As your local medical providers, we have been hearing many questions about the COVID vaccines. We thought it would be helpful to provide some information for our community regarding vaccination. Our first priority as medical professionals is to prevent illness and death, and this letter comes from our desire to keep our patients, friends and neighbors healthy. We also acknowledge that vaccination is a personal choice, and we hope that this information helps in your decision making process.

First, a common question is about vaccine effectiveness. Data from September show that Moderna is 93% effective at preventing hospitalization from COVID, while Pfizer is 88% effective, and J&J is 71% effective. Since the delta variant has become the dominant strain, unvaccinated people are more than 10 times more likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID and five times more likely to get the disease.

Another common question about the vaccines is their safety. Many have heard stories about vaccine reactions. However, serious reactions are very rare. Risks for each vaccine vary by age and gender, and the CDC website has the most up-to-date information. You can also talk to your primary care doctor about which vaccine would be best for you.

Another common question: Why do I need the vaccine if I am low-risk for serious COVID infection? Your vaccination helps to slow the spread of COVID in the community and protects those around you. Less spread of COVID also means fewer chances for mutations and new variants of the disease.

Others ask: How did they develop the vaccines so quickly? Previous research on vaccines for similar viruses (SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV) gave scientists a jumpstart on COVID-19 vaccine development. Once developed, all vaccines undergo three phases of clinical trials to establish safety and efficacy, and some of the phases were combined given the urgency of the situation.

Again, we acknowledge that vaccination is a personal choice. And while we think that vaccination is a good way to protect yourself and those in our community, we are also committed to serving all patients equally and with the most current treatments available, whether you are vaccinated or not. And in addition to vaccines, we always encourage good lifestyle choices (healthy eating, staying active, washing hands, etc.) to keep you as healthy as possible. Even now, COVID is still affecting many in our community, and tertiary hospitals may be full. This affects patients at BMH because we may have limited places to send patients who need ICU or specialty care.

Our clinic has all three vaccines available during clinic hours without an appointment.

And we encourage you to discuss any questions you have with your primary care provider. We consider it an honor to serve the people of Grant County.