SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)- Amy Koval has worked as a nurse on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in a nursing home for over a year now and is back to wearing masks and face shields once again.
With some Americans feeling hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine, numbers still linger for new cases daily.
Koval believes misconceptions play a large part in this hesitancy, and one key factor is confusion on how deaths are reported for those fully vaccinated.
“When people get a vaccine, if you die from any cause after that [like] an automobile accident, anything at all, your death is reported as having died after getting the vaccine,” said Koval.
She wants to clarify that “after the vaccine,” is not the same as “because of the vaccine.”
Koval says extensive research went into the COVID-19 vaccines.
“There were more people involved in the testing of these vaccines than any other vaccine that they’ve given their children when they were a baby,” said Koval.
Research from the University of Maryland found that approval of the COVID-19 vaccines was faster than any other vaccine.
The University of Maryland researchers say it’s because of more funding, pre-approval of vaccine manufacturing and advanced global communications. Koval said that this hesitancy may also be due to the number of elderly Americans that have died since the vaccine.
“The first people we vaccinated were the high risk, the elderly, who were already nearing the end of their lives, So the fact that they may have died sometime after they received the COVID vaccine is not extraordinary. They were at that stage of their life anyway”, said Koval.
Koval’s main tip for accuracy about COVID-19 and its vaccine is to check the CDC website for the most correct information.
