We all know the COVID-19 vaccine is out, but is it really safe? In my belief, yes it is, as it has already been used on thousands of people, so it must be safe. 

There have been five stages in the COVID vaccine development to make sure it is fully safe. Additionally, the way the vaccine is designed it is modern and more safe than most of the vaccines we have seen.

Out of the thousands of people in the US alone who have received the vaccine, it has seemingly proven itself to be effective and mostly safe so far, which is why people need to continue to get it. If we want it to be effective, we would need about at least 70% of the population to receive the vaccine for it to be truly effective in the end. The main side effect for most people seems to be a sore arm, especially after the second dose of the vaccine, which has more visible side effects than the first dose. But that does not seem harmful though and is just a strange thing we will have to deal with.

All of the five stages in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine have been completed to ensure the safety of the vaccines. The first stage was a pre-clinical to see how the vaccine should work and other research. The second stage is to see if the vaccine is safe as well as what doses it should be put out in. The third stage was to see how effective the vaccine is and what the symptoms are whilst slowly moving up on the numbers of people being tested on. The fourth stage was to get the vaccine approved and licensed for use across the world. The fifth and final stage is to make sure the vaccine will remain safe for use in the future and not have long term side effects.

The COVID-19 vaccine contains a synthetic version of mRNA (messenger RNA) that contains the instructions for human cells to start producing the spike protein which is found on the surface of the virus which causes COVID-19. The B cells in the human body will then recognize it and make sure the body knows the spike protein as a threat, and then will begin to produce antibodies for fighting it. Just because someone has the vaccine does not mean they can still carry the virus. The reason behind why the COVID-19 vaccine is safer than others is because it is based off of a synthetic mRNA still, and not a reduced or live virus which can be worse for people with a weakened immune system.

We know the vaccine is safe, can be trusted and has gone through multiple stages to ensure its effectiveness. There is still much work that needs to be done, but this is one of the first recovery steps.