Medical Science: COVID-19 - Which Vaccine Should I Get?

Details

Category: Medical Science

Published on Friday, 16 April 2021 14:23

Written by Dr. Jane M. Orient, M.D.,

More than 202million Americans have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine and as all adults will soon be eligible and with all the conflicting information people are asking, "Which one should I take?"

You may have to take what is available, but here are some considerations. Varying percentages are given for efficacy, but these are based on small numbers of people getting infected, so the variance may be wide.

Here are the similarities and differences.

Beltway Insider: Biden, American Jobs Plan, SCOTUS, COVID/Vaccine, Immigration Costs, Prince Philip

Pfizer and Moderna products:

·         These contain messenger RNA (mRNA), which goes to the ribosomes (the protein factories) in the cytoplasm of your cells and codes for viral spike protein, which is the actual "vaccine," the substance to which your body develops an immune response.

·         The mRNA is unstable—hence the cold storage requirements. This means it breaks down and is not in your body indefinitely.

·         The mRNA is believed not to get into the nucleus in your cells.

Medical Science: COVID-19 - Is Your Mask Safe

Johnson & Johnson (Janssen or J&J) product:

·         This is similar to the Oxford-AstraZeneca (AZ) product, which is used in other nations, mostly in Europe, but not currently in the U.S.

·         These use double-stranded DNA genetically engineered to code for the spike protein.

·         The DNA is delivered by a "vector," an adenovirus that causes colds in chimpanzees but does not replicate in humans.

·         The vector gets into the nucleus of all your cells, including reproductive cells.

·         The DNA codes for mRNA, which gets out to the ribosomes in your cells, which manufacture the spike protein. This is a multi-step process, and thus has multiple stages for possible error.

Medical Science: COVID-19 - How Does It Kill You?

·         The DNA is relatively stable, so there are no special storage requirements. Stability is good—UNLESS you want something to eventually go away (such as a drug that is causing problems).

·         The AZ jab was paused, or restricted to use only in persons older than 55 or 60, because of blood clotting problems that were seen in younger persons.

·         At least four J&J sites closed at least temporarily because of adverse reactions including fainting. Some had to go to hospital. Capillary leak syndrome, a suggested cause of problems with the AZ product, may also contribute to this.

Medical Science: COVID-19 - Will the National Mask Mandate Save Us

For these products, you don't pay your money, and you generally don't get your choice--except that you have the choice to decline. These are all experimental products. They are not FDA-approved but are given under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Acceptance cannot be compelled, and recipients should be informed of this at vaccination centers. It is too early to see any long-term effects such as autoimmune diseases, impairment of fertility, or carcinogenesis.

For more information on vaccines, see lecture by pathologist Ryan Cole, M.D., or vaccines as "operating systems" by Lee Merritt, M.D., and corona virus article archive.

Jane M. Orient, M.D. obtained her undergraduate degrees in chemistry and mathematics from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and her M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1974. She completed an internal medicine residency at Parkland Memorial Hospital and University of Arizona Affiliated Hospitals and then became an Instructor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and a staff physician at the Tucson Veterans Administration Hospital. She has been in solo private practice since 1981 and has served as Executive Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) since 1989.

She is currently president of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness. She is the author of YOUR Doctor Is Not In: Healthy Skepticism about National Healthcare, and the second through fifth editions of Sapira's Art and Science of Bedside Diagnosis published by Wolters Kluwer. She authored books for school children, Professor Klugimkopf's Old-Fashioned English Grammar and Professor Klugimkopf's Spelling Method, published by Robinson Books, and coauthored two novels published as Kindle books, Neomorts and Moonshine. 

More than 100 of her papers have been published in the scientific and popular literature on a variety of subjects including risk assessment, natural and technological hazards and non-hazards, and medical economics and ethics. She is the editor of AAPS News, the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness Newsletter, and Civil Defense Perspectives, and is the managing editor of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

If you would like to discuss these issues, contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (520) 323-3110. Jane M. Orient, M.D., Executive Director, Association of American Physicians and Surgeons