CoVid vaccines may not solve all issues

[Sue Salisbury RN BSN, BSN, RN]

I found this interview on Medscape Nurses between Paul Offit, MD and Eric Topol, MD very informative about the current status for our Co-Vid vaccines and trials.  Dr. Offit is the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and is an internationally recognized expert in virology and immunology.  Dr. Topol is an American cardiologist, scientist, and author. He is the Founder and Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, a Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Scripps Research Institute, and a Senior Consultant at the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California. He is editor-in-chief of Medscape and theheart.org.  While there is an incredible amount of useful information in the full article, I copied three excerpts below for those who want a flavor of this interview, or who don't have time to read the entire article,  For those concerned about this issue, I feel it is well worth reading or listening to the entire interview linked below.

"Topol: Right, but another issue is that people in these trials are not very representative of Americans; they're largely a White population. Underrepresented minorities are not well represented, nor are the aged or children.  Offit: I think these products cannot be recommended for someone who is greater than or equal to 65, unless there are clear safety and efficacy data in that age group. Similarly, I think that if we're going to be giving them to people who have certain comorbidities, one of the most common of which would be obesity, then you would like to see that those people are adequately represented in these trials."

"Offit: If we don't have adequate data in the greater-than-65-year-old group, then the greater-than-65-year-old person shouldn't get this vaccine, which would be a shame because they're the ones who are most likely to die from this infection. We have to generate those data.  I can't see how anybody — the DSMB or the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee, or FDA decision-makers — would ever allow a vaccine to be recommended for that group without having adequate data."

"Offit: I'll tell you the thing that keeps me up at night on this particular issue. We have two ways of stopping this virus: One is hygienic measures — face masks, social distancing, handwashing — and the other is the vaccine. With those two, we will be able to bring this virus under control. But it will take both.  What worries me is that if you had to pick which is the stronger of the two, I would go with hygienic measures. I mean, if I wear a mask and stand 6 feet away from you, and you wear a mask and stand 6 feet away from me, the chances that I'm going to get the virus from you or you from me is about zero. You have two things going for you. One, you have a mask, which is going to prohibit the virus' small droplets from traveling very far. And two, even if I didn't wear a mask and stand 6 feet away, the odds are also that you wouldn't get it."

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/936937?src=mkm_covid_update_200910_mscpedit_&uac=258255BJ&impID=2558382&faf=1

[michaelb, BSN, RN]

I feel we need more attention shared on why people are wearing masks, like we need more information on why we get vaccinated- sure, small selfish bit but way more for the protection of people around us