COVID-19 Vaccine FAQs

We will begin distributing the Moderna vaccine the week of Jan. 4 in select CHRISTUS clinic locations in Texas to patients who fit the state’s 1b guidelines.As our hospitals continue to care for patients with COVID and other medical needs, we will be offering these vaccinations through our clinics and urgent cares, as they are better prepared to provide this type of care to large groups of the public.  

To see if you qualify for the vaccine please click on the yellow icon to your right.  CHRISTY, our virtual assistant will prompt you with a few screening questions to ensure that you qualify.  If you do qualify, CHRISTY will help you find an appointment at the closest CHRISTUS clinic or urgent care location to you. 

Please note that vaccinations are by appointment only at this time.

The goal is for everyone to be able to easily get a COVID-19 vaccination as soon as large quantities of vaccine are available. We will closely follow state and CDC guidelines and recommendations for who will be prioritized next for receiving the vaccine and will be certain to communicate that to our patients. 

Side effects are usually mild but include a sore arm at the site of your shot. They also include a headache, fever, chills and fatigue. These side effects will likely only last 24-36 hours and you should be able to continue your daily activities and work. These side effects mean that your body is responding and creating antibodies to COVID-19. However, contact your primary care provider if you experience symptoms such as fever or if the side effects get worse instead of better. 

Yes. To answer this question, we relied on a team of clinical experts, pharmacists, physicians and others with experience reviewing drugs and other therapeutics to determine if they are safe and effective and should be offered at CHRISTUS.

That team decided that yes, despite the speed of development, the clinical trials were appropriate and adequately conducted. CHRISTUS also believes the availability of an effective/safe vaccine is the most powerful tool we have that can help end this pandemic.

However, this is a personal decision, so we encourage you to review the data on these vaccines, ask questions and speak to your personal health care professional about the benefits and risks as they relate to your personal situation.

We’re not sure yet if the vaccine will provide immunity that last months or years.

 

Yes, the vaccine is recommended to all who have had COVID-19 infection, even if you have antibodies. But you should not receive a vaccination until you have recovered from your infection. You’ll know when it’s safe because you will be able to discontinue your isolation.  If you have been exposed to COVID-19, you must wait until after your 14-day quarantine period to receive the vaccine.  No COVID testing is recommended prior to receiving the vaccine.

Yes, but not immediately. Vaccination should be delayed for at least 90 days to avoid interference of the treatment with vaccine-induced immune responses.

Yes, it is possible to still get COVID-19 if you have been vaccinated. However, those who were vaccinated in the clinical trials were far less likely to get COVID-19 compared to who were not. In addition, those who received the vaccine in the clinical trials did not have any serious infections (like those that required hospitalizations, etc.).

Yes, and practice social distancing, good hand hygiene and avoid large crowds, etc. –all of this should remain in practice for you even after you receive both doses of the vaccine. Until most of us in our community are vaccinated, which will likely take months, we must keep these safety precautions in place. Getting vaccinated protects you, but not necessarily others.

You should talk with your doctor. There isn’t enough data to say for sure, so pregnancy and breastfeeding are not immediate reasons to deny vaccination. So women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should discuss the pros and cons of vaccination with their health care professional.

The vaccines we expect to receive first, from Pfizer and Moderna, require two doses, 21 or 28 days apart. It’s very important that you receive both doses, so please verify that you will be available on the correct day to receive dose 2.

We believe so. Since you can become infected with COVID-19 even after you’ve had both doses of the vaccine, you could pass it to someone else. That’s why it’s so important to continue all the healthy behaviors you’ve adopted to avoid and stop the spread of COVID-19.

If you miss the second dose we don’t recommend you start over. Instead, we ask that you make an appointment for your second dose as soon as possible.

If you have questions about your personal health concerns or history and how that might be impacted by vaccination, we encourage you to talk with your primary care provider, who knows your conditions and your history and can advise you personally.

There were 44,000 participants in phase 3 of Pfizer’s clinical trial and 30,000 in Moderna’s. There were no serious negative events in any of these participants.

Yes. The Catholic Health Association has issued a public statement that indicates they find nothing morally prohibitive with the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. The position of the Catholic Church is that, in general, vaccines are a moral good preventing disease and saving the lives of millions of people.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which we will distribute first, were not developed using cell lines from aborted fetuses.  Therefore, both vaccines are morally appropriate to distribute by Catholic health care organizations, including all CHRISTUS Health ministries.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and others developed using fetal cell lines are morally appropriate to use when there is no alternative available.  This is because a critical moral issue regarding vaccines in Catholic theology involves the use of cell lines from voluntary aborted fetuses in their development. The Moral Reflection on Vaccines published by the Pontifical Academy for Life suggests that vaccines using these fetal cell lines should be avoided and alternatives should be sought.  The document goes on to state, however, that in the case where no alternative vaccine is available, the use of existing vaccine is morally acceptable.

For more information about the vaccine including how and when CHRISTUS Trinity Clinic is administering it, visit christustrinityclinic.org.