Vaccines teach your child’s immune system to recognise and fight the COVID-19 virus. This means if they encounter the virus after vaccination, their immune system can tackle it faster and more effectively, helping to protect them from severe illness.
When a COVID-19 vaccine is administered, it takes a few weeks for the body to build immunity. In the long-term, only the immune cells that have been trained to recognise COVID-19 will remain in your system, not the vaccine itself.
None of the approved COVID-19 vaccines in Australia contain the live COVID-19 virus. This means they cannot give you COVID-19.