Millions of Americans are still experiencing long COVID more than four years since the global COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic.
According to the most recent federal Household Pulse Survey, between Jan. 9, and Feb. 5, 6.8% of U.S. adults currently have long COVID and 17.6% have had long COVID.
Using 2020 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, this means 17.5 million adults currently have long COVID and 45.4 million people have ever had long COVID.
Since the early days of the pandemic, scientists have learned a great deal about what puts someone at risk for long COVID, but researchers say we are still "scratching the surface" when it comes to our understanding of what causes the condition or how to treat it.
"We know much more today than we did four years ago; that's a fact," Dr. Alba Azola, an assistant professor of physical medicine and Rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins Medicine, told ABC News. "But we do not have clarity on the exact pathophysiology or that mechanism that's driving those symptoms."
"We're just scratching the surface, we're just beginning to understand what makes those people that develop long COVID different than those people that have COVID and completely recover after," she added.
Long COVID occurs when patients still have symptoms at least four weeks after they have cleared the infection. In some cases, symptoms can be experienced for months or years.
Symptoms vary and can include fatigue, difficulty breathing, headaches, brain fog, joint and muscle pain and continued loss of taste and smell, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Azola said not all symptoms are visible in every single patient, but they can experience a wide range of them.
Long COVID most often occurs in people who had severe illness but anyone can develop the condition. People who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 are at higher risk of developing long COVID, according to the CDC.
Scientists are not sure what causes long COVID but have identified risk factors including having underlying conditions or experiencing multi-system inflammatory syndrome due to COVID.
Research has also found that patients with long COVID tend to have lower cortisol levels and lower testosterone levels.
Another theory is that virus particles may become active again, causing people to suffer long-term symptoms.
"What we want, of course, it's just to be able to diagnose, and to treat," Dr. Fernando Carnavali, director of the Mount Sinai Center for Post-COVID Care in New York, told ABC News. "We have people that are really suffering with this, brain fog and other symptoms that are significantly impacting the quality of life. And it feels because of that some of [the research] is not enough. But I think that we are on the way."
Research is also not clear about why some patients recover and others don't.
New York City resident David Speal, 41, contracted COVID-19 in March 2020. He became seriously ill and was hospitalized at Lenox Hill Hospital. After he was discharged from the hospital, he said he experienced a consistently high heart rate.
It was several months later that he was diagnosed with long COVID. It's been a long road to recovery, but Speal has regained most of his health since his initial infection.
However, he said his wife is suffering. Speal said she contracted COVID twice -- the second time resulting in brain fog so severe that she no longer works, but its unclear whether or not she receives disability.
"I'm not 100%. Sometimes, you do a lot, you get really tired, and you can tell like, 'Okay, you know, this is still, it's still a part of me, but not to the point where I can't function,'" he told ABC News. "My biggest question is, well, how did I recover? You know, like, what happened?" We don't truly know what was the turning point for me when everything went normal."
Because those with long COVID can experience a variety of symptoms, there is no single treatment or cure for the condition.
Patients and health care providers often have to work together to create a personal care plan to manage symptoms.
"We need to remind ourselves that without really knowing the pathophysiology of the disease, without knowing biomarkers, it's complex," Carnavali said. "There are certain things that people been trying and some of these treatments do potentially have some benefit."
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) RECOVER Initiative launched several clinical trials of potential treatments for long COVID.
Currently, the only medications or treatments that can be used aim to alleviate some long COVID symptoms, but arent specifically for long COVID. Speal said he was prescribed propranolol, a medication that slows down the heart rate and makes it easier for the heart to pump blood.
Speal said he took an extremely low dose of the medicine for about two years until he got to a point where he no longer needed to take the medication.
Azola said that while she expects that clinical trials will eventually result in effective treatments, she urges patients and the general public to be patient.
"The reality is that the science is moving forward, but it's going to take a long time for that to translate into clinical improvement or treatment," she said. "So, there's a big canyon between science and clinical treatments that are available to us."
