Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued his first formal health advisory last week, warning Americans that misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines poses an “imminent and insidious threat to our nation’s health.”Such advisories are typically used to flag the dangers of tobacco use or the opioid epidemic. ‘I’ve already had COVID, so I don’t need the vaccine.’Surviving a bout of COVID-19 probably won’t protect you as effectively as a full course of COVID-19 vaccine, experts say. Advertisement“Somebody who had COVID at the beginning of the pandemic may have had a very different variant than what’s circulating right now,” Carnethon said. “The vaccines are demonstrating that they protect against the new variants.”Even if you’ve had COVID-19, getting those shots is well worth it. What you really should be worried about is the long-term effects of a coronavirus infection, Carnethon said.

Source: Los Angeles Times July 22, 2021 19:18 UTC