than typical vaccine studies. This means there was enough help and resources for the phases to be overlapped. With the extra hands (and brains) a research team was able to start the next phase of the trial as the safety data from the previous phase was still being collected and analyzed. Manufacturing the vaccines also started before the trials were complete to save time getting them out to the American public once they were proved to be safe and effective.

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In the United States alone over 500,000 people have died from COVID-19 and if people get vaccinated it will save at least 100,000 more people who would otherwise be killed by COVID-19.

In April the CDC and FDA did pause the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while they investigated reports of extremely rare blood clots that may or may not have been caused by the vaccines. To put this in context, 15 cases of blood clots were reported out of 6.8 million vaccines administered. After careful review, a panel of doctors and scientists determined that the vaccine is safe and that the benefits of protecting recipients from COVID-19 outweighed the extremely low chances of possibly developing blood clots.

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Vaccines stimulate the body's immune system to make antibodies by teaching the body to recognize and fight invaders. The vaccines are made from synthetic (laboratory made) pieces copied from coronavirus, not the whole virus. Therefore, the vaccines cannot cause infection or cause you to get COVID-19.

Vaccine ingredients can vary by manufacturer. To learn more about the ingredients in authorized COVID-19 vaccines, see:

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If you tested positive for COVID-19 and recovered, we still recommend you be vaccinated against the virus because your natural immunity declines over time and reinfection is possible.

If you received convalescent plasma or COVID antibody infusions (bamlanivimab or casirivimab/imdevimab) as part of your treatment for COVID-19, you should wait 90 days before receiving your vaccine in order to give it the best chance of working.

If you are experiencing any long-term symptoms from your COVID-19 infection a COVID-19 vaccine may help. Recent studies have shown people with long COVID-19 may feel better after getting the COVID-19 vaccine. However, more research is needed to know if it's really the vaccine helping.

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The available data suggest that the vaccines will work against the variants of the virus known to be circulating in the U.S. currently. However, vaccine makers are preparing for the possibility of updating the vaccines to protect against emerging variants. Updated vaccines could potentially be given as "booster" doses.

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The available vaccines have not been tested in pregnant women. Based on what we know about how the vaccines work and rigorous review of available data, we believe they are likely safe for pregnant and breastfeeding women. It's also believed that some of the protection from a mom's vaccine is shared to the baby.

We do know that pregnant women who become infected with COVID-19 have an increased risk for severe illness, miscarriage or stillbirth. Having a conversation with your healthcare provider will help you to understand the risks and benefits, but is not required before getting a vaccine.

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People who take medication or who have underlying medical conditions can receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The only reason somebody should avoid the vaccines is if they have had an immediate or severe allergic reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine or to any of the ingredients in the vaccine. Vaccination is an important consideration for adults of any age with certain underlying medical conditions because they are at increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.

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The vaccines are safe for immunocompromised patients and highly recommended since you are at an elevated risk from COVID-19. Studies have shown that COVID-19 vaccines can be beneficial and protective for patients with primary immunodeficiency and on chronic immunosuppressant therapies. Even if your body does not have as strong of a immune response to the vaccine, due to your condition, some protection is better than no protection.

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Myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and Pericarditis (inflammation of the outer lining of the heart) are common. They are caused by many viruses including the COVID-19 virus. The CDC has also confirmed that a small number of adolescents and young adults develop myocarditis after receiving a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna). Myocarditis following vaccination most often occurs in the four-day period after receipt of the second dose of the vaccine, occurs more often in males, and usually resolves completely without treatment. This is a very rare side effect from the vaccines. Teens and young adults are more likely to develop myocarditis if they become sick with COVID-19 than from the vaccine.

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Youth can become infected and spread coronavirus. They can also develop COVID-19 symptoms and some become severely sick. While not as frequent as adults, children and adolescents have been hospitalized and died from COVID-19. Some youth also continue to experience long-term side effects for months after a COVID-19 infection. In comparison, there is little known risk from getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

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