Answers to Your Questions About the New Covid Vaccines in the U.S.

Vaccines are rolling out to health workers now and will reach the arms of the rest of us by spring. Here’s what you need to know.

The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccines are prepared to be shipped at a Pfizer plant on Dec. 13, 2020 in Portage, Michigan.
The Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccines are prepared to be shipped at a Pfizer plant on Dec. 13, 2020 in Portage, Michigan.Credit…Pool photo by Morry Gash

Dec. 14, 2020

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Here’s what you need to know:

Getting the vaccine
Safety and side effects
What about my situation? Answers about different types of patients.
Vaccinating pregnant women and children
Life after vaccination
How the different vaccines work

Getting the vaccine
Why can’t everyone get the vaccine now?

There aren’t enough doses for everyone, so initially the vaccine will be rationed for those who need it most. It will take time to produce and distribute the vaccine, and then schedule two vaccinations per person, three to four weeks apart. As more vaccines get approved, things will speed up. At least 40 million doses (enough for 20 million people) should be available from Pfizer and Moderna by the end of the year, and much more will come in 2021. How many doses will your state get? Look up your state’s vaccine distribution plans here. —Abby Goodnough
Who will get the vaccine first?

Here’s the expected order for vaccinations:

Health care workers and people in long-term care facilities: The nation’s 21 million health care workers and three million mostly elderly people living in long-term care facilities will go first, starting in December. Initially, there won’t be enough doses to vaccinate all health care workers, so states will prioritize based on exposure risk, choosing emergency room staff, for instance, to go first. Or they may offer the vaccine to the oldest health care workers first.

Essential workers: The 87 million Americans who work in food and agriculture, manufacturing, law enforcement, education, transportation, corrections, emergency response and other sectors, likely will be second in line, starting early next year. States will set priorities. Arkansas, for example, has proposed including workers in its large poultry industry, while Colorado wants to include ski industry workers who live in congregate housing.

Adults with underlying medical conditions and people over 65. Health officials are hoping to get any remaining older adults who have not been vaccinated sometime in the first quarter. Some states might decide to vaccinate residents over 75 before some types of essential workers.

All other adults. Adults in the general population are at the back of the line. They could start receiving the vaccine as early as April, said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, although many people likely will have to wait until at least May or June. The vaccine hasn’t been approved in children, so it may be several months, or possibly a year, before the vaccine is available for anyone under the age of 16. —Abby Goodnough, Tara Parker-Pope

How will the first doses of the vaccine get to health workers?

Hospitals and medical groups are contacting health workers to schedule vaccine appointments. FedEx and UPS will transport the vaccine throughout most of the country, and each delivery will be followed by shipments of extra dry ice a day later.

Pfizer designed special containers, with trackers and enough dry ice to keep the doses sufficiently cold for up to 10 days. Every truck carrying the containers will have a device that tracks its location, temperature, light exposure and motion. Pfizer will ship the special coolers, each containing at least 1,000 doses, directly to locations determined by each state’s governor. At first, almost all of those sites will probably be hospitals that have confirmed they can store shipments at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit, as the Pfizer vaccine requires, or use them quickly. —Abby Goodnough
How will the vaccine get to nursing homes?

The pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens have contracts with the federal government to send teams of pharmacists and support staff into thousands of long-term care facilities in the coming weeks to vaccinate all willing residents and staff members. CVS and Walgreens are both planning to administer their first vaccinations on Dec. 21.

More than 40,000 facilities have chosen to work with CVS. Nearly 35,000 picked Walgreens. Each U.S. state has already picked, or will soon pick, either the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine for all of its long-term care facilities that will be working with the pharmacies. —Rebecca Robbins, Abby Goodnough
How will the rest of us get vaccinated?

It’s likely that when the general public starts getting vaccinated in April, shots will be scheduled through doctor’s offices, CVS, Walgreens and other pharmacies — the same way people get flu shots. However, final plans will depend on what other vaccines besides Pfizer’s and Moderna’s have been approved. —Abby Goodnough, Rebecca Robbins
The New York Times