COVID-19 Vaccine Information
This page houses information and resources to help our patients and community
be informed about COVID-19 vaccination.
This page will be updated with new information about the vaccine as it
becomes available.
How Vaccines Will Be Administered
- Good Samaritan will be following guidelines and protocols set by state
departments of health/state government.
Who is eligible to receive the vaccine?
If you answer yes to any of these questions, you are eligible to receive
the COVID-19 vaccine:
- Are you age 70 or older?
-
Do you work or volunteer in healthcare and have (physical or close) contact
or face to face interactions with patients? Examples include:
- Inpatient, outpatient, provider office setting, nursing homes, residential
care facilities, assisted living facilities, in-home services
- This includes all clinical and non-clinical positions: clinicians, dietary,
environmental services, administrators who have direct contact with patients,
clergy who see patients in the healthcare setting, non-clinicians who
assist in procedures, transportation staff, etc.
- This also includes local health department staff who interact with patients
at test sites, health clinics or provide direct patient care
-
Do you have exposure to COVID-19 infectious material? (Examples include cleaning of rooms or material from COVID-19 patients,
performing COVID-19 testing, other exposure to infected tissue, performing
autopsies or other post-mortem examinations of COVID-19 patients)
Click here for a list of who is eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The timeline for additional phases of vaccine administration is yet to
be determined. Check back here frequently for updates.
Learn more about Indiana’s COVID-19 Vaccine Guidelines at
outshot.in.gov.
An appointment is required for COVID-19 vaccinations. No walk-ins will
be accepted.
Make Your Vaccine Appointment
To receive a vaccine in Indiana you must be an Indiana resident or a healthcare
worker at a facility in Indiana.
If you have difficulty registering online, please dial 211 from any phone
for assistance.
CDC Information
How COVID-19 Vaccines Work
FAQs about COVID-19 Vaccination
Understanding mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines
Ensuring the Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines
8 Things to Know about the U.S. COVID-19 Vaccination Program
Questions About COVID-19 Vaccines
Here are some frequently asked questions about the COVID-19 vaccines with
answers from CDC data.
How do we really know if COVID-19 vaccines are safe?
COVID-19 vaccines were tested in large clinical trials to make sure they
meet safety standards. Many people were recruited to participate in these
trials to see how the vaccines offers protection to people of different
ages, races, and ethnicities, as well as those with different medical
conditions.
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) carefully reviews all safety data
from clinical trials and an authorizes emergency vaccine use only when
the expected benefits outweigh potential risks.
-
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) reviews all safety
data before recommending any COVID-19 vaccine for use.
Learn how ACIP makes vaccine recommendations.
- FDA and CDC will continue to monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, to
make sure even very rare side effects are identified.
Is the vaccine that helpful? I heard getting COVID-19 gives you better
and longer immunity than the protection a vaccine can give. Can it actually
make my illness worse if I do end up getting COVID-19?
Both this disease and the vaccine are new. We don’t know how long
protection lasts for those who get infected or those who are vaccinated.
What we do know is that COVID-19 has caused very serious illness and death
for a lot of people. If you get COVID-19, you also risk giving it to loved
ones who may get very sick. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is a safer choice.
Even with a vaccine, people are urged to continue practicing other precautions
like wearing a mask, social distancing, handwashing and other hygiene
measures until public health officials say otherwise.
What is an mRNA vaccine?
mRNA stands for messenger ribonucleic acid. mRNA is a genetic sequence
that provides the blueprint for something to be developed in a cell (generally
a protein). mRNA vaccines are a new type of vaccine to protect against
infectious diseases. To trigger an immune response, many vaccines put
a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies. Not mRNA vaccines. Instead,
they teach our cells how to make a protein-or even just a piece of a protein-that
triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which
produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the
real virus enters our bodies.
Can the vaccine alter your DNA?
mRNA stands for messenger ribonucleic acid and can most easily be described
as instructions for how to make a protein or even just a piece of a protein.
mRNA is not able to alter or modify a person’s genetic makeup (DNA).
The mRNA from a COVID-19 vaccine never enter the nucleus of the cell,
which is where our DNA are kept. This means the mRNA does not affect or
interact with our DNA in any way. Instead, COVID-19 vaccines that use
mRNA work with the body’s natural defenses to safely develop protection
(immunity) to disease. Learn more about
how COVID-19 mRNA vaccines work.
How much will the shot hurt? Can it cause you to get very sick?
Most people do not have serious problems after being vaccinated. However,
your arm may be sore, red, or warm to the touch. These symptoms usually
go away on their own within a week. Some people report getting a headache
or fever when getting a vaccine. These side effects are a sign that your
immune system is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. It is working
and building up protection to disease.
