ATLANTA — Healthcare workers in Georgia said fighting misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine has become a large part of their job.
In order to help share facts and set the record straight, 11Alive took several comments posted to our Facebook page and reached out directly to an expert to get some answers.
Dr. Jayne Morgan, the director of the COVID task force at Piedmont Atlanta, weighed in on some of the most common comments we're seeing.
Survival rates of COVID-19
First, we asked her about the survival rate of COVID. One person commented on our Facebook page that "we don't need a vaccine because the survival rate for the virus is 99.87%."
"This is crazy," explained Morgan. "The loss of one child is too much. The loss of a single child during a pandemic when vaccines are available to adults to provide a zone of protection around these children, a herd immunity around these children, it's too much. These are preventable deaths no matter how few they are."
Immunity vs. Vaccine
Others wrote that their children did not need the vaccine because they already had COVID. "If your kids have had COVID, they already have antibodies," wrote one viewer.
"If you've already had COVID, we suspect, and what we’ve learned is that your immunity is good for 30 days," Morgan explained. "We know there is a drop in immunity. Some will have long-lasting immunity, others will not. And we know that the immunity is not as high as with our vaccines and we want everyone to have as high immunity as possible."
Complaints that vaccine was developed "too quickly"
Another viewer mentioned being concerned that the COVID vaccine was developed too quickly. "How long did they study measles, polio, TB? They need to release more information about their study to feel comfortable for parents to be able to make this decision that is so important," they wrote.
However, Morgan said this statement is missing some important context.
"Before we had the vaccines, there were almost two decades of scientific work in getting us ready for a pandemic that was clearly coming. When people talk about these vaccines and say they are miracle vaccines, they are not miracle vaccines. They are a testament to the integrity and ethics of scientists over 20 years almost in preparing us for these vaccines," she said.
Morgan encourages others to speak directly to a doctor to address any specific concerns about the vaccine.