COVID-19 Vaccinations

The COVID-19 vaccines are available for individuals 5 and older. People who are 18 or older may take the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Children between the ages of 5 and 17 may take Pfizer’s vaccine. Anyone younger than 18 will need permission from a parent or guardian to be vaccinated.

Eastern Idaho Public Health requires appointments to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Please give them a call at 208-533-3223 Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to schedule a time to get your vaccine.

You do not have to pay anything to get the COVID-19 vaccine. A vaccine administration fee will be billed to your insurance provider with no out-of-pocket costs to you. Simply bring your health insurance card, Medicare or Medicaid card with you when you come to get vaccinated. Even if you do not have insurance, you still will not need to pay anything to get the vaccine.

Booster shots are now recommended for everyone, since protection from the vaccines start to decrease after approximately six months. Getting a booster shot bumps your protection level back up to what it was or even higher than your initial vaccine. If you received Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccine at least six months ago, you are now eligible for a booster. If you had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you can get your booster shot starting two months after your first dose. If you have any questions about COVID-19 boosters, please contact your primary care provider.

Yes. COVID-19 vaccines are encouraged for anyone who is 12 or older, including women who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant or may become pregnant in the future.

Getting a COVID-19 vaccine can protect you from getting really sick from the virus. Unfortunately, women who are pregnant or who recently had a baby are at a higher risk for getting severely ill with COVID-19 compared with non-pregnant people. It is important to note, there is no scientific evidence that vaccines of any type cause fertility problems in women or men.

We encourage community members to get vaccinated regardless of if they have already had COVID-19 or not. In fact, data from the clinic trials show the vaccine provides additional protection to participants who already had the virus.

You can receive the vaccine as soon as you’re fully recovered and no longer have any symptoms associated with COVID-19. However, if you were treated with monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma, you will need to wait 90 days before getting the vaccine. Please speak with your doctor if you have any questions.

The COVID-19 vaccine is still recommended, even if you’ve had allergic reactions to other vaccines in the past. If you do have a history of reactions, please let our team know as soon as you arrive at the vaccine clinic. We will talk to you about what vaccines you have reacted to in the past and talk about the benefits and the risks of the vaccination.

You can still get the COVID-19 vaccine but you will need to wait 90 days after your monoclonal antibody treatment.

You can get your COVID-19 vaccine immediately. There is no need to wait between vaccines.

If you missed the date for your second dose of the vaccine, please come in to get your shot as soon as possible.

Currently, the Pfizer vaccine is available for children who are 5 and older. The vaccine is not yet available for children who are younger than 5.

If your child is too young to be vaccinated, encourage them to wear a mask in public when they are around people outside their household and practice good hand hygiene.

We encourage everyone over the age of 5 to be vaccinated, especially as we are starting to see more children becoming seriously ill from COVID-19.

We currently have doses of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine are messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines. They work by giving your body instructions on how to make the S protein found on the surface of the COVID-19 virus. After you are vaccinated, your cells will start to produce pieces of the S protein. In turn, this causes your body to generate antibodies, which will attack the virus if you ever become infected with COVID-19. Pfizer and Moderna both require two doses to reach their full effectiveness.

Johnson & Johnson is a single dose vector vaccine. It works by taking genetic material from the COVID-19 virus and placing it in a modified version of a different virus (known as the viral vector). When the viral vector gets into your cells, your immune system responds by creating antibodies and defensive white blood cells. These will protect you if you ever contract COVID-19. It is important to point out, viral vector vaccines cannot cause you to become infected with COVID-19 or the viral vector virus.

All of the vaccines have been shown to be effective in preventing people from becoming seriously ill from the virus, so the best vaccine is the vaccine that is available.

Each vaccine takes a different length of time to be effective. Both the Modern and Pfizer vaccines have been shown to provide some protection immediately after the first dose. However, for the Moderna vaccine to reach its full 94% effectiveness at preventing the virus it takes two weeks after the second dose. The second dose should be administered 28 days (or as close to it as possible) from the time of the first dose.

Similarly, Pfizer also needs two weeks after its second dose to reach its 91% effectiveness. Pfizer only requires 21 days between injections.

Johnson & Johnson is a single dose vaccine and reaches its full effectiveness (66% effective at preventing the virus with symptoms) after two weeks.

You should continue to wear a mask and practice social distancing until your vaccine is fully effective.

The COVID-19 vaccines all underwent rigorous testing and large clinical trials before being made available to the public. The vaccines followed the required processes and procedures to make sure they meet the highest safety measures. No protocols were changed and no steps were skipped. Many pharmaceutical companies contributed significant resources to develop vaccines to help communities and many individuals signed up to be participate in the studies. To date, millions of doses of the vaccines have been given under the most intense safety monitoring in our nation’s history. Our medical staff recommends anyone who is 12 or older get vaccinated against COVID-19.

No. None of the vaccines contain the virus, so it is impossible for you to get COVID-19 as a result of being vaccinated.

Vaccine side effects vary person to person. Some individuals experience no side effects from taking the vaccine, while others may report feeling pain, redness or swelling at the injection site and feeling tired or experiencing muscle aches, chills or nausea. All of these side effects are normal and a sign that your body is building protection against the virus.

COVID-19 vaccines are not interchangeable. When you come in for your second shot, you should receive the same product as your first shot.