North Texas Mosque Hosts COVID Vaccine Awareness Community Event
West Plano Mosque (IACC) congregants gathered after Sunday prayer to ask panel of experts about their most pressing vaccine questions
AMT hosted its second ‘Update, Educate, Vaccinate’ event last Sunday as part of its year-long program to inform the Muslim community about all the latest developments and advice on the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.
AMT’s Community Health Education Director, Dr. Amir Khan, was joined by family medicine physician Dr. Saima Muhammad and pediatric physician Dr. Kiran Bilal to address vaccination concerns at the Islamic Association of Collin County (IACC) Plano mosque in a discussion hosted after Zuhr, the second prayer of the day.
“When thinking about getting vaccinated you should factor in your comorbidities and the people immediately around you,” Khan said addressing a question on the need for vaccinations when milder variants like Omicron are predominant. “For example, if you have elderly relatives at home with comorbidities, then you should get vaccinated. It’s more about a sense of responsibility now, not about what you do just for yourself, it’s about the spread of Omicron.”
Amina Ahmad, who is a regular mosque-goer and has two young children, asked about the impact of her children contracting COVID multiple times and how the vaccine might protect against further infections. Ahmad says she had reservations about getting her children vaccinated due to the lack of available data, however, she did admit that as data becomes more established she will consider vaccinating them.
Dr. Kiran Bilal assured Ahmad that the vaccine dosage for children under 12 is one-third of the dosage for individuals 12 and older.
“Viruses are super smart, they change and mutate their form all the time,” said Bilal. “When a new vaccine comes out it incorporates the newest strain. Your child that already had COVID has probably built an immunity to the strain they were infected with, however, if your child is infected with a new strain they may not have immunity against it. That is why it’s important to have your child vaccinated.”
Bilal, who says she often confirms that her own young children are vaccinated, when asked by worried parents, said that although severe infection and death from COVID in children have remained low, it is crucial for children to be protected against the virus and its many variants. Parents should also consider any underlying conditions their child may have and the number of people they are interacting with.
She also pointed out that as COVID-19 mutates into different strains, it's likely there will eventually be an annually modified vaccine similar to the Flu shot. As the influenza virus continues to mutate, it requires the vaccine to change along with it, although immunity wanes after a year in any case.
The panel revealed that current immunity provided by the COVID vaccine lasts about five to six months, hence the need for booster shots to be administered.
Responding to another community question, Dr. Saima Muhammad, who practices at the V.A. in Garland, said it is safe to get the flu shot, or any vaccine, alongside the COVID vaccine, as they “do not contain a live virus, so they can be administered together in different arms or legs.”
Members of the audience also expressed concern about vaccine safety when the vaccines were being developed in only two years.
Dr. Khan pointed out that the technology for mRNA was developed in the 1990s, allowing scientists three decades of research. He argued that medical technology is pushed to progress in times of crisis, using the AIDS epidemic as an example of medicine being accelerated to provide a solution to a pressing health need.
“In everything we do, we are never 100 percent safe so you have to take those risks,” Muhammad added that no vaccine provided absolute guarantees.
She goes on to say that people who have family members that are healthcare workers might be more prone to getting vaccinated, rather than individuals who are able to stay home. People may choose not to get vaccinated until they are exposed to the virus.
“We think that around one-fourth of the world population would have died if there was not a vaccine, and I think it could well have been more than one-fourth,” said AMT’s COVID project coordinator - Khan emphasizing the importance of community protection.
Those who attended the discussion expressed their appreciation for the information and feedback received about their individual concerns. They also asked mosque management in attendance to organize another such event in the coming months.
“I learned that we have to look at the vaccine holistically in terms of benefiting the people around you rather than being selfish, it’s good to get it done for the safety of loved ones,” said Noman Naeem, a software engineer.
Dr. Muhammad, who is also head of IACC’s Sisters Committee, said that the mosque would be hosting a Flu vaccination drive in the coming weeks and she would look into offering COVID vaccinations simultaneously, to ward off the expected winter surge.
AMT’s next ‘Update, Educate, Vaccinate’ session will take place on October 8 at the Dallas Muslim Festival at Southfork Ranch in Parker, TX.
