As of March 13, Utah has hit a 1 million milestone for the amount of COVID-19 vaccines that have been administered to its population, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Talks of a vaccine have been circling small news outlets since the first cases officially made headlines. Those talks were substantiated when the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were announced in December 2020. 

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is the product of a collaboration between two pharmaceutical company giants; both German and American in nature. The CDC reports it as a “95% efficacy” rate.

The Moderna vaccine is based out of an American pharmaceutical company from Massachusetts. The Yale Medical journal reports it with a “94.1% efficacy” rate. Amongst the vaccinations, a few side effects have been reported.

The Moderna vaccine is a two dose process. Results from a study conducted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) specifically highlight the following as the most common side effects of the ones reported: pain from injection, fatigue, headache, muscle soreness, joint pain, enlarged glands, nausea and vomiting, chills, swelling, skin redness, and fever. Within a week of receiving the first dose, 38.5% of participants reported fatigue, compared to a nearly double 67.6% from dose number two.

The trial analyzing both the first and second dose of the Pfizer vaccine have similar results. Watching for those same effects, 83.1% initially reported pain from injection from the first dose, compared to the 77.8% of participants that experienced those same pains from dose two. The other side effects had a slightly increased reporting from round 2.

The Utah Office of the Medical Examiner (OME)  released a joint statement with the Department of Health on March 18: “The OME has determined there have been NO DEATHS caused by the COVID-19 vaccines to date in Utah.”

Finally, they continued, “The COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. They are how we will end this pandemic.”