New vaccines are exciting and the possibilities that come with them are thrilling. As more information is provided every day, the news is now looking far more hopeful than it did months ago.

During the beginning of the pandemic, hopelessness set in as quarantines dragged on. The new vaccines and positive news have many seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

The newest vaccines to come out are from Pfizer and Moderna. Both proved to be effective and that “known and potential benefits outweigh the known and potential risks,” according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website.

When choosing which vaccine is best, the Pfizer vaccine seems especially accessible, as you can start using it at age 16, while the Moderna vaccine is accessible once you turn 18. In terms of efficiency, both are roughly 95 percent effective at preventing laboratory-confirmed  COVID-19 illness in people without evidence of previous infection. Both vaccines also require two different shots in order to maintain maximum efficiency. The vaccines are classified as mRNA vaccines.

“mRNA vaccines are a new type of vaccine to protect against infectious diseases,” the CDC website writes. “To trigger an immune response, many vaccines put a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies. Not mRNA vaccines. Instead, they teach our cells how to make a protein—or even just a piece of a protein—that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. That immune response, which produces antibodies, is what protects us from getting infected if the real virus enters our bodies.”

The vaccine side effects come in a large variation. The most common side effects to the vaccines include pain, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, and in less common occurrences, a fever.

These side effects are more common after the second dose, and all of these effects are simply signs of the vaccine kicking in, and should not be seen as a threat. Some people have also had allergic reactions to the vaccine, specifically more common in the Pfizer vaccine. These reactions include anaphylaxis or less severe allergic reactions, which were not originally seen in clinical trials of the vaccine.

The first people to receive the vaccines include healthcare personnel, long term care facility residents, and those with underlying medical conditions in Pennsylvania’s Phase 1A. Phase 1B of the vaccine distribution process includes teachers and school staff, first-responders, correctional officers, U.S. Postal Service workers, and grocery store workers.