CDC recommends everyone ages 5 and older get a COVID-19 vaccine to help protect against COVID-19. Learn more.
NOTE: Fully vaccinated individuals are not required to quarantined from
school, work, or activities when exposed to COVID-19 unless symptoms are
present.
Families are also encouraged to make appointments with their pediatrician or health care provider.
The following information comes from the COVID-19 Incident Management Team. This FAQ contains the best information we have at this time. It will be updated with new information over time, as more details become available.
Based upon the information we currently have; immunity will develop within weeks of receiving the second dose of the vaccine. We will not know how long immunity lasts until vaccine recipients are followed over longer periods of time. This will also help determine whether further booster doses are required. Studies to further explore this and the duration of the immunity are ongoing.
No, you will not test positive for COVID-19, but you will test positive for the antibodies.
No, the vaccines do not contain the live COVID-19 virus and cannot give someone COVID-19.
This is unknown, although the likelihood of carrying the disease to others is significantly reduced if a person is not actively infected. Until studies provide more information, persons who have been vaccinated should still follow protocols to reduce the possibility of transmission.
Herd immunity or community immunity is a term to describe when enough individuals have protection—either from previous infection or vaccination—that there are so few susceptible people in a community that it is unlikely a virus or bacteria can continue to spread widely and infect others. As a result, everyone within the community is protected even if some people do not have any protection themselves. The percentage of people who need to have protection in order to achieve herd immunity varies by disease. At this time, experts do not know what percentage of people would need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity to COVID-19, but current estimates are that at least 75% of people within a community will need to have immunity to begin controlling the pandemic.
Mild or moderate immune responses to the vaccine can include, but may not be limited to, fatigue, nausea, muscle pain, chills, joint pain and headache. These immune responses, which are more common after the second dose of the vaccine, are a sign that your immune system is doing exactly what it is supposed to do— building up protection to the virus.
The long-term effects of the vaccine are unknown, including how long it provides immunity. Patients in vaccine studies will continue to be monitored by the FDA and the CDC for 24 months to allow researchers to learn more about these impacts. If a safety issue is detected, immediate action will take place to determine whether the issue is related to the COVID-19 vaccine and what the best course of action may be.
Based upon information currently known, the risk of this vaccine causing serious harm or death is small, but possible. This vaccine, like any medicine or vaccine, could cause a serious problem such as an allergic reaction. The COVID-19 vaccines are new, and some effects may not yet be known.
There is not enough information to say if or for how long after infection someone is protected from getting COVID-19 again. Some people have been infected more than once, especially if their initial infection was mild. Given these unknowns, we do recommend that caregivers and providers be vaccinated even if they have previously been diagnosed with COVID-19.
These online resources have additional information about the COVID-19 vaccine:
The CDC offers guidance for those vaccinated and unvaccinated about how to choose safer activities. Download PDF or click on the image.
