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COVID-19 Vaccine

COVID-19 vaccine

COVID-19 vaccines are an important tool that can help us end the pandemic and return to doing the thing we miss like gathering with loved ones, seeing live concerts, traveling, and going out to dinner.

If you'd prefer to speak with a person about vaccine eligibility and locations, call
1.800.401.0946
between 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, seven days a week

Why we need a vaccine

  • Approved and authorized vaccines protect people by lowering their chances of getting seriously ill or dying from COVID-19.
  • If enough Nevadans get vaccinated, we can keep our businesses, restaurants, casinos, and schools open and return to doing the things we miss and move toward normalcy.
  • Widespread vaccination will end this pandemic, the way it ended smallpox, polio, and measles.

How we know the vaccines are safe

  • Independent groups — not part of the government or a pharmaceutical company — assess clinical trial data and make recommendations on approval to the FDA and CDC.
  • Tens of thousands of people of different ages, races, and ethnicities participated in clinical trials across the country.
  • Speed did not compromise the safety or the scientific integrity of vaccine development.
  • Vaccines were manufactured during clinical trials with the intention of throwing them away if they were not deemed safe and effective. Ineffective vaccines have been discarded during this process.

How the vaccines work

  • The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are made using messenger RNA (mRNA). mRNA vaccines deliver instructions to the cell to build a protein that resembles a viral protein (one from the coronavirus) in order to generate an immune response.
  • mRNA does not alter or modify your DNA.
  • You cannot get COVID-19 from mRNA vaccines.
  • The Janssen vaccine uses an adenovirus vector vaccine — a more established approach to creating immunity through vaccination.
  • Adenovirus vector vaccines employ a harmless, inactive virus to deliver a gene that carries the blueprint for the spike protein found on the surface of the coronavirus. The virus enters cells, which then follow the genetic instructions to construct a replica of the coronavirus spike protein. The immune system uses these replicas to recognize — and respond to — the real coronavirus.

This website content is supported by the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health by Grant Number 6 NU50CK000560-02-04 from the CDC. It's contents are solely the responsibility of Immunize Nevada and do not necessarily represent the official views of DPBH or the CDC.