Vaccine Info

COVID-19 Vaccine FAQ

Idaho COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Committee (CVAC) Vaccine Prioritization (Updated: March 9, 2021)

SOUTHWEST DISTRICT HEALTH INFORMATION

Southwest District Health COVID-19 vaccine e-mail and phone number are available to address questions regarding the COVID-19 vaccine:

COVIDvaccine@phd3.idaho.gov or call 208-593-1412.

SWDH Facts About COVID-19 Vaccines PDF resource is available at the following link (also may be located under the SWDH COVID-19 Resources Section): https://phd3.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Facts-About-COVID_12282020_-FINAL.pdf

ADDITIONAL LINKS AND INFORMATION

Centers for Disease Control Vaccine website

Types of Vaccines (copied from this CDC website)

Currently, there are three main types of COVID-19 vaccines that are or soon will be undergoing large-scale (Phase 3) clinical trials in the United States. Below is a description of how each type of vaccine prompts our bodies to recognize and protect us from the virus that causes COVID-19. None of these vaccines can give you COVID-19.

mRNA vaccines contain material from the virus that causes COVID-19 that gives our cells instructions for how to make a harmless protein that is unique to the virus. After our cells make copies of the protein, they destroy the genetic material from the vaccine. Our bodies recognize that the protein should not be there and build T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes that will remember how to fight the virus that causes COVID-19 if we are infected in the future.

Protein subunit vaccines include harmless pieces (proteins) of the virus that cause COVID-19 instead of the entire germ. Once vaccinated, our immune system recognizes that the proteins don’t belong in the body and begins making T-lymphocytes and antibodies. If we are ever infected in the future, memory cells will recognize and fight the virus.

Vector vaccines contain a weakened version of a live virus—a different virus than the one that causes COVID-19—that has genetic material from the virus that causes COVID-19 inserted in it (this is called a viral vector). Once the viral vector is inside our cells, the genetic material gives cells instructions to make a protein that is unique to the virus that causes COVID-19. Using these instructions, our cells make copies of the protein. This prompts our bodies to build T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes that will remember how to fight that virus if we are infected in the future.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ Ethical Principles for Allocating Initial Supplies of COVID-19 Vaccine — United States, 2020

Additional information and links will be posted as information becomes available.