Auburn City Councilman Chris Stearns was recently included in a group of recipients for the first round of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine via his health care provider, the Seattle Indian Health Board.

And as Stearns told his colleagues at the Jan. 4 virtual meeting of the city council, he’s doing just fine.

“It was painless. I had a sore left shoulder for about a day and a half, but other than that, it was fine,” Stearns said.

Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are the two vaccines the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized for emergency use to date. Both have passed independent review of medical experts in the Scientific Safety Review Workgroup as part of the Western States Pact, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

Authorized for emergency use in individuals ages 18 years and older, Moderna is a two-dose vaccine given 28 days apart. According to the DOH, clinical trial data show the vaccine to be about 94 percent effective after two doses, with no serious safety concerns. The first shipments arrived in the state on Dec. 21.

The other is the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which is authorized for emergency use in persons ages 16 years and older. This is also a two-dose vaccine, administered 21 days apart. According to the DOH, clinical trials data show the vaccine is about 95 percent effective at preventing COVID-19 infection starting seven days after the second dose.

Individuals taking this vaccine are not considered fully protected until one-to-two weeks after they have received the second dose. According to the DOH, clinical trials revealed no major unanticipated adverse events. This vaccine arrived in Washington on Dec. 14.

To contain the pandemic, according to the DOH, it will be necessary to achieve about an 85 percent vaccination or immunity rate.

”So it is really important for everyone to get vaccinated when they get a chance. I got to do that,” Stearns said.