Doctors say that one of the most difficult things about treating long COVID patients is not having an answer about why they're feeling the way they feel or how to best treat them.
"I would probably say that's one of the hardest things about being a physician that takes care of this patient population," Azola said. "Because as physicians, we want to help people, we want to get them better, we want to have those answers. But in the case of long COVID, it's quite frustrating. We don't have those answers."
"You really need to kind of get comfortable with not knowing ... but also being curious and partnering with my patients to try to find creative ways that can be beneficial to them or finding creative ways to make their quality of life better," she added.
Azola said she currently helps patients better manage symptoms and pain so that, even if they are not free for long COVID symptoms, they can at least participate in their day-to-day activities.
Speal said it's often hard to describe to other people who have not gone through COVID what he may be experiencing, even his own family and friends.
"People say, 'No, it'll be okay' or 'Try this, do that' but it's like the only way you can truly understand long COVID is if it happens to you, and I wouldn't wish that on anybody," he said. "The reality is it's so hard to explain to people, because every case is totally different."
Azola also cautioned family members and caregivers of long COVID patients to not dismiss them or how they feel.
"At times, by pushing themselves too much, or trying to go beyond their energy envelope, they can actually end up harming themselves and losing function," she said. "So, it is certainly important for families and people that have caregivers to continue to help them because that's the only way they're gonna be able to get better."
Toronto
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Rochelle Raveendran - CBC News
Posted: March 20, 2024 Last Updated: March 20, 2024
Toronto Public Health (TPH) is advising people to get vaccinated against mpox amidst an increase in confirmed cases of the virus in the city this year.
Twenty-one cases of mpox, previously known as monkeypox, have been reported in Toronto this year, TPH said in a news release on Wednesday.
This is an increase from 2023, where 27 cases were reported for the entire year, according to the news release.
Mpox is a virus that spreads from person to person through contact with infected lesions, skin blisters, body fluids or respiratory secretions, TPH said.
The virus has "spread mostly between people who have had close/intimate or sexual contact with a person who has the virus with gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men being most affected," TPH said.
None of the current cases in the city were fully vaccinated, TPH said.
Eligible people who have not been vaccinated are encouraged to get their first vaccine dose as soon as possible, with the second dose prescribed 28 days later, the news release said.
The vaccine is free of charge and does not require an OHIP card, TPH said. People are advised to ask about vaccine availability when accessing sexual health care.
Full vaccine eligibility requirements can be found on the City of Toronto website.
Mpox symptoms can start five to 21 days after exposure, and include fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes, the news release said.
"These symptoms are followed by a rash or blisters and lesions on the skin that can be painful including around the genitals," TPH said.
The uptick in mpox cases is not a public health emergency, said Rita Shahin, associate medical officer of health with Toronto Public Health.
"We're not looking at a public health emergency," she said. "We're really seeing a small increase in cases."
Confirmed cases this year are nowhere nearnumbers from 2022, Shahin said, when the city saw over 500 cases of mpox.
"I don't think we're going to be seeing the same kind of explosive case numbers that we saw in 2022, because many of the individuals have had at least one dose," Shahin said.
However, she said people are advised to get their second dose as well.
Shahin said the virus is circulating locally in the city, with only two travel related cases confirmed this year.
"We would like to remind people who are eligible of the importance of getting vaccinated," she said.
The risk of getting mpox is not the same for everybody in Toronto, as the majority of cases are among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital.
"The men who have sex with men community has been heroic in their efforts to educate the local community and to help guide the public health response," Bogoch said.
He described this time period as "an era of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases," citing the recent rise in measles cases, as well as COVID-19 and both the Zika and Ebola epidemics.
"Many of these [diseases]are preventable," he said. "We can take steps to prevent infection or mitigate severity of infection."
Rochelle Raveendran is a reporter for CBC News Toronto. She can be reached at: rochelle.raveendran@cbc.ca.
