OMRF Gives Insight Into COVID-19 Vaccine Safety

Doctors at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation think the COVID vaccine is safe and will most likely not become a yearly vaccine like the flu shot.

The process of making the vaccine was accelerated, but OMRF said every step was met to ensure safety.

It credits a head start by pharmaceutical companies with coming up with a vaccine so quickly.

Researchers said genetic breakdown of COVID-19 was published worldwide in January.

OMRF said that kind of information can take years to achieve.

Also, OMRF researchers said COVID-19 doesn't mutate as fast as the flu. 

It feels one series of vaccinations may be all that's needed to get rid of COVID-19 for good.

"The flu is a different virus than we've see the day before. With COVID, we don't see that. Ideally, if we can really make a global effort to vaccinate everybody, we may be able to get rid of COVID like we got rid of polio and we got rid of smallpox,” said OMRF immunologist and rheumatologist Dr. Eliza Chakravarty.

Chakravarty said the more people who get vaccinated, the less of a chance there is for a potentially resistant strain of COVID-19 to appear and flourish.