Discussion on Vaccines

Vaccines are a vital part of health care and save lives. In today’s episode, Kellie Krueger, MetroHealth Pharmacist, will discuss how vaccines work, the benefits and which ones are most important in preventing the spread of serious and potentially deadly diseases.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, folks, I'm Maddie Wills. Welcome to a brand
new episode of Be Well with Maddie Wills, brought to
you by the five folks over at Metro Health, where
we have important conversations about everything regarding our health. And
today's conversation is centered around vaccines and vaccinations. And before
we get to that, we'll introduce today's guest, Kelly Krueger.
Thank you so much for taking some time out.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Of your day.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yes, thanks for having me absolutely so. Before we get
into today's conversation, why don't you just tell our listeners
a little bit about your role with Metro and how
we got here today.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
So I am a pharmacist at Metro Health. I work
at the old Brooklyn location. I've been a pharmacist for
about nine years now. I came from an outside pharmacy.
I started with Metro in twenty twenty one during the pandemic.
I just felt really moved by Metro Health's mission. So
I'm really happy to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Thank you so much for being here. We know you
guys are busy, and I do love that you are
a lifelong clevelander. So we're off to a good note already.
So we'll just get into today's conversation. Okay, how do
vaccines work to prevent disease and infection in our bodies?

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, so there's a couple different kinds of vaccines out there.
The first one would be a live vaccine, so that
includes vaccines like chicken pox or MMR or the measles
mumps REBELLA vaccine. Those contain a very weak version of
a germ, which just teaches your body how to recognize
it without causing serious disease. The next one would be

(01:26):
an inactivated vaccine, so that's something like a flu shot.
It just contains like a dead version of the virus
in order to help your body recognize it again. Another
one would be an m RNA vaccine or the messenger RNA,
so that includes like our COVID vaccine. It kind of

(01:46):
gives your body a blueprint of how to recognize the
proteins of the virus in order to help your body
fight that in the future. Right, So all they basically
all just kind of teach your body how to recognize it,
so that if you ever do catch the virus in
the future, your body kind of has heads up as

(02:08):
to how to help.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
You and you brought up COVID. I'm sure I'll have
some questions about that later because I when I was
on air full time, it was during and right after
the pandemic, so we had a lot of conversations regarding that.
We try to get a lot of information to our
listeners regarding a lot of what you just said specific
to the COVID vaccination, but we'll get to that in

(02:31):
a bit. So what which vaccinations are considered most important
for adults and then for children?

Speaker 2 (02:36):
So it's really hard to decide because they're also important
for adults and children. You want to keep up to
date on your seasonal vaccines, so that includes things like
the flu and the COVID shot. We do need those
every year because the virus changes, so we update the
vaccines to make sure that they're going to provide you

(02:57):
the best protection. For adults, we also want to make
sure that people are up to date on things like
their shingles vaccine, your pneumonia vaccine. It's important to check
with your doctor to see what you might qualify for
because everybody's needs are a little bit different depending on
certain health conditions you have or what age you are.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
You just touched on something that I've often thought about.
Why do certain vaccines have to be taken more than
once and you just hit it? Because the virus does
change over.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Time, right, Yeah, so sometimes the virus changes. We also
do know that sometimes our immunity just wears off over time.
So that's why some vaccines require boosters or more than
one dose.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Got you? So, what are some side effects people might
have after getting vaccinated?

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Most common is going to be a sore arm, maybe
a slight headache or body aches, maybe some redness or
swelling where we give the vaccine. It's usually pretty temporary,
only last a couple of days, and it's really just
a sign that your immune system is doing what it's
supposed to.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Okay, So that's actually that's not as as daunting as
I thought that you were going to say. Sore arm
isn't too bad About long term benefits of vaccines, what
are some of those? So?

Speaker 2 (04:13):
The best benefit from vaccines is, you know, it keeps
you out of the hospital. It prevents for further complications
if you were to catch that disease, like cardiovascular issues
and things like that. It's also important to stay up
to date on your vaccines because there's not everybody qualifies
for all of the shots. Maybe people don't have a

(04:35):
very strong immune system, they can't take a certain vaccine,
or they just aren't old enough, things like that. So
we get things. We get herd immunity, which just protects
the entire community, prevents pandemics outbreaks, decreases the needs for
antibiotics and things like that.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Now, herd immunity is something that we definitely heard of
during the pandemic as well. Can you just dive a
little bit deeper into that? Is that I know you
said it prevents pandemics, but in my lifetime I only
can remember to one. Is that something that this happens often?

Speaker 2 (05:10):
It doesn't happen very often pandemics. But basically, the way
that herd immunity works is that the more people who
are protected against a virus, the less people that it
can transmit to, and it just kind of makes the
virus less prevalent in the community.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Right, And then where can people find more information about vaccines?

Speaker 2 (05:33):
There's a few different places that we can look. The
CDC dot gov website that contains vaccine information statements, which
you'll receive after every vaccine that you get. It just
kind of goes, over side effects and information about the
disease that you're being protected against. You can also visit
the pharmacy website on metrohealth dot org. There'll be some

(05:54):
information on there as well about vaccines, and of course
you can always talk to your pharmacist or your doctor
to see what you qualify for and what.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
You're doing for perfect So today's called action. Walk into
a Metro Health pharmacy anytime to get your vaccinations or
called two one six nine five seven six three three
seven to schedule an appointment. Visit metrohealth dot org slash
pharmacy to find a Metro Health pharmacy near you. I'm
Maddie Wills. She's Kelly Krueger. Thank you so much for
your time.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Thank you