Commonly asked questions

Vaccines are any substance that gives your body a practice run against a potential threat. Many vaccines are bits of viruses or bacteria, that help your body recognize the real thing quicke. 

That head start is important, because you have two parts to your immune response: the first is quick, dirty and not as effective. This first response is what often gives fevers. The second response takes days to rescue with antibodies. Antibodies are like heat seeking missiles, highly effective at defense. 

Many vaccines are made from small, harmless pieces of viruses or bacteria. These pieces are kept safe in a simple mix of salt and sugar, then delivered by a shot.

Your immune system reacts right away with its first response—the one that can sometimes cause fever. About 10% to 25% of people may get a short fever from this. But you don’t need a fever for the vaccine to work.

Your immune system is smart: it quickly learns the vaccine is no threat but still keeps antibodies, just in case.

mRNA is the language your body uses to stay alive. Right now, trillions of mRNA molecules are being made, read, and recycled inside you. An mRNA vaccine uses this same language to give your cells an instruction manual for protection. A strand of mRNA, protected with fats, sugar, and salt, is injected into the body. Your cells read the message, learn to recognize the threat, and keeps the antibody protect.

Because your body already uses mRNA constantly, these vaccines feel natural to your system.

Yes. COVID vaccines work.

Just like every other medicine, they don’t guarantee perfection—but they do give you a far better chance. Taking a vaccine means taking a very small risk for very big protection. That protection isn’t flawless, but it’s strong, proven, and saves lives.

COVID is still among the top 15 causes of death in the United States.

Every year, people are hospitalized for COVID.
Every year, some suffer permanent organ damage.
Every year, many face long-lasting symptoms after infection.

Outcomes have improved since 2020, but that doesn’t mean COVID is harmless. It still poses real risks to your health — and there are safe ways to reduce those risks.

COVID vaccine effectiveness is monitored constantly and updated at least once a year. A major review in August 2025 confirmed what many studies show: COVID vaccines reduce the risk of death and hospitalization for everyone 6 months and older — including people who are pregnant or have weaker immune systems.

Some research even showed added benefits: vaccinated people had fewer heart attacks and strokes.

Yes! The COVID vaccine does more than prevent severe illness. Studies suggest:

• Covid vaccination lowers the risk of long COVID
• Vaccinated children miss less school and are more successful over their lifetime.
• Vaccinated adults miss fewer days of work.
• Communities with higher vaccination rates have stronger economies.

Everything in life carries risk. Driving is risky. Even too much oxygen can be risky. But risk alone doesn’t mean something is dangerous.

Vaccines also carry risks. Common ones include fever, fatigue, and soreness — signs your immune system is working. Very rarely (about 1 in a million), the body may react inappropriately, like with an allergic or damaging response.

But the dangers prevented by vaccination — hospitalization, organ damage, and death — are far greater than the risks of the shot.

Vaccine safety is monitored constantly and reviewed in detail at least yearly, often more. VAERS is a raw reporting system that, when paired with advanced statistical analysis, can detect even the tiniest shifts in normal background health events.

How sensitive is it? In April 2021, U.S. monitoring systems identified just six rare clotting cases among millions of J&J vaccine doses, prompting an immediate pause until the cause was investigated and safety assured.

This watchdog has eagle eyes.

Trust matters. Who you give it to matters even more. These days it’s harder than ever to know which sources deserve it. Just like there’s no perfect medicine, there’s no perfect source of truth. The goal is to find the source most likely to guide you right, most of the time.

The vaccine safety system has checks and balances, and is constantly challenged by skeptical scientists. That’s what makes it reliable. Consensus science isn’t perfect, but it’s your best chance at truth.

You do not need a prescription for any other recommended, FDA-approved vaccine at this time. (date of last review: 9.27.2025)

Ideally, rules would always be grounded in strong evidence. But imperfect humans, managing complex systems with competing interests, sometimes get it wrong. As of August 2025, national regulations and reports on the COVID vaccine are not aligned with the best available science.

For reassurance, remember this: more than 80 medical societies — representing every specialty and thousands of physicians — recommend the COVID vaccine for everyone 6 months and older.

Because of the financial risk of purchasing vaccines that may go unused, only large pharmacies are currently carrying the COVID vaccine in Lafayette.

For adults: COVID vaccines are available at Costco, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart.
For children: COVID vaccines are available through the Department of Health.