Common Questions About COVID-19 and Vaccination
Do you have worries or concerns about the COVID-19 vaccination? Here's some information to help you.
I want you to make the best choice for you that is based on current knowledge. Not based on fear. Not based on a Facebook AI generated meme reposted by your old friend who flunked 8th grade biology class.
Cool fact: social media is really good at spreading misinformation (Muhammed et al. 2022). It turns out that crowd sourcing science and medical facts doesn't work too well. Do you really think that your grandma's best friend from Arkansas knows more about science than researchers who study it their whole lives?
People's brains are wired to respond to novel and surprising news whether it is true or false - so people repeat things they find novel. Surprising news is less likely to be true.
Check out our page of COVID-19 misconceptions and conspiracy theories here
Free donuts for all on National Donut Day! Salvation Army volunteers set up service "huts" in abandoned buildings near the front lines to serve baked goods (WWI 1920).
See for yourself. What statement is more likely to be repeated on social media:
★Statement 1: exercise keeps mitochondria healthy. OR
★Statement 2: eating donuts creates super powered mitochondria.
I rest my case.
Questions about COVID vaccines
- Can getting a COVID vaccine help fight cancer?
- Is the COVID-19 vaccination a perfect shield against COVID?
- Why are booster shots or new COVID vaccinations needed?
- Why are so many people against vaccination?
- Why is the polio vaccination almost 100% effective while the COVID-19 vaccination is not?
- Was COVID-19 a natural virus or a laboratory leak?
- Do masks work?
- Why did the pandemic happen?
- The bottom line: vaccinations prevent millions of childhood deaths
Can getting a COVID vaccine help fight cancer?
Yes! The SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine (COVID vaccine) can help boost your immune system to kill cancer cells.
Vaccines that use mRNA are strong immune activators. They can enhance anti-tumor responses to fight cancer. In a large study of over 1,000 people, cancer patients who got mRNA COVID vaccines within 100 days of when they started immunotherapy were twice as likely to be still alive 3 years after treatment when compared to people who did not get a mRNA vaccine. The researchers believe that mRNA vaccines train peoples' immune systems to attack and eliminate the cancer (Grippen et al. 2025).
The mRNA vaccines reprogram the immune system while increasing the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatments. Basically, the mRNA vaccine causes your body to go on high alert. CD8 T-cells migrate from cancer cells to the lymph nodes in order to recruit other immune cells. This army of immune cells attacks the cancer cells.
When they are attacked, the cancer cells produce immune checkpoint protein PD-L1, a immune checkpoint protein which tells immune cell 'don't kill me, I'm harmless'. This is a trick used by cancer cells to evade the immune system. However, several immune checkpoint inhibitors used in immunotherapy block PD-L1 production; this allows the activated and angry hoard of immune cells to kill cancer cells.
Is the COVID-19 vaccination a perfect shield against COVID?
No, it is not an invincibility shield that keeps you totally immune to harm; however it is a lot better than no vaccination. Getting immunized against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, helps prevent mild and severe COVID-19 (discussion in Cromer et al. 2023).
As a plus, people who get COVID-19 vaccines plus boosters may develop a new resistance against not only SARS-CoV-2 variants but also other related coronaviruses such as the common cold, SARS and MERS. One study looked at people (and mice) who received multiple COVID-19 vaccines and boosters for the original COVID-19 variant and then the omicron variants. They developed a range of antibodies who were able to attack multiple types of coronaviruses and COVID-19 variants (Liang et al. 2024).
Vaccine efficacy (how well a vaccine works) looks at two things:
1) How well the vaccine prevents infection from one person to another.
2) How well the vaccine prevents severe disease: does it prevent exposed people from developing more serious symptoms? Does it help prevent hospitalization and death?
These factors can change depending on age, health or previous medical conditions, social economic status, what variant of the virus you are exposed to and the type of vaccination you get and when you got it.
The COVID-19 vaccination can make it less likely that you will get COVID-19 and can also help prevent you from getting a more severe version of the disease. COVID-19 is a nasty and sneaky disease that keeps evolving.
Are vaccines a magic shield of protection against this virus? No, but they are very good at preventing serious outcomes from COVID-19.
Why are booster shots or new COVID vaccinations needed?
Sadly this crappy COVID virus mutates more often then a Kardashian changes outfits. Every mutation means it takes more time for your immune system to recognize the virus. COVID-19 and its alter egos are similar to the flu and cold viruses which also mutate at a rapid rate.
