Dose Of Truth: Does The Vaccine Give Me COVID-19?

There’s a lot of false information out there about the two leading COVID-19 vaccines in the US.  We wanted to provide the facts and answer some questions. 

I’m not a doctor but know a few, so we asked: Does the vaccine give me COVID-19? 

“The vaccine does not give you COVID. The front runners use mRNA from COVID, which is a part of the basic building blocks of the virus," said Dr. Josh Lesko, Brief19 Lead Policy Analyst.  

“It allows for a small amount of genetic material called messenger RNA to be transported to our cells. And then our cell is able to use that information in that piece of genetic material to make a very specific protein that is usually found on the outside part of the virus that causes COVID-19. Once the body is able to create those proteins, then it can then use its immune system to then create a protective response," explained Dr. Jasmine R. Marcelin an Infectious Diseases Physician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.