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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over the weekend, reported that millions of Americans had taken their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but not the second, according to USA Today, on April 29, 2021.
Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, says that the first dose invades the body and takes over the host cell. The second shot increases immunity which assists the body in fighting the virus if present.
About 92 percent of people have received the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and have returned for their second shot. Even though 8 percent have not come back for their second dose, experts say this is great news.
Some people cannot get their second shot because of limited supplies, appointment issues, or access to vaccination sites. But some feel one shot is sufficient, and some are afraid to get the second shot because of a negative reaction to the first one.
Ashish Jha, a physician at the Brown University School of Public Health, said it could be hard for some to get two shots in a row, and they must be patient and allow them to come back.
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, stated that despite the success rate of a single vaccine, herd immunity could still be threatened by those who have not had their second shot. If the 8 percent which has not received it increases, herd immunity is minimized, making people more susceptible to various strains and mutations of the virus.
Written by Brenda Robinson
Edited by Cathy Milne-Ware
Insider: Millions Of People Are Missing Their Second COVID-19 Doses, And That Has Experts Worried About Herd Immunity; by Yelena Dzhanov
USA Today: About 92% of Americans who got the COVID-19 vaccine returned for their second shot. That’s good, but experts say the rest should do it now; by Elisabeth Weise
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Inset Image Courtesy of a.has’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License