Currently there are three COVID vaccines available for use: Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen.
Pfizer takes two shots, 2 weeks after your second shot you are considered fully vaccinated. Pfizer is for people 16 and older, and the two shots are to be taken 3 weeks apart. Moderna is for people 18 and older, there are two doses that are 4 weeks apart. Two weeks after the second dose you are considered fully vaccinated. Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen is a one shot vaccine, it is for people 18 and older and after 2 weeks of the vaccine you are considered fully vaccinated. On April 13, they paused the Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen use, because of side effects some have experienced.
Even if you get a vaccine, life can’t yet go back to normal yet. Anthony Fauci says that until the population is vaccinated 70- 85% life can’t go back to normal. But what can you do now that you are fully vaccinated? The CDC said that you can gather indoors with people who are also fully vaccinated without masks or staying 6 feet apart. If traveling in the U.S. you do not need to get tested before or after you travel. If you are traveling outside of the U.S. you do not need to be tested unless the destination requires it. When coming back to the U.S. you do not need to quarantine.
What you still need to do if you are vaccinated is keep a mask on and stay 6 feet apart in public places, gathering with unvaccinated people, visiting an unvaccinated person, etc. We should still avoid large groups of people or events, and traveling anywhere you need to wear a mask.
The journey has been hard and 2020 was a difficult year, but if we continue to do our part in what is needed in order to prevent the spread we can go back to normal soon. We all miss normal and becoming vaccinated will make us one step closer to achieving that.