Does it suck that you may need annual booster shots for COVID-19 just like you need annual booster shots for the flu? Yes. Does that mean the vaccination is worthless? No.
Some things to think about if you are unsure about getting a booster or updated vaccination:
Are you older than 65 years? Sorry, you have more chance of having serious effects from COVID-19. Getting a booster or the latest COVID shot will help protect you.
Are you immune suppressed? Immunocompetent individuals vaccinated with either Moderna or Pfizer, those who received one or two homologous booster doses (i.e., a third or fourth dose of the same vaccine product) had significantly higher vaccine effectiveness against hospital admission with COVID-19 than those who received only a primary series.
Are you afraid of getting Long COVID? Boosters help prevent Long COVID (Xie et al. 2024).
Why are so many people against vaccination?
When people are scared they reach out to something or somebody to hate or to blame. It is easier to believe that something is a ploy, plot or conspiracy theory than that Mother Nature can bring us to our knees with a pandemic.
During the first two years of COVID, the majority of COVID-19 misinformation came from just 12 people nicknamed the Disinformation Dozen. These people reached 59 million people through social media.
Why do people spread misinformation? One of their main motives may be profit. When you read a viral article take a moment to think about why the person wrote the article. Are they selling something? Remember, your time and attention is worth money on the internet. Views are worth cold hard cash. More views = more money.
Some people also like attention. If they can make people angry with fake facts they can get more attention and elevate their platform. Nobody gets loads of attention with sensible and reasonable information like broccoli is good for you, eat more fiber or vaccination prevents childhood illnesses.
People have forgotten how many children used to die of diseases that are now prevented by vaccines.
Lori and I are scientists, so of course we believe in vaccinations and try to combat misinformation and fear. Nobody is paying us to spread the truth. During times of crisis people naturally like to invent or believe in alternate narratives. It can be scary to realize that sometimes events just happen or develop on their own - not due to any outside agenda. If you want to know more about vaccination myths click here!
Chronic stress messes with your mind by shutting down the thinking and planning parts of your brain and letting the emotional center, the amygdala, have free reign (Arnsten et al. 2012). For more on how this happens check out our page on brain healing. Knowledge helps to dispel stress, fear and anger and allows people to start thinking logically about a situation or event again.
Below: Vaccination eradicated a horrible disease, smallpox. In this photo a USA CDC technician in a Bangladesh laboratory is creating smallpox vaccine by injecting embryonated chicken eggs with viral particles (taken by Dr. Stan Foster, EIS, Officer).
A short primer on egg based vaccines
Viruses need a biological vessel to grow and multiple. In egg-based vaccines, viruses are injected into fertilized eggs.
Eggs provide all the nutrients. Researchers can adjust the temperature and humidity for ideal virus growth. The virus multiples and in a few days it is harvested. At that time the virus is inactivated with a chemical agent; the virus is purified and concentrated; and it is sterilized before being packaged for use.
This takes time and millions of eggs. Egg-based influenza vaccines take 6-8 months to produce safely while mRNA vaccines take only 1-2 month to produce.
Why is the polio vaccination almost 100% effective while the COVID-19 vaccination is not?
The polio virus has a mutation rate that is much much lower than SARS-CoV-2 or influenza viruses. Think of COVID-19 like a Gen Z influencer always changing clothes, hair colors, selfie filters and ideas with whatever fad comes along that week. The polio virus is more like one of the world's richest people, Warren Buffet, still driving his same old pickup truck, living in the same house, and using coupons for McD breakfasts.
In other words, the polio virus remains the same while the COVID virus changes its accessorius from week to week. It is harder to hit a moving target.
16th century Aztec drawing of smallpox victims.
When smallpox was feared
Over 300 million people are believed to have died from smallpox. The ordinary form of smallpox killed 30% of people who contacted it (it was even more dangerous for babies). People who survived it often had horrible scarring and some were left blind.
Smallpox is a variola virus that tends to attack the skin cells. It causes fever, fatigue, muscle pain, nausea, headache and vomiting.
By day 12-15 a rash appears on the mucous membranes of the mouth, tongue and throat. The rapidly fill with fluid and rupture spreading viruses in salvia.
