Inside Aesthetics Ep 131 Understanding the COVID-19 Vaccines & their Safety | Professor Nigel Crawford
Episode 131 hosts Professor Nigel Crawford (Vaccine-specialist based in Melbourne, Australia)
Professor Crawford acts in a number of key positions for vaccine safety including: - Member of ATAGI (Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation) & Chair of the COVID-19 Working Group
- Medical Head of Immunisation Services at The Royal Childrens Hospital, Melbourne
- Director of SAEFVIC (Surveillance of Adverse Events Following Vaccination in the Community)
- Director of the Melbourne Vaccine Education Centre
In this special episode we cover the entire spectrum of how and why COVID-19 vaccinations are being used in the fight against the ongoing pandemic.
We explore:
- which ones are available in Australia and how the mechanism of these differs?
- what exactly an mRNA vaccine is vs more traditional vaccinations and are these safe?
- what a spike protein is exactly and whether it's dangerous to deliberately make these within our cells?
- how multiple different vaccines were developed in several countries so quickly and whether there are any safety concerns to be worried about?
- the side effects with COVID-19 vaccines and also find out more about the rare risk of atypical unusual clots ('TTS') with the Astra Zenica vaccination
- why Australia has been slower to vaccinate, vaccine hesitancy and the 'anti-vax' perspective
- are the vaccinations are safe in pregnant women, can they cause infertility or even auto-immune disease?
- what the future holds for Australia and how we might end the current lock downs
00:00 Introduction 01:04 Meet Professor Nigel Crawford and Vaccine Leadership Role 05:59 What Vaccines Are and How They Work 10:56 Why Vaccine Hesitancy Exists and Public Concerns 18:27 How COVID Vaccines Were Developed So Quickly 26:25 Common Side Effects and Monitoring Vaccine Safety 33:29 Rare Complications and Understanding Risk Levels 41:37 mRNA Technology Explained and DNA Myths Addressed 48:53 Vaccine Dosing Intervals and Changing Guidelines 52:09 Variants Including Delta and Why They Spread Faster 61:45 Lockdowns, Public Health Decisions and Risk Balance 68:49 Vaccine Protection Levels and Path to Reopening 76:38 Booster Shots and Future Vaccine Strategies 80:09 Vaccination in Children and Pregnant Patients 86:34 Final Advice on Safety, Confidence and Moving Forward