The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the use of vaccines for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. At this time, all three vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson) have been reported by the FDA and CDC as highly effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19.
Widespread vaccination means the coronavirus will not infect as many people; this has been said to limit the spread throughout communities and restrict the virus’s opportunity to continue mutating into new variants.
COVID-19 vaccines teach our immune systems how to recognize and fight the virus that causes COVID-19. It typically takes two weeks after vaccination for the body to build protection (immunity) against the virus that causes COVID-19. That means it is possible a person could still get COVID-19 before or just after vaccination and then get sick because the vaccine did not have enough time to provide protection, according to the CDC.
People are considered fully protected two weeks after their second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine or two weeks after the single-dose Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccine. You should keep using all the tools available to protect yourself and others until you are fully vaccinated.
Crescent and Covid Vaccinations
At this time, Crescent doesn't have access to COVID-19 vaccines; once COVID vaccines are made available to organizations, Crescent is still planning on providing vaccines onsite through a Wellness event. However, you may have quicker access to a COVID vaccine before COVID-19 vaccinations are made available to Crescent.
The administration fees for the COVID-19 vaccinations are covered at 100% if you are enrolled in one of Crescent's Benefit Plans. If you have any questions with coverage, please contact Aetna at 1-800-872-3862 or contact your SPG.
COVID-19 Recommended Resources
Check your local pharmacy’s website to see if vaccine appointments are available. To determine which pharmacies participate in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program, visit CDC’s Federal Retail Pharmacy Program website.
What We Don't Know
Although COVID-19 vaccines are effective at keeping you from getting sick, scientists are still learning how well vaccines prevent you from spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 to others, even if you do not have symptoms. Early data show the vaccines help keep people with no symptoms from spreading COVID-19; the CDC and FDA are learning more as more people get vaccinated.
We’re also still learning how long COVID-19 vaccines protect people.
For these reasons, people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 should keep taking precautions until we know more, like wearing a mask, staying 6 feet apart from others, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces, and washing their hands often.
