No one can go back in time to change what has happened, so work on your present to make yourself a wonderful future.
End each year with a few good lessons and start the new one by showing that you have learnt the lessons of the past well.
This will be my last newsletter for the year. I want to wish everyone a Happy, joyous safe and socially distant Holiday Season and best wishes for a Health and COVID free New Year.
The increase in numbers we are seeing in Positive COVID -19 cases, Hospitalization and Deaths is due to the Thanksgiving surge.
The science supports that this surge is due to family and friends get togethers where people lower their guard because they feel they are in a safe environment and that their friends and loved ones have not been exposed. The numbers prove this to be a false assertion.
With the Christmas and New Years holiday’s coming up and the temptation to get together looming we must resist this urge and think about not only our own safety but the safety of our family, friends and community given what we have seen with Thanksgiving COVID- 19 numbers.
The hospitals and hospital workers are on the brink of capacity of servicing and providing care for all those who have failed to heed the advice of the Corona Task force.
We all must take responsibility for our own actions and help to contain the spread. Just because you have not gotten the virus yet does not mean your luck will hold out if you are not careful. Just because we have a vaccine this does not mean the game is over. More than 47,000 people have died since Thanksgiving.
Pfizer is rolling out 1 million doses. Moderna 6 million doses this week with a total of 20 million doses by years end. This is enough for 13.5 million people out of 330 million. This is a drop in the bucket. Most of us will not be vaccinated until the spring or the early summer of 2021.
We need to be smart in how we deal with this virus since we are close to ending COVID -19s reign and control over our life.
Some sobering facts: The U.S. leads in the total number of cases and deaths due to COVID-19 and has a higher per capita death rate than many similarly wealthy countries (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations with above median gross domestic product (GDP) and median GDP per capita).
COVID-19 is now the third leading cause of death in the U.S., but that is not the case in many similarly wealthy countries.
The pandemic has caused tremendous healthcare access problems in the U.S. In November 2020, 24% of adults reported that because of the pandemic, they did not get needed medical care for something other than coronavirus. Telemedicine use has substantially increased and offset some of the drop in in-person care, but not enough to return to normal levels of care.
Allergic Reactions and the vaccine: Peter Marks, MD, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which evaluated the vaccine, suggests “that people who are planning to get the vaccine should inform their doctor if they have had allergic reactions to previous vaccines or who have severe allergic reactions, they should inform their physicians prior to vaccination so they can be monitored.
Although the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are based on the same type of technology and similar in their ingredients, it is not clear whether an allergic reaction to one would occur with the other. Both consist of genetic material called mRNA encased in a bubble of oily molecules called lipids, although they use different combinations of lipids.
Dr. Paul A. Offit, a vaccine expert and member of an outside advisory panel that recommended the Food and Drug Administration authorize the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use said that in both vaccines, the bubbles are coated with a stabilizing molecule called polyethylene glycol that he considered a “leading contender” for triggering an allergic reaction. He stressed that more investigation was needed.
"We're making sure sites where this is being administered, that they have the ability to treat allergic reactions," he said. "We considered the potential allergic reactions pretty carefully here."
The CDC, which is helping with the vaccine rollout, "is making sure all sites have basic supplies to take care of allergic reactions," such as epinephrine pens, Benadryl, and hydrocortisone, he said.
One issue the FDA is still getting data on is shedding and transmission of the virus. "Those studies are going to be conducted during the coming months," Hahn said.
Facts about the COVID 19 Vaccines: Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines.
1. While the mRNA vaccine type is new, it does not alter a cell’s DNA. Rather, mRNA vaccines work by teaching cells how to make a protein that creates an immune response to a stimulus (such as SARS-CoV-2). DNA is held in the nucleus of the cell, which is never entered by the mRNA. Once the mRNA has created the protein, it is dissolved within the cell.
2. No live virus is contained within the mRNA vaccines. It is impossible to become infected with COVID-19 through the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
3. While there is no scientific consensus yet, some preliminary evidence shows that the natural immunity gained from COVID-19 infection does not last long. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that all Americans, including those who have been infected with COVID-19 previously, should get immunized as soon as a vaccine is widely available.
4. Both vaccines require 2 doses three weeks apart to get to 95% efficacy.
Other vaccine news: Moncef Slaoui, PhD, chief advisor to Operation Warp Speed, discussed the expected emergency use authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna. Like the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, it requires two doses and uses mRNA, but it doesn't need to be kept quite as cold. In total, Moderna will deliver 20 million doses of the vaccine to the federal government by the end of the month, (December 2020) he said.
The Moderna vaccine has received Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA advisory committee. Six million doses are scheduled to be released the week of December 21.
Slaoui also discussed the progress of the adenovirus-vector vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen. "Tomorrow we will close recruitment in the phase III trial with about 43,000 to 44,000 subjects," he said. "The trial is accruing cases very quickly; we hope we may be able to assess efficacy for the first time early in January and maybe for the final time late in January." Officials are hoping to have doses of J&J’s vaccine available in February/ March 2021. And AstraZeneca expects to finish recruitment for the phase III trial of its COVID-19 vaccine by the end of this year or very early in January, he said.
Until next time. Stay Safe, Stay Well, Stay Distant, Avoid Crowds, Wash your Hands and Wear your Mask. The pandemic will be over soon.
James A Vito, D.M.D.