COVID-19 Vaccines Are Safe and Effective

COVID-19 vaccines are shots that can protect you against COVID-19, and prevent serious illness and death from COVID-19. The vaccine also lowers your chances of spreading COVID-19 to others. Everyone 12 years of age and older is eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

In the U.S., the FDA has authorized 3 different vaccines: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is available to people ages 12 and up. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccines are available to ages 18 and up. There will likely be more vaccines available in the future as research continues. COVID-19 vaccines may be slightly different, but any vaccine that you can get will help protect you.

All vaccines available in the U.S. have been carefully tested and proven to be safe and effective. It’s best to get the first vaccine that’s available to you — don’t wait for a specific vaccine unless your doctor tells you to. The sooner more people can get vaccinated, the sooner more people will be protected from COVID-19 and the sooner the pandemic will end.

COVID-19 vaccines are free to the public. You don’t need to have health insurance, and your immigration status doesn’t matter — anyone 12 years old and up can get the vaccine for free.

The Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine is 1 shot. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is a series of 2 shots, 3 weeks apart. The Moderna vaccine is a series of 2 shots, 4 weeks apart. If you get the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, you need to get both doses of the same type of vaccine to get full protection against COVID-19.

You’ll get a card or some other kind of documentation that shows when you got your shot, where you got your shot, and what kind of shot you got. If you’re getting a 2-dose vaccine, it will also say when you need to come back for your second shot. If you have questions about the type of shot you got and when you need to come back for your second dose, contact the location that gave you the COVID-19 vaccine.

It’s safe for you to stop wearing masks and socially distancing in most situations once you’re fully vaccinated (2 weeks after your final dose).

Once you’re fully vaccinated:

• It’s safe to go back to doing most activities without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet away from others.

  • Vaccinated people still need to follow all state, local, tribal, or territorial rules, as well as workplace and business guidelines. So if a store, venue, or office asks you to wear a mask, you should wear one. 

  • Vaccinated people still need to wear masks while traveling and on public transportation (like planes, trains, buses, and in stations and airports).

• You can travel within the U.S. without getting tested or self-quarantining. 

  • All international travelers must take additional precautions, like getting tested for COVID-19 before flying back to the U.S. and 3-5 days after travel. International travel can increase your risk for COVID-19, even if you’re vaccinated, because the spread of new or more dangerous COVID-19 variants differs depending on the country. Read more about guidelines for international travel. 

• You don’t have to quarantine or get tested for COVID-19 after being in contact with someone who has COVID-19, unless you have symptoms or live or work in a prison or homeless shelter. 

  • If you do have COVID-19 symptoms, get tested and stay away from other people.

Talk with your nurse or doctor if you have a condition or are taking medicine that affects your immune system. You may need to keep taking all precautions to avoid COVID-19 — like wearing masks and social distancing — even after getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

Research shows that the vaccine works very well to prevent death and serious illness from COVID-19 — so if you’re fully vaccinated, it’s extremely unlikely that you will get very sick or die from COVID-19. But scientists are still learning more about how the vaccine protects you and others who are not vaccinated. There are different variants (AKA strains) of COVID-19, and the vaccine may protect against some strains better than others. Scientists also don’t know exactly how long the vaccine works to prevent COVID-19.

There’s a very small chance that people who’ve had the vaccine can still spread the virus and get other people sick, even if they don’t get sick themselves. And there are still many people who haven’t been vaccinated, but could get sick and even die from COVID-19. So even if you’re vaccinated, you can help keep everyone safe by taking other steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19 — like wearing masks on public transportation, and following state, local, workplace, and business rules around masks and social distancing,

You can read more about the current guidelines for vaccinated people on the CDC website

Remember: it usually takes a few weeks after you finish getting your vaccine(s) for your body to build immunity (protection) against COVID-19 — that means it’s still possible to get sick from COVID-19 between, or right after, your vaccines. So keep taking the same steps to protect yourself and others as unvaccinated people do, until at least 2 weeks after your final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

No. The vaccine only helps protect you from getting COVID-19 in the future. Right now, there’s no cure for COVID-19 if you currently have it, though there are treatments available to help manage it.

If you’re sick with COVID-19 or think you might have it, wait until you feel better and your nurse or doctor says it’s safe for you to stop isolating and get your COVID-19 vaccine.

No. The COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t make you sterile or affect your fertility. Misinformation has been spread on social media claiming that the vaccines make your body attack reproductive organs, leading to infertility. This is completely false and is not based on any science or research. Our bodies are smart and the vaccine trains them to focus their attack on the coronavirus, without attacking our internal organs. COVID-19 vaccines don’t give you COVID-19, make you sick, or change your DNA or genetic material. There is no evidence that a person will have problems getting pregnant after getting the COVID-19 vaccine. In fact, during the vaccine trials, about the same number of people became pregnant in both the placebo group and the vaccine group. More FAQ on Issues Related to Fertility, Pregnancy and Lactation and COVID-19 Vaccines