CINCINNATI (WKRC) – As more of us are stepping up to get the vaccine, more of us have questions surrounding it.

Now, experts at St. Elizabeth Healthcare are answering those questions.

The first question is can you drink alcohol after getting the vaccine? While you certainly wouldn’t want to drink in excess for any reason:

"There's no reason why you can't,” said Suzi Francis, manager of ambulatory pharmacy at St. Elizabeth Healthcare. “Forty-four thousand are in both of these studies, and I'm sure they had a glass of wine or two. There's no indication that alcohol decreases your immunity."

Now, the other question many of you have asked is: What if I’m a smoker? Is the vaccine going to harm my lungs if I get it?

"If you're a smoker, you absolutely need to get vaccinated,” said Francis. “We know your lungs are already damaged from smoking. We know COVID can further damage those lung tissues. There's nothing the vaccine would do to harm your lungs, but protect them."

Finally, many of you have asked why we don’t automatically give the vaccine to study participants who got the placebo. Don’t they deserve it for taking the risk? While there are some sites that have chosen to do this, Francis said each research trial is bound by strict ethical guidelines.

"What I recommend is that if somebody was in the studies, they should contact their research coordinators with the study,” said Francis. “That individual trial and study can let them know how they're handling that."