23 SEP 2020

Facebook Chat Focuses on Vaccines

The latest Facebook Live COVID-19 chat with Chief Medical Officer Seth Kaufman, M.D., included a deeper look at development of a vaccine to fight the disease.

“There have been a lot of headlines out there and there are currently three different vaccines in Phase III trials in the United States,” Dr. Kaufman noted. “They are showing a lot of promise with preliminary data showing that if you get some form of COVID, you have a lot of sustained immune response. So there is a lot of hope the vaccines will work.”

With that said, however, he warned viewers that more study will be needed to determine how safe and effective each vaccine is, and even if one is approved for distribution, it could take a while to distribute.

“The logistics of distributing a vaccine are very challenging,” he said. And with COVID the challenges are even greater because it is a worldwide pandemic, and because of equipment requirements. “Two of these vaccines require super extra cold freezers — something most systems don’t even have,” he said. “And it involves two doses of vaccine over a one-month period. We’ll deal with it and we’ll get people the vaccine, if it’s effective. But it’s not going to be easy.”

He also cautioned viewers not to expect a vaccine that is 100 percent effective.

“It’s not like polio, where you get vaccinated as a child and just live out your life not worrying about getting polio,” he said. “It’s going to be something more like the flu … where we don’t know if it’s going to be completely protective or maybe partially protective. We don’t know. So we should be realistic about the impact. It’s not going to be like you get two shots … and never have to worry about getting COVID.”

The full chat can be viewed on the NorthBay Facebook page and online at NorthBay.org/COVIDChat as well as the NorthBay YouTube channel.

Dr. Kaufman’s next chat will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 1. The NorthBay Facebook page is located at Facebook.com/NorthBayHealthcare.

 

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