A few days later similar bumps appear on the skin that progress to raised pustules within 6-7 days. The rash is more prevalent on the face. If the patient survives, the pustules deflate and dry up leaving white scars.
Smallpox is transmitted through the air.
Was COVID-19 a natural virus or a laboratory leak?
There is evidence for both of these theories. For an interesting review for the evidence on both sides see this paper by Zapatero and Martin 2023. If you are interested in the origins of COVID-19 at least read about in in reputable sources (don't rely on political reasons). There is a lot of misinformation and out and out lying about this topic.
Some stuff that is likely true: China obstructed the Worlds Health Organization's investigation into COVID-19 origin. China covers up stuff that might make them look bad - we all know they do it. That is why China's food safety record is so bad. Be mad at the country if you want but don't take it out on people who happen to come from China. Their crappy government is not their fault. Do you want to take responsibility for some of our leaders' poor choices?
Stuff that is false news: famous US doctor/politician/singer/dog trainer etc 1) bioengineered COVID-19 in their basement 2) released it 3) ????? and 4) profit. Most of that is just trying to rile up people for a political reason. Try to think critically about these types of inflammatory statements which are often a result of foreign influence in our political process.
If you want something real to worry about consider how corporations owned wholly or in part by foreign investors and billionaires are free to use money to influence our USA elections. No matter what your political affiliation, I think all Americans can agree that we as a people, not people from other countries or billionaires hoarding money, should determine our future. For more on this alarming trend see Fact Sheet: Stopping Political Spending by Foreign-Influenced U.S. Corporations by CAP20 (The Center for American Progress is an independent nonpartisan policy institute devoted to improving American's lives).
Basically, wherever COVID-19 came from, whether it is natural or bioengineered, we have to deal with it. Just be glad it wasn't something with a higher mortality rate. It could have been Ebola virus with a 25-90% death rate. Or we could still get bird flu with its over 50% mortality rate.
The Great Influenza Epidemic (Spanish Flu) of 1918 infected around a third of the world's population and killed between 25-100 million people (mortality of between 1-6%).
Below: A demonstration at the Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station in Washington, D.C., during the 1918 influenza pandemic.
Poster from the Japanese Ministry of Interior calls for public health awareness during Spanish Flu (1920).
Do masks work?
Good masks work by reduces the number of viruses that can make it through the filter, crappy or loose masks don't work nearly as well. Look for a N-95 mask for the best results. Many immunocompromised people choose to wear masks to help protect themselves.
Even if you don't choose to wear a mask, respect people who want or need to wear a mask to protect their or their families' health. Don't be a mask czar. This is a free country and people have a right to protect themselves.
One recent review study by Jefferson et al. 2023, looking at physical interventions to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, has been misinterpreted to say that mask use is not effective. Basically, in situations where people were given the option to use masks, but were not required to do so, there was no protection against catching COVID-19. Many people choose not to wear the masks and so continued to spread the disease. For a similar analogy, think of giving people condoms, not requiring them to use them, and than reporting that condoms do not prevent pregnancy.
By the way, masks don't disrupt your energy flow any more than socks disrupt your energy flow. For more energy flow you need healthier mitochondria. Luckily I have a lot of reliable information on mitochondria health on this website and how to increase energy naturally.
Why did the pandemic happen?
Sometimes bad crap happens. Pandemics have occurred regularly throughout human history. The last major one was the 1918 influenza pandemic; so we were overdue for one. During the 1918 influenza pandemic, an estimated 50 million people died worldwide and 675,000 people in the USA died. Most of the people that died were in their 20's and 30's.
COVID-19 has beat that record in the USA (but not the world record). According to the WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard 7,056,108 people have died worldwide from COVID-19 (click on link to see the updated number) and 1,060,439 people have died in the USA.
Doktor Schnabel von Rom (Doctor Beak from Rome), Rome engraving c1656. Physician attire used for protection from the Bubonic plague (Black death).
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Other top plagues and what happened:
1) Smallpox, caused by the variola virus, caused 300-500 million deaths in the 20th century. It killed 20-45% of the people who contracted it and caused massive scarring on many who survived it (Berche 2022). The first smallpox wave was called the Antonine plague and may have killed 7-8 million people. After that smallpox became endemic in the Old World (Europe, Asia and Africa).
Smallpox in the New World (the Americas) killed 25-56 million from 1520's to early 1600's. The people were not immune to it. Smallpox and influenza wiped out 90% of Native Americans and destroyed their culture.