Open this photo in gallery:
A Toronto public health official said she doesn't expect the uptick in mpox cases to lead to the same large outbreak that Canada saw in 2022, but urges people at risk of the virus to get vaccinated.Alain Jocard/The Associated Press
Toronto health officials are sounding the alarm about a rise in mpox cases and are urging anyone who may be at higher risk of contracting the virus to get vaccinated.
So far this year, there have been 21 confirmed cases of the virus, formerly known as monkeypox, in the city, compared with 27 cases in all of 2023.
Only two of this years confirmed mpox cases involved international travel, suggesting that local spread among unvaccinated or under-vaccinated individuals is contributing to the current situation, said Rita Shahin, associate medical officer of health with Toronto Public Health.
The mpox virus, explained: Symptoms, vaccines, spread and more
Mpox cases have been popping up in other jurisdictions, including Ottawa and New York, but less so in Montreal, Dr. Shahin said.
It does seem like theres still small pockets of local transmission in some areas, she said.
Mpox is predominantly spreading among men who have sex with men. People who have more than two sex partners, those who engage in anonymous sex or frequent sex clubs are at higher risk, Dr. Shahin said. The virus can spread person to person through contact with lesions, scabs or bodily fluids.
Mpox can lead to fever, muscle aches, a sore throat and a painful rash or lesions that can be on one part of the body, such as the face or genitals, or spread everywhere. Some individuals may experience serious complications, including bacterial infections, pneumonia, and brain or heart inflammation.
The viruss name was changed to mpox at the World Health Organizations suggestion, after a large outbreak in 2022 that was accompanied by racist and stigmatizing language about the infection.
Dr. Shahin said officials dont expect the uptick in mpox cases to lead to the same large outbreak that Canada saw in 2022, when Ontario reported nearly 700 cases. But she said its important for people who may be at risk to be aware of the situation and to protect themselves.
The mpox vaccine is a two-dose series given 28 days apart. During the 2022 outbreak, many higher risk people received one dose of the vaccine, but only 16 per cent received the second dose. Dr. Shahin said that could be because the outbreak began to wane, lessening the sense of urgency around vaccination.
An analysis published in the Cell journal last month credited a widespread change in behaviour among individuals with bringing the outbreak under control. At the time, vaccines werent readily available, but cases started to wane regardless, which the authors credit to public messaging to higher-risk individuals.
Dr. Shahin said that part of the reason there may be an increase in cases now is that individuals may be returning to higher-risk activities, such as having multiple sex partners.
Were not expecting to see a large outbreak, but its a good reminder for people to think about their sexual health and getting immunized if theyre eligible.
There has been a spike in mpox infections in Toronto since the start of the year and public health officials are now warning eligible residents to make sure they are vaccinated.
The health unit says that since January there have been 21 confirmed cases of the virus in the city, compared to 27 in all of 2023.
In an interview CP24,Associate Medical Officer of Health Dr. Rita Shahin said that most of those who contracted mpox were not immunized against the virus.
"Of the 21 cases that we've seen since January 1, only three of them have had one dose of vaccine and the rest were unimmunized. So it's really an important reminder to people who are at risk that they should get their first dose and followed up with a second dose as well," she said.
"It is a small number of cases and we're not expecting to see the large number of cases that we saw in 2022 with over 500 cases. We know that many eligible people have gotten their first dose of vaccine, but not many came back for a second dose."
The best way to prevent mpox is through a two-dose vaccine that is given over a 28-day period, which protects those immunized against transmission as well as helps reduce serious symptoms of the virus. The vaccine becomes most effective after two weeks, TPS said.
Residents can find out more information about the vaccine, which is free of charge and accessible without an OHIP card, where they access sexual health care.
Shahin said TPH is sharing this latest information in an effort to raise awareness among those who are at the greatest risk of getting mpox and to urge them to get vaccinated.
Public health officials said that currently mpox is primarily being spread in the city between people who have had close/intimate or sexual contact with a person who has the virus. Those most affected include gay and bisexual men as well as men who have sex with other men, Toronto Public Health noted in a release.