Will I be charged for the COVID-19 vaccine?
No. Vaccine doses will be given at no cost to the patient. However, vaccination
providers will be able to bill an administration fee to the patient's
insurance company, therefore vaccine recipients will be asked for insurance
information. Vaccine administration for uninsured patients will be covered
by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Provider Relief Fund.
Can the vaccine cause women to become sterile?
There is no evidence suggesting that this is a possibility.
Can people with an egg allergy take the vaccine?
The mRNA vaccine does not require the use of eggs or any other cells in
the production or manufacturing process. Therefore, egg allergy is not
a concern with this vaccine.
How many people received the vaccine in clinical trials?
More than 40,000 people were part of the Pfizer vaccine trial. Nearly 40%
were between 56 and 85, and there was a diverse patient population spanning
6 different countries enrolled.
More than 30,000 people were part of the Moderna vaccine trial, all of
whom were in the United States. More than 7,000 patients were over 65,
and 5,000 were under 65 but had high-risk chronic conditions. This study
also had a very diverse patient population that is fairly similar to the
diversity of the US population.
How well do the vaccines work?
Based on
evidence from clinical trials, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 95% effective at preventing laboratory-confirmed
COVID-19 illness in people without evidence of previous infection. Click
here to learn more about the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Based on
evidence from clinical trials, the Moderna vaccine was 94.1% effective at preventing laboratory-confirmed
COVID-19 illness in people who received two doses who had no evidence
of being previously infected. Click
here to learn more about the Moderna vaccine.
If the vaccine works fairly well after the first dose, why do we need to
get a second dose?
The number of antibodies produced after the second vaccination dramatically
increases compared to receiving only a single dose. While a single dose
certainly offers some protection, the second dose is expected to offer
significantly longer protection.
What side effects should we expect from the vaccine?
The most common side effects are similar to what may be expected from the
influenza vaccine.Headache, fatigue, fever, muscle ache, and joint pain
were among the most common. Pain at the site of injection is also common.
Most of these reactions can be managed with acetaminophen or ibuprofen.
They may be uncomfortable, however.
We expect these types of reactions to occur when our immune system responds
appropriately to this type of vaccine.
Which patient populations have not been studied?
Very young, very old:
- Only patients 16-85 years of age were included in the initial vaccine trial.
- Less than 200 patients who were 16-17 years old have received the vaccine
at the time of study data cutoff.
- Patients 12 and older started to be enrolled in October.
Pregnant/breastfeeding:
- The studies did not include women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
- Although there are no signals for concern regarding teratogenicity (harm
to the baby), data from clinical trials is not available for this group
at this time
- The most recent position of American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology
(ACOG) can be found here:
ACOG COVID-19 Vaccine Guidance. Statements from Tri-State Perinatology and the Society for Maternal Medicine
can be found at the following links:
-
COVID-19 Vaccine for Pregnant and Nursing Women - Tri-State Perinatology
-
COVID Vaccine for Pregnant & Breastfeeding - Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine
- Risks associated with the COVID infection in pregnant patients can be
found here:
-
CDC Statements on Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
-
CDC Data on COVID in Pregnancy
Some immunocompromised patients:
- Patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy (high dose systemic corticosteroids,
some cancer drugs), were also excluded from the study.
- Patients with short-term corticosteroids could be included if it had
been >28 days since receipt of these drugs.
- There are no specific safety concerns at this time in immunocompromised
patients. There could be concerns related to lower level of efficacy/immune
response, but this should be weighed against the fact that patients who
are immunocompromised are at higher risk to have a poor outcome from COVID
infections themselves.
- The FDA has stated that the vaccine may potentially be less effective
in immunocompromised patients, but they did not state any safety concerns
among this group.
When will I be able to get the vaccine?
The federal government and state departments of health have set up guidelines
for the timeline and prioritization of vaccine distribution. The schedule
of these is based upon vaccine availability. At Good Samaritan, we are
currently in Phase 1A, which includes frontline health care workers.
Do I need to get the vaccine if I already had COVID?
It is currently unknown if people who have already had COVID will need
to be vaccinated again. There is limited data on how long immunity lasts
after an infection. The Indiana Department of Health and many other organizations
are currently recommending to wait at least 3 months after being diagnosed
with COVID to get the vaccine.
Will this be a one-time vaccination, or an annual vaccine?
There has not been enough time to evaluate exactly how long antibodies
are expected to last, so it is unknown at this time whether this will
be an annual vaccination.