We defeated smallpox through vaccination; the last world wide case was in 1977!
2) Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)(AIDS) killed 27-48 million people from 1981 to current day. Most people with HIV currently are in Africa. Currently there is no vaccination available but antivirals can suppress the virus (sometimes to undetectable levels).
3) Another famous plague is The Black Death or bubonic plague. It had numerous occurrences and is now believed to have originated in China (Morelli et al. 2010). The Black Death is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and came in three forms. Mortality for all three types of this plague; bubonic, septicemic and pneumonic; is extremely high ranging from 50% for bubonic plague and almost 100% for pneumonic and septicemic plague.
The first wave was called the Plague of Justinian. It is estimated to have killed 100 million people worldwide from 541-767 AD but this number is in dispute (Bennasar-Figueras 2024).
The second major wave was called the Black Death and killed between 75-200 million people worldwide in one of it reappearances. The main plague outbreak ran from 1334-1353; but it persisted into the 1800's. The smaller death toll estimations seen online are for the deaths in Europe only. It was reported to have killed 30-50% of the population - scholars disagree on the exact percentage.
The third bubonic plague pandemic wave begin in China in the 1850's. It mainly effected China and India and killed 12 million people.
There is no vaccination for the bubonic plague in the USA but one is being developed. Currently it can be treated with antibiotics.
Plagues and pandemics have always been with us.
A special note: Vaccinations do not cause autism or other chronic disorders (Mohammed et al. 2022, Andersson et al. 2025)
Autism is caused by genetics with a little environmental epigenetics thrown in. It is extremely heritable which means autism runs in families like other traits such as hair color or nose shape (discussion in Nakamura et al. 2024). Two large studies found that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is not associated with autism in young children; even in children whose older siblings have autism or who have a predisposal to autism (Jain et al. 2015, Hviid et al. 2019).
One study of over 1.2 million children found that the aluminum in vaccines did not cause an increase in 50 chronic disorders (Andersson et al. 2025). The disorders included:
★ Neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
★ Autoimmune disorders such as dermatologic, endocrinologic, hematologic, gastrointestinal, and rheumatic
★ Atopic or allergic disorders such as allergy, asthma, atopic dermatitis, and rhinoconjunctivitis
★ Being autistic doesn't kill kids. Not being vaccinated can kill kids.
The bottom line: vaccinations prevent millions of childhood deaths
Vaccines are one of humankind's greatest tool in reducing childhood mortality. Childhood vaccinations have prevented nearly 37 million deaths in children under 5 years in the last 20 years (Toor et al. 2021). In case you can't visualize how many kids have been saved; 37 million people is just under the current population of the state of California!
It is estimated that the COVID-19 vaccinations saved 20 million lives in the first year (Watson et al. 2022). Vaccination cut COVID-19 deaths by an estimated 63%. More people could have been saved if vaccination rates were higher.
When looking at current COVID-19 deaths you have to consider incidence rate not absolute numbers. This is because there are more vaccinated people than unvaccinated people in the USA. In March 2022, there were 127 million vaccinated and boosted people compared to only 38 million unvaccinated people.
As of March 2022, per 100,000 people there were 1.71 deaths in unvaccinated people, 0.22 deaths in vaccinated people and 0.10 deaths in boosted people. In other words, unvaccinated people over 12 years old had 17 times the rate of COVID-19 associated deaths (CDC database). This varies by age, those over 65 years old and unvaccinated have 9.29 deaths per 100,000 people compared to 1.18 deaths for vaccinated people.
Rahima Banu was 2 years old when she caught smallpox in 1975. She was the last person on earth to develop a case of naturally-occurring smallpox. This image comes from Stanley O. Foster M.D., M.P.H. of the CDC.
Were you vaccinated? You are protected. Do the same for your children.
Herd immunity protects unvaccinated people. This includes vulnerable and immunocompromised people who cannot be vaccinated. When less people are vaccinated, there is more risk of disease in the population. Choosing to not get vaccinated as an able person is putting not only yourself and your children at greater risk but also putting sick people and babies at risk.
Choose science and facts not fear and hate
Misinformation is based in fear not in truth. Choose to inform yourself and use that information to make the choice best for you and your family.
*Names and some minor identifying details in all stories in this website are changed to protect people's privacy.
This information is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
References:
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