"We want to remind cis and trans gay, bi, queer, and all men who have sex with men, to get their first and second dose of the mpox vaccine, Devan Nambiar, of Gay Mens Sexual Health Alliance, said in a release.
Mpox has not been entirely eradicated and we want you to take care of yourself and protect your sexual partners.
Public health officials went on to say that travel is not a significant factor among the current infections, meaning that the majority of the cases being seen in Toronto are the result of local community transmission.
Mpox, which is formerly known as monkeypox, is a virus that spreads from person to person through contact with infected lesions, skin blisters, body fluids, or respiratory secretions. It can also be transmitted through contact with contaminated materials like clothing or bedding as well as through bites or scratches from infected animals.
Symptoms of mpox can begin anywhere from five to 21 days after exposure and include fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion, and swollen lymph nodes. Toronto Public Health said that those symptoms are followed by a rash or blisters and lesions on the skin that can be painful, including around the genitals.
More information about mpox, including where to get vaccinated against it, can be found online.
On the website of the meat-by-mail company Good Ranchers, potential customers learn about the companys heritage Easter ham, and also something else: Good Ranchers promise that its products are mRNA-free.
Avoid unknown vaccines in store-bought meat, says the company, which advertises on The Glenn Beck Program, among others.
Told about the Good Ranchers marketing, Dr. Paul Offit, a Philadelphia pediatrician and expert in infectious diseases and vaccines, laughed.
You just made my day, he said. I cant imagine thats what they really mean. Do they really mean theyre trying to avoid messenger RNA?
Messenger RNA, discovered in the 1960s, is a molecule present in all living cells that instructs the body on how to make proteins. In most cells of your body, you have about 200,000 pieces of messenger RNA converted in the cytoplasm to the enzymes and proteins necessary for life. Its because of messenger RNA that we make insulin or hemoglobin or any other proteins that we need, Offit said.
But the mRNA that high school students learn about in biology class has been villainized in recent years because of controversy over COVID-19 vaccines, two of which Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech employ the technology.
Last year, two Iowa lawmakers introduced a bill that would ban the use of mRNA vaccines in the state, and in January, the surgeon general of Florida issued a similar statement.
Such concerns are dismissed as ignorance or hysteria by most medical and government officials, who see mRNA vaccines as a breakthrough, for both humans and animals.
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explains the technology, To trigger an immune response, many vaccines put a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies. Not mRNA vaccines. Instead, mRNA vaccines use mRNA created in a laboratory to teach our cells how to make a protein or even just a piece of a protein that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. This immune response, which produces antibodies, is what helps protect us from getting sick from that germ in the future.
While the CDC intended to reassure Americans about the safety of mRNA vaccines, the language created in a laboratory is possibly the worst choice of words in this context, given that two-thirds of Americans believe COVID-19 itself was created in a laboratory.
That, Offit said, is one of the most persistent myths that arose during the pandemic, the other being that the COVID-19 vaccine causes COVID-19. (You could argue that the measles vaccine, which is a live, weakened form of the virus, can cause a weakened form of the disease, which rarely happens. But a single protein (used in the COVID-19 vaccine) is not going to cause the disease, he said.)
A third of Americans go even further in their distrust of health officials, believing that the COVID-19 vaccine definitely or probably caused the death of otherwise healthy people. And for many of them, the term mRNA has become synonymous with bad things being foisted on an oblivious public including our food.
In this context, Good Ranchers and other meat-by-mail businesses are not making a statement of fact in advertising mRNA free meat since all mammal cells contain mRNA but marketing their product to the small but growing number of people who distrust not just the COVID-19 vaccine, but vaccines in general.
A survey conducted last fall by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found growing shares of people who believe that vaccines cause autism and that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, in particular, cause cancer. Some people even believe that the COVID-19 vaccines could be causing highly aggressive forms of cancer that have been dubbed turbo cancer, although an immunology expert at Johns Hopkins has said there is zero basis for such claims.
