The latest on COVID-19 vaccines (July 20, 2021)
- Grants Pass Clinic is giving COVID vaccines
- We now have all the vaccines we can handle, so we’re giving COVID vaccines to anyone age 12 or older.
- We are giving the Pfizer vaccine
- The 3 vaccines with emergency use authorization in the U.S. are made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. With the Johnson & Johnson vaccine being temporarily withheld from the market, we’re giving the Pfizer vaccine. It’s given as 2 shots 3 weeks apart.
- What’s the deal with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine?
- A very small number of patients (<10 out of nearly 7,000,000 vaccine recipients) developed a blood clotting disorder within 2 weeks of receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, so the CDC took a ”pause” in using the vaccine until it could be better understood. This problem has not been reported with the more than 180,000,000 doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, so we’re still using those. Because of the way the vaccine is made, this complication is likely to be from only the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the AstraZeneca vaccine, which hasn’t gotten U.S. approval.
- The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is also being studied for a possible connection to Guillain-Barré syndrome. At this point, neither the Pfizer vaccine nor the Moderna vaccine are suspected to cause Guillain-Barré syndrome.
- Will the vaccine cause heart trouble?
- There have been rare cases of heart inflammation (myocarditis and pericarditis) after getting the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. Cases are usually mild and occur most often in adolescent and young adult males age 16 and older. It is still recommended that all people age 12 and older get the vaccine, as the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the potential risks.
- How do I schedule a vaccine?
- Call us at 541-476-6644 and get transferred to the COVID vaccine hotline. We also take walk-ins, but an appointment works better.
- Where are the vaccines being given?
- Grants Pass Clinic, located at 495 SW Ramsey Avenue in Grants Pass.
- How much does it cost?
- Nothing is free, but the vaccine has already been purchased by the federal government and our costs are covered by the County so we aren’t charging for the vaccine or its administration. We won’t bill you or your insurance company anything.
- Can I get a $25 Visa Rewards card?
- Yes! Josephine County Public Health supplied us with gift cards to give to anyone who gets a COVID-19 vaccine at Grants Pass Clinic. This offer is not retroactive.
- What about vaccine supply shortages?
- What we have is a demand shortage: not enough people are getting the vaccine. The disease has killed 1 out of every 50 county residents who have been diagnosed with COVID (62 deaths out of 3063 cases as of April 19), so getting the vaccine is clearly the smart thing to do. The vaccine is way easier than having even a mild case of the disease.