KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City area could see its first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as next week.
Pending approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the Pfizer vaccine would ship nationwide within 24 to 72 hours.
With many questions surrounding the vaccine, 41 Action News went to the medical professionals to get answers.
The FDA is expected to consider the Moderna vaccine next Thursday. It's not uncommon for pharmaceutical companies to make vaccines for the same vaccine, doctors said.
“Multiple companies producing vaccines for a coronavirus vaccine or COVID-19 is not unusual because there are other infections which multiple companies produce vaccines for," said Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Kansas Health System.
Doctors said it's neck-and-neck in terms of vaccine efficacy between manufacturers right now, meaning one vaccine is not necessarily better than the other at this point.
“Both showed that they were both right around 95% efficacy so time will tell if those numbers change a little bit, but right now it shows that their efficacy is very similar at this point in time," said Dr. Mark Steele of Truman Medical Center.
Symptoms and side effects of the vaccine have also been a concern, though doctors said symptoms in the vaccine trials were mild to moderate fatigue and muscle aches.
“My marker is, 'Would I take it?' — and before someone asks, the short answer is yes, I’d take this based on what we know — or recommend a family member take it, so we believe it’s safe," said Dr. Tim Williamson, KU Health's vice president of quality and safety.
Another concern surrounds the second dose of the vaccine. Doctors say 21 days after the first does is the current recommendation.
“We would much prefer you do that than say oh man, I missed my 21 days, I’m not going to get the second dose, so if there’s a question about what does that mean to each of you, don’t worry so much about the specific date, get the second dose, it’s extremely important and beneficial in the process," said Dr. David Wild, vice president of performance improvement at KU Health.
Until a large amount of people have been able to receive the vaccine, doctors said social distancing, masks and avoiding large crowds are still recommended for protection.
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