There is, however, plenty of chatter on social media about the perceived threat of mRNA, and plans to use mRNA vaccines in animals in the future has given rise to speculation that if Americans wont take the COVID-19 vaccine, their government will sneak it into our burgers and bacon. The Associated Press has issued fact checks denying that COVID-19 vaccines are in the food supply and that farmers are using mRNA vaccines in cattle. But a number of businesses are, like Good Ranchers, using their vaccine-free herds as a selling point.
Rafter W. Ranch in Simla, Colorado, for example, says on its website: Will the unintended consequences of mRNA injections in livestock be worse than MRSA and Cdiff, the most prominent superbugs created by antibiotic resistance? Nobody knows. Nature often doesnt issue its progress report immediately. It takes awhile. Just like it takes awhile to know whether your parenting skills yielded kids that dont go to jail.
The article goes on to encourage people who support Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the presidential candidate who has questioned COVID-19 vaccines, to refuse to take their grandchildren to McDonalds.
The ranch sells beef, chicken, lamb and eggs directly to consumers; you can even order the meat from an entire cow for just under $4,000.
Agriculture Department figures show that more than 90% of cattle on feedlots receive vaccinations of some kind.
Animal vaccination, in other words, is not new. But some of the concern expressed about mRNA vaccines has involved the speed with which they seemingly came on the horizon, giving oxygen to conspiracy theories.
Although scientists had been working on mRNA vaccines for years, including one for Ebola, the COVID-19 vaccine that Pfizer developed was the first to receive full FDA approval. As such, the National Institutes of Health described it as decades in the making, although it wasnt perceived by many in the public that way.
Even as most medical experts consider the COVID-19 vaccinations a success, there are still many Americans who are skeptical for reasons ranging from the fact that they got vaccinated but got COVID-19 anyway, to their belief that the vaccines are sickening and killing people, ideas that have gotten traction through films such as Shot Dead and Died Suddenly.
While Died Suddenly is widely dismissed as positing a crackpot theory about global elites intentionally depopulating the world via COVID-19 vaccinations, its audience is not insignificant. The X account of the company that produced it has 690,000 followers and regularly criticizes mRNA vaccines and other COVID-19 containment policies. But you dont have to buy into the wildest theories about vaccines to believe that their efficacy and side effects are worth talking about, especially as new mRNA vaccines are touted for everything from the flu to HIV and yes, eventually for animal vaccines.
This helps to explain why some state legislators have proposed requiring disclosure of mRNA vaccination on meat labels, and mail-order businesses that offer what they say are safer and healthier products talk about the latest mystery meat coming to our supermarkets.
Good Ranchers did not respond to emails requesting an interview, but an article posted on its website earlier this month expressed concern about a USDA-approved vaccine called Sequivity that has been widely given to pigs since 2022 to prevent swine flu.
The article noted, correctly, that Sequivity is an RNA vaccine, not an mRNA vaccine, but then goes on to say, The introduction of mRNA vaccines in livestock holds many unknowns, especially regarding the long-term health effects of consuming meat from vaccinated animals. The lack of comprehensive, long-term studies on the potential health impacts for consumers is a glaring gap in the narrative supporting the technologys safety.
But David Verhoeven, an assistant professor of vet microbiology and preventive medicine at Iowa State University, said its virtually impossible for even trace amounts of animal vaccines to end up in food because of USDA requirements that the substance exit an animals body before it is slaughtered or milked. He also said that Sequivity, produced by Merck Animal Health, has been used for nearly two years without problems and has a history that dates to 2012, when it was first developed by Harrisvaccines.
The composition of the vaccine is closer to those made with an attenuated, or weakened, virus than the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, he said.
Its not an apples-to-apples comparison, at all, Verhoeven said. Sequivity has been licensed, its well-used, and so far, no one has turned into an mRNA monster. Further, Unlike COVID mRNA, which is designed to persist in the body longer than natural mRNA through alterations to the mRNA itself or through the type of lipid shuttle used Sequivity is designed to look and act like a natural virus vaccine and only last for a short duration.
