The best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to the virus. Learn how COVID 19 spreads and practice actions to help prevent the spread.
- Clean your hands often(soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer
- Avoid close contact with those that are sick
- Keep at least 6 feet distance between others
- Cover your mouth and nose with a mask
- Cover sneeze/cough with tissue, then throw away the tissue
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects/surfaces
- Monitor yourself for symptoms
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, everyone should:
To find a COVID-19 Vaccine near you, visit vaccines.org. The three approved vaccines are Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson's Janssen. Pfizer and Moderna are two shots while Johnson & Johnson requires only one shot. One is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the last shot. For more information visit cdc.org.
Different Vaccines work in different ways. All of them leave the body with a supply of "memory" T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes that will remember how to fight the virus in the future. It usually takes a few weeks after vaccination for a vaccine to take effect. Sometimes, during the process of building immunity, symptoms such as a fever can occur.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are both mRNA vaccines. They contain a little bit of the COVID-19 virus that gives our cell a blueprint to make a protein that's unique to the virus. After our cells make copies of the protein, they destroy the bit of virus. Our bodies recognize the alien protein, and build T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes to fight the virus.
Johnson & Johnson's Janssen is a vector vaccine. It contains a modified version of a different virus from the COIVD-19 virus. Inside the shell of the modified virus, there's material from the COVID-19 virus. This is what's called a "viral vector." Once the viral vector is inside our cells, the genetic material gives cells instructions to make a protein that's unique to the COVID-19 virus. Using these instructions, our cells make copies of the protein. This prompts our bodies to build T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes that'll remember how to fight the Covid-19 virus.
