I also encourage everyone I speak with not to delay getting their vaccine because they think one is preferable to the other. Their efficacy is so similar, and each is nearly 100 percent effective at preventing you from having serious enough COVID symptoms that would land you here at the hospital, and in turn possibly having a fatal outcome, the two most frightening possibilities. It’s especially important for older people, Black, Native American, and Latinx community members to be vaccinated, as the virus has hurt these populations disproportionately. Each vaccine requires two shots spaced several weeks apart, and both are free of charge.