Hamilton doctors take on COVID-19 vaccine myths during town hall

Local health experts spent much of Thursday's COVID-19 virtual town hall answering questions — and debunking myths — about vaccines.

Mayor Fred Eisenberger raised the issue of conspiracy theories floating around online.

There isn't a microchip in the vaccine to allow the government to track immunized people, Eisenberger said.

And no, the vaccine doesn't mess up your DNA.

Here are some of the questions and answers.

Does the COVID-19 vaccine make you sick or give you the virus?

The COVID-19 vaccine doesn't give you the virus, according to Dr. Fiona Smaill, a medical microbiologist and professor of  infectious diseases.

"There's nothing live in it, so you will not get COVID from the COVID vaccine," she said.

She added, like any vaccine, someone may get mild side-effects like "a sore arm where it gets injected and people may feel a bit off colour" but there's nothing to show it will give you the virus.

Do the COVID-19 vaccines mess up your DNA?

The COVID-19 vaccine doesn't mess up your DNA, said Dr. Zain Chagla, the co-medical director of infection control and an infectious diseases physician at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. He explained how the vaccine uses mRNA by comparing it to making a pie.

"You can either go get a pie and buy it from a shop and not cook at all, and that's really what our protein vaccines are, like a Hepatitis B vaccine. The other thing you can do is go on the internet, print out a recipe and make the pie yourself. That print out you get is the same as mRNA. It's kind of the instructions on how to make the pie. You can take those print out instructions, but you can't change the recipe online with them, so it really is a one-way street," he said.

"It's a really novel approach but it is very similar to how we do other vaccines … you can't go backward and alter your DNA from that photocopy.

Can you still get COVID-19 after getting the vaccine?

Smaill says the chances of getting the virus after being vaccinated is "very, very low."

"We've heard 95 per cent protection. We really think this vaccine is going to be pretty effective, there may be a few cases but overall I'm confident the chances of getting COVID, if you've been vaccinated, are very, very low."

She also expects to see a safe vaccine for children soon.

How do I decide if I want the vaccine?

Chagla said the vaccines are approved for anyone over 16 for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and anyone over 18 for the Moderna vaccine.

"Many of us make the choice for vaccination for good health," he said.

He added people are busy at work collecting data on the global vaccination campaigns to find any other unknown side effects and recommended talking to your own doctor or trusted public health officials for information. He also referred people to government websites for more information. 

Hamilton records 4 new deaths

Four more people who were diagnosed with COVID-19 have died according to public health data. Two of them were in their 70s and two were 80 or older. That's a total of 248 deaths.

Hamilton Public Health Services (HPHS) shows there were 61 new cases on Friday and 681 active cases.

There have been 9,057 cases (confirmed and probable) since March.

There are also 110 people in hospital and the city has 48 outbreaks.

The latest outbreak is at Canada Bread on 745 Nebo Rd. where 11 of its 550 workers have been infected.

A spokesperson said the cases have occurred over the past 10 days. The spokesperson said the facility is being deemed a "hotspot" because it is in a community with a rising COVID-19 case count. The company said it is taking the matter "very seriously" and said it is ramping up COVID-19 precautions that have been there since March. 

The outbreak at the Good Shepherd Men's Shelter Cathedral site is also over.

Brant

The county of Brant has 55 active cases according to data online. There were 10 new cases.

There have been 1,342 cases since March and seven deaths. Seven people with COVID-19 are in hospital.

Brant County Public Health reports 2,552 vaccines have been administered.

Haldimand-Norfolk

Haldimand and Norfolk Counties are reporting three new COVID-19 cases.

There have been 1,309 throughout the pandemic. Of those, 58 are active.

The local public health unit has linked the virus to 38 deaths.

Halton

The number of COVID-19 cases in Halton rose by 52, for a total of 8,290 so far.

Data indicates 452 of those cases are active.

Twenty-five of the new cases were in Burlington, which has seen 2,204 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are 134 active cases in the city.

There have been 160 people who have died after being infected with the virus across the region, 38 of them in Burlington.

Niagara

Niagara reported 91 new cases. The region has seen 7,743 cases over the course of the pandemic, including 1,222 that are active.

There have been 307 deaths, eight more than Thursday.