Doctor Trudy Larson, M.D., a career infectious disease expert and Northern Nevada healthcare hero, debunks COVID-19 vaccine myths. She explores the misinformation that has been widely circulated, causing Nevadans to be hesitant to vaccinate themselves in COVID-19. Dr. Larson has over 44 years of experience working in Medicine, health research, education and public health. She is a member of the Governor’s Medical Advisory Team for COVID-19. She is the founding dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Nevada, Reno.
There's a lot of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines out there, but Dr. Larson is here to bust these myths:
- MYTH: Young adults don't need to get vaccinated.
TRUTH: Young people rarely get seriously ill with COVID-19 but can be asymptomatic and spread it to others. - MYTH: The vaccine will give you COVID.
TRUTH: Vaccines don't contain any live virus, making this impossible. - MYTH: The vaccine is unsafe because it was rushed to production.
TRUTH: The vaccine went through every single step from the creation to the testing, to the manufacturing. 60,000 people participated in the clinical trials. - MYTH: Vaccines cause severe side effects.
TRUTH: This vaccine has very few side effects. The most common is a sore arm and a number of people get fevers, muscle aches and fatigue that can last a few days. - MYTH: The vaccine isn't safe, and we don't know what's in it.
TRUTH: We actually do know exactly what's in this vaccine. It is not a microchip. It is not live coronavirus. There's no impact on DNA. It does not cause women's infertility. It is very safe and effective, even against variants of the disease.
Get vaccinated
Our goal is to keep our Pack strong while holding in-person classes and keeping students on campus. To protect the Pack, each Wolf must do its part. If you have not yet been vaccinated, we encourage you to do so, as it remains the most effective weapon in the fight against COVID-19.
Here are ways to get vaccinated:
- Make a vaccine appointment at no-cost by contacting the University Student Health Center at 775-784-6598. The Student Health Center continues to offer daily COVID-19 testing by appointment as well.
- Make a vaccine appointment with the Washoe County Health District.
- Text your zip code to 438829 to get three locations near you with vaccines in stock.
- Use the COVID-19 Vaccine Locator from Immunize Nevada.
If you have questions or would like more information regarding the COVID-19 vaccination, please call the Student Health Center at 775-784-6598.
Visit the Student Health Center
Go Pack!
Hi, I'm Dr. Trudy Larson or Dr. L. as my students, call me. And I'm an infectious disease specialist. Today, I'm here to talk to you about COVID, specifically COVID vaccines. I want to give you information so that you feel confident to go and get vaccinated and get back to your life.
So young people rarely get sick with COVID. However, it's not guaranteed that they won't get serious illness, you can't tell. So it's important to get vaccinated so that you don't get infected and take a chance. And those around you will be protected from getting infected.
Some people think that the COVID vaccine will give you COVID.
That's absolutely untrue.
There is no live virus in this vaccine, so it can't make you ill.
Some people are concerned that the vaccine manufacturing process was rushed because we had a vaccine out so fast. However, nothing could be farther from the truth. This vaccine went through every single step from the creation to the testing, to the manufacturing. 60,000 people participated in the clinical trials. And that's a lot to show that this vaccine was both safe and highly, effective. Nothing was rushed.
Many people are very concerned about the side effects and how severe they might be.
Well, luckily this vaccine has very few side effects. The most common is a sore arm and a number of people actually get fevers, muscle aches. They maybe fatigued for maybe a day or two but that's it. Rarely, are there serious side effects. We all can deal with a sore arm.
Some information, that has come out on the web, has suggested that we really don't know what's in this vaccine. Well, we actually do know exactly what's in this vaccine. And it is not a microchip. There's no impact on DNA and it does not cause women's infertility.
It is a very safe and effective vaccine. I encourage you to go get vaccinated as soon as you can.
It's available here at the Student Health Center.
