COVID-19 Vaccine: What Educators and School Staff Need to Know

Get vaccinated to protect your family, students, coworkers, community, and yourself.

In a free webinar on April 20, 2021, Eric Perez, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Chilton Medical Center, talked to educators and school staff about COVID-19 vaccines. He addressed some common myths in approachable ways, like the theory that mRNA vaccines change your DNA.

Dr. Perez used an analogy to explain the mRNA technology used for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. He compared DNA, which contains the unique genetic code for your body, to a typewriter. It tells the cells what to do.

Imagine that instructions come out of the typewriter as a piece of paper (mRNA). COVID-19 mRNA vaccines (paper in this analogy) instruct our cells to make a harmless piece of a protein that triggers an immune response so your body learns how to fight the infection. Like a piece of paper isn’t able to go back and change the typewriter that created it, mRNA can’t change your DNA.

Dr. Perez also explained how the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is created, the different types of immunity vaccines provide, how effectiveness is measured and where the various vaccines stand. He also answered common questions about vaccine safety and side effects.

The last half of the webinar was dedicated to audience questions on variants, boosters, the potential for long-term side effects, recommendations for people who are immunosuppressed and more.

Watch the Webinar