The arrival of a coronavirus vaccine in Dallas on Monday morning was a welcome sign that life in North Texas was getting a little closer to normal.
“For those of us who have been in the trenches since the beginning, this is the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Dr. James Cutrell, an infectious-diseases expert and associate professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
But according to Cutrell, this week’s rollout, with hospitals across North Texas expected to get more than 50,000 doses, is “really just the beginning.”
“There are a lot of logistics challenges and barriers to getting ... [the vaccine] to those who need it,” he said.
At UTSW and other medical centers, the focus will first be on vaccinating health-care workers, then moving on to the next group of people prioritized by government officials. And that will take time, as initial supplies of the shot are limited.
Cutrell asked residents to expect “several more months” in which measures such as masking and social distancing will be essential to let the vaccine distribution play out while avoiding more cases of the disease and deaths from it.
“The last thing we want to see is we’re this close and yet we’re seeing 3,000 people or more a day who are dying” across the country, he said.
Although the timeframe of the vaccine’s rollout raises questions about whether a population that has already endured nine months of grief and hardship can continue to ward off coronavirus fatigue, a potentially greater worry is that not enough people will get the vaccine when it’s available to them.
A recent survey found that about one-quarter of respondents would refuse the shot and another quarter weren’t sure about it.
Dr. Emily K. Brunson, an associate professor and medical anthropologist at Texas State University, said she’s concerned about how much needs to be done to rebuild trust in the medical profession for Black and Latino communities that have historically been underserved and might be skeptical of the vaccine push — but she thinks there’s a possibility for vaccine acceptance rates to improve.
“Are we going to end up with enough people to be vaccinated that we can achieve herd immunity, or community immunity, where the vaccine is working the way that we hope it is?” she said. “That can happen, but it’s not going to happen on its own.”
Brunson underscored the need for an education campaign that instills confidence in the vaccines.
“We really need to start building trust — and it’s trust in both public health and trust in the vaccine administrators and trust in the vaccine,” she said.
Department of State Health Services spokesman Chris Van Deusen has said the state will run public service announcements and other messaging around the vaccine as it becomes available.
But Brunson points to other disparities in the logistics of vaccine distribution that could prove to be hurdles in letting Texans return to life as usual.
The vaccine will be given to people free of charge, but the party administering the vaccine may charge a fee for injecting it. That pricing could become an obstacle in Texas, the home of the highest number and highest percentage of uninsured Americans in the country.
Many cities in Texas, including Dallas, also grapple with disparities in access to health care. In Dallas, most care facilities are in the northern sector of the city, which is where most of the white residents live.
Brunson said details as small as whether or not a vaccination center stations police or Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers outside could become an obstacle in the way of delivering the vaccine to Black and Latino communities.
“These issues of equity have to really be thought through,” she said.
Here are some common questions about the coronavirus vaccine:
When can I get the vaccine?
Supplies will be limited at first — only the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been authorized by the FDA so far, but Moderna’s could be approved soon. About 3 million Pfizer shots are being distributed across the country now. Another 3 million are being held back, as the vaccine requires two doses, and 500,000 are being reserved for emergencies. The number of shots each state receives is based on its adult population.
U.S. officials have said they expect there will be enough doses for 20 million people by the end of the month.
Who has priority for the vaccine?
Because of the limited supply, the first doses are being given to people who have been deemed by medical professionals to have the highest need, based on their risk of exposure to the virus and their risk of serious complications if they contract it.
In Dallas County, health-care workers on the front lines of the pandemic and residents of long-term care facilities are being prioritized for the vaccine.
Most nursing homes won’t start vaccinating staff members and residents until Dec. 21, and some won’t start until Dec. 28, USA Today reported Monday. That’s because many long-term care facilities have chosen to participate in a federal program that relies on pharmacies, including CVS and Walgreens.
The next groups to get the vaccine are likely to include other medical personnel; first responders; essential workers such as teachers, transportation workers and food-processing employees; and people older than 65 who have underlying high-risk health issues.
Other, younger adults who are generally healthy will have to wait longer to be vaccinated. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, expressed optimism Monday on MSNBC that “the normal healthy man and woman in the street” could receive the vaccine by late March or early April.
Is the vaccine safe?
Tens of thousands of people have taken part in Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine study, and the company has not reported any major concerns about the vaccine’s safety. Medical experts say the risk of contracting COVID-19 is a more serious threat to a person’s safety.
What are the side effects?
The most common mild side effects in Pfizer’s study were soreness from the shot, fatigue and headaches. Less common were muscle pain, chills and fever. Moderate side effects were not common, but they tended to happen after the second dose of the vaccine.
Allergic reactions can happen with a number of vaccines — because people may have a sensitivity to one of the vaccine’s components — but severe reactions are extremely rare. A rash, or other skin irritation, and a cough are common symptoms of an allergic reaction.
In Pfizer’s coronavirus study, about the same rate of people who got the vaccine had allergic reactions, 0.6%, as those who received the placebo, 0.5%.
Should I get the vaccine if I’ve had COVID-19?
People who have already had and recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies against the coronavirus, but it’s unclear how long those antibodies last. Those people should still get the vaccine, medical experts told The New York Times, but people who have not been infected yet should get priority.
Should I get the vaccine if I am pregnant?
Pfizer’s vaccine was not tested in pregnant or breastfeeding women. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that those women talk to their doctor about whether they should be vaccinated.
Should children get the vaccine?
The vaccine is recommended for people 16 and older. Vaccine studies involving children have begun only recently, so they will not be able to be vaccinated against the coronavirus until vaccines are proved to be safe and effective for them. It is unlikely that a vaccine will be ready for children before the start of the next school year in August.
Do I need a second shot?
To be effective, Pfizer’s vaccine must be administered in two doses and 21 days apart, according to a report by the FDA. Moderna’s vaccine requires 28 days between doses.
There will be some level of protection — about 52%, according to The New York Times — within a couple of weeks after the first shot. Greater protection — about 95% — won’t happen until a couple of weeks after the second shot.
Should I still wear a mask after I get my vaccine?
Yes. The effects of the vaccines are generally not immediate, so masks and social distancing will still be recommended for a while after people are vaccinated. It’s also not known whether the vaccine protects people from infection or just from symptoms, so it’s possible that someone who is vaccinated could be infected and pass on the virus, but that would probably be at a lower rate, said Deborah Fuller, a vaccine expert at the University of Washington.
When can we be “normal”?
The vaccination process is expected to take months, and shots must become widely available to distribute to the general public. Because the vaccine requires two doses, people will have to go back for a second shot after three and four weeks to get the full protection.
Early data on the Pfizer and Moderna shots suggest that about 70% of the population would need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, which is most likely to happen in May, said Moncef Slaoui, head of the U.S. vaccine development effort. That’s assuming there are no problems meeting manufacturers’ supply estimates, and enough people step forward to be vaccinated.
How long will the vaccine last?
The FDA said partial protection appears two weeks after the first dose of the Pfizer shot, and greater protection seems to last at least two months after the second and final dose. Pfizer and BioNTech said in their latest study that their coronavirus vaccine is more than 90% effective.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
