HARRISBURG, Pa. - The first FDA approved injections are from Pfizer and Moderna. They are effective in keeping you from getting really sick from COVID, but you need two doses.
“So you’re only going to be partially protected after the first dose,” Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Monday. “[The] second dose is three to four weeks later and to develop full immunity from those vaccines takes several weeks later.”
The Pfizer and Moderna trials only looked at how many vaccinated people got sick with Covid-19. Meaning, it’s possible for some who get the shots to become infected without developing symptoms and still be contagious.
“That is why people will need to continue all of our mitigation factors until we have much more of the whole community that is immunized,” Levine said.
Up to 70% of populations will need to be COVID resistant to get herd immunity. Future nasal vaccines may help prevent spread of the virus. But those are still in the trial phase.