He said that mRNA vaccines for animals are under development, but a few years away, and wrote last year for The Conversation: Between the mandatory vaccine withdrawal period, flash pasteurization for milk, degradation on the shelf and the cooking process for food products, there could not be any residual vaccine left for humans to consume. Even if you were to consume residual mRNA molecules, your gastrointestinal tract will rapidly degrade them.
Good Ranchers, however, argues that there are also significant ethical considerations that consumers who eat animal products should consider.
Beyond the manipulation of animal genetics, theres an overarching question about the necessity and naturalness of such interventions, the article on Sequevity said. Traditional animal husbandry practices, which emphasize the welfare and natural lifecycle of livestock, stand in stark contrast to this new frontier of genetic intervention. This pivot points to a broader discussion about the kind of future we envision for food production and the role of technology within it.
During the COVID pandemic, Lainie Chait was hesitant about getting vaccinated.
But with elderly parents living in a different state and travel restrictions in place, she decided it was the best course of action.
Ms Chait then spent the next two-and-a-half years fighting the consequences of that choice after her employer sacked her for getting the jab.
Now the Fair Work Commission has found her termination was unfair and has awarded damages of $8,000 against the Church of Ubuntu, which describes itself as a religious organisation with an associated independent wellness clinic.
Ms Chait said she was happy the matter was over because it was "extremely draining" and unnecessary.
In October 2021, Ms Chait was working for the Newcastle-based church and clinic, whichpromotes and sells alternative plant-based health remedies.
She said that at the time there had been "anti-vaccination mutterings" at the organisation, but no firm policy.
"I knew that if I wanted to see my parents, I needed to get the vaccine," she said."When my boss found out, I was fired."
The Church of Ubuntu argued in the Fair Work Commission that the COVID vaccine was against its "constitution and founding moral and ethical principles".
It described the NSW government's approach that encouraged everyone to get vaccinated as "enforced medical apartheid".
Ms Chait says she only became aware of the organisation's policy via a Facebook audio message from church President Barry Flutter which was submitted to the commission.
"Nobody can work for us if he's vaccinated. It's that simple. So, I don't know how you guys are gonna work that out but nobody can work for the Church of Ubuntu."
Ms Chait said she had supported the philosophy of providing customers with alternative treatment options.
"I was so aligned with their message to the world, but their position just seems hypocritical' she said.
"For a company to say that they are pro-choice but not accept my choice is very hypocritical."
Ms Chait's solicitor Mark Swivel said the lack of clarity from the organisation had been problematic from the outset.
"The employer had never made it clear that vaccination was an issue in terms of the policies of the organisation," he said.
"An employer, theoretically, could set out conditions of employment that vaccination was not permitted, but they didn't do that.
"There were no warnings, there was no counselling, no negotiation or consultation.
"There was just a simple decision, and her employment ended," he said.
The commission found Ms Chait had been dismissed before the church made its policy on vaccination clear and that its stance was "inherently unreasonable".
The Church of Ubuntu has not responded to an ABC request for comment.
No matter how much we'd like to leave it in the dust, COVID-19 remains prevalent and potent. Tens of thousands of people still contract COVID per week in the United States. Hundreds die. And those who don't may still develop long COVID.
Pleas from public health officials for people to get a COVID vaccine or booster shot have been ignored by many people. About 80% of eligible Americans haven't taken any kind of COVID booster. Meantime, the virus continues to mutate, eroding the efficacy of the vaccine's past versions.
How to get more people to get the jab? Vaccine hesitancy, said infectious disease specialist William Schaffner, MD, is likely rooted in a lack of trust in authority, whether it's public health officials or politicians.
Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, and former medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, recommended five strategies physicians can try when discussing the importance of staying up to date on COVID vaccines with patients.
First and foremost, if doctors are feeling reluctance from their patients, they need to know "what they shouldn't do," Schaffner said.
When a patient initially doesn't want the vaccine, doctors shouldn't express surprise. "Do not scold or berate or belittle. Do not give