Answering your questions about COVID-19 vaccines and ‘long-haulers’

As the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines slowly ripples its way across the country, infections continue to spread at an alarming rate. So far, more than 20 million Americans have been infected and over 350,000 have died from the disease.

States are targeting people with the highest risks first, and it will likely take several months before vaccines are widely available to the general population.

When Pew asked in late May if Americans would get the vaccine when it becomes available, about half fell into the “probably” or “definitely” camp. In November, those responses grew to 60 percent. Those who said no were skeptical of how quickly the vaccine was developed or were not concerned about contracting a serious case of COVID.

Tuesday, two physicians joined host Kerri Miller to answer questions about the safety of the vaccine and discuss what we currently know about the long-term effects of contracting COVID-19.

Guests:

• Dr. Ashish Jha is dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.

• Dr. William Schaffner is a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

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