Fact #1 : Dose Intervals Depends On Vaccine
The dose interval very much depends on the vaccine and other factors:
Pfizer Comirnaty: 21 days
Moderna mRNA-1273: 14 days
Sinovac CoronaVac: 14 days
AstraZeneca Vaxzevria: 8 to 12 weeks
Fact #2 : Vaccines Don’t Form Antibodies
Vaccines are like training boot camps for your immune system. They don’t form antibodies.
Instead, they mimic the SARS-CoV-2 virus, so that your immune system can learn to identify it, and create antibodies against the real virus.
Your immune system creates the antibodies, not the vaccine.
Fact #3 : Immunity Does Not Drop With COVID-19 Vaccination
You may feel a bit sick after your vaccination. That’s your body’s immune system reacting to the viral antigens presented by the vaccine.
That does not mean your immunity has dropped after vaccination. This is your body’s natural reaction, as it identifies the foreign antigens and the immune system works to defeat them.
As your immune system learns to make antibodies against these antigens, it grows stronger against COVID-19, not weaker.
Fact #4 : Full Immunity Takes Time
It is true that full immunity takes time – often two weeks after the second dose is taken (for a 2-dose vaccine).
The second dose is designed to kick the immune system into high gear, basically telling it – “Warning, this is not a one-time attack! COVID-19 can come again!”
This not only triggers the immune system to create more antibodies, it also activates your memory cells to “remember” SARS-COV-2 for faster recognition and antibody production in the future.
That is why it is important to complete both doses of a 2-dose vaccine, and continue to practice COVID-19 precautions until your body has enough time to build its defences.
Fact #5 : You Can Get Infected After Vaccination
It is also true that you can get infected with COVID-19 even after completing your vaccination.
These vaccine breakthrough infections are expected, because vaccines cannot guarantee complete protection. However, vaccines prevent severe disease and death.
Vaccine breakthrough infections can be greatly reduced once herd immunity is established. In the interim, you can protect yourself by continuing to wear face masks, maintain physical distancing, and keep your hands clean.
Fact #6 : Vaccine Will Not Give Your Immune System Superpowers
The claim that your immune system is boosted by 100 to 200 times is nonsensical.
The COVID-19 vaccine does not boost your immune system. It only teaches your immune system to identify the SARS-CoV-2 virus, so it can learn to defeat it before the real virus attacks.
As your body has never encountered the SARS-CoV-2 virus before, it has ZERO immunity against this novel coronavirus.
As any math teacher can tell you – you cannot divide by zero, therefore any comparison is nonsensical.
What happens after you are fully vaccinated is that your immune system has learned how to fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
It does not derive any superpower from the vaccine, it just knows how to make antibodies to attack the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
(Courtesy of a former high school classmate Chia Chong Heng)
