COVID-19 vaccine: Take it to protect you and your family

Taking the vaccine not only protects you, but also protects your family and friends from contracting the deadly disease from you.

Since the release of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, I have heard from many people many excuses for not taking it. These excuses are not based on fact or science. They are myths.

Here is the truth:

• The vaccine can not cause you to get COVID-19.
• The vaccine does not and can not alter your DNA.
• The vaccine does not contain an electronic chip.
• The vaccine does not contain dead COVID-19 virus or virus parts.
• The vaccine has been extensively tested scientifically. Any arm soreness, body aches or fever are simply signs that your immune system is responding to the vaccine.

Here is the simple science:

• The COVID-19 vaccine is a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine. Our bodies constantly depend on our own mRNA to tell our cells to make various important proteins.
• Vaccine mRNA is "engineered" to tell our cells to make a unique protein that is found on the surface of the Coronavirus. After the COVID-19 protein is made in the cells, it is released into the body. Our immune system recognizes the new protein as "foreign" and makes antibodies to it. When the vaccinated person is exposed to the COVID-19 virus, the antibodies attack the virus and prevent the disease.

Understanding this simple, logical and scientifically formulated strategy dispels all of the common myths about the COVID-19 vaccine.

Many of our patients who suffer severe illness and die due to COVID-19 unfortunately contracted the disease from family or friends. So, please take the coronavirus vaccine. The life you save may be your spouse, mother, father or grandparents.

Matthew Riffle, MD, is an internal medicine physician in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. This guest column originally appeared in the Daily American Republic.