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A safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine for children would protect children and at-risk people by reducing the virus’ spread

Most children who get COVID-19 will only experience mild symptoms, but this is not a zero risk disease. In the U.S., COVID-19 led to over 11,000 hospitalizations and 178 deaths among children aged 0 to 17 between March and December 2020. A safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine authorized for children would help further minimize that risk and many scientists believe that vaccinating children will help control the pandemic.

The benefits of getting the COVID-19 vaccine outweigh its risks; there is no increased mortality rate among vaccinated people relative to unvaccinated people

To date, hundreds of millions of people around the world have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Review of clinical trial data by regulatory agencies, in addition to continued monitoring of safety signals during the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination campaigns, show that vaccinated people aren’t more likely to die compared to unvaccinated people. While the COVID-19 vaccines are associated with certain side effects, the most common ones, like fever and pain at the injection site, are mild and short-lived. Their benefits outweigh their risks and it is safer to take the vaccine than to get the disease.

Vaccines do provide immunity and can be used to achieve herd immunity

Herd immunity occurs when a significant portion of a population is immune to a pathogen, making it difficult for the pathogen to spread through the population. Apart from protecting vaccinated individuals, herd immunity provides indirect protection from infection even to individuals who are unable to be vaccinated. One strategy to achieve herd immunity is through vaccination, which provides protective immunity to vaccinated individuals.

Insufficient evidence to claim COVID-19 vaccines cause menstrual irregularities in vaccinated women; vaccinated people aren’t making unvaccinated people ill

Millions of women in the U.S. received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. No significant safety concerns related to fertility or pregnancy have emerged in clinical trials or safety monitoring of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. For the moment, there isn’t sufficient evidence to establish a causal relationship between the COVID-19 vaccines and menstrual irregularities that women observed after vaccination. More studies are needed to shed light on this subject.

Flawed speculative study incorrectly claims that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines cause neurodegenerative diseases

The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in the U.S. demonstrated safety and efficacy in thousands of people during clinical trials. Ongoing safety monitoring in millions of vaccinated people further shows that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are safe and don’t alter human DNA. They are also not associated with neurodegenerative diseases or serious adverse effects other than rare cases of allergic reactions in people with a previous history of allergies.

COVID-19 vaccines don’t cause herpes infections; a possible association with the reactivation of herpes zoster in patients with rheumatic diseases remains unconfirmed

Herpes zoster (shingles) is a viral infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus that also causes chickenpox. This virus doesn’t cause other types of herpes, such as genital herpes. Only people who had chickenpox in the past can develop shingles, which result from a reactivation of pre-existing virus in the body. One study reported six cases of shingles in patients with rheumatic diseases after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, suggesting that the vaccine might trigger viral reactivation in these patients. However, the study wasn’t designed to establish a causal association between shingles and the vaccine because it didn’t include a group of unvaccinated rheumatic patients.

Using face masks reduces the transmission of COVID-19 and doesn’t lead to oxygen deficiency or carbon dioxide buildup in the blood

Although viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 are much smaller in size than the pores in a face mask, these viruses are carried by droplets or aerosols that can be effectively trapped by face masks, reducing aerosol emission. Face masks can’t prevent the passage of gases, so they cannot significantly reduce the amount of oxygen in the blood, nor increase the amount of carbon dioxide.

The World Health Organization doesn’t recommend ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment; the drug’s safety and effectiveness remains uncertain in COVID-19 patients

Repurposing existing drugs is a helpful strategy that can accelerate the approval of new treatments against a disease. However, simply because a drug works against one disease isn’t evidence that it will work for another. Therefore, even existing drugs used for one disease still need to demonstrate that they are safe and effective in the context of another disease. While some studies suggest that ivermectin might have a beneficial effect in COVID-19 patients, they don’t provide sufficient evidence to recommend ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment due to potential biases and small sample sizes.

Infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms; other factors may determine an individual’s susceptibility to infection, but the microorganism is still the cause

Factors like nutrition, genetics and age can influence an individual’s susceptibility to a microorganism, such as a virus or a bacteria. These factors make individuals more or less likely to develop infections after they were exposed to a microorganism. That being said, even individuals who are young and healthy can develop infectious diseases because the cause of infectious diseases is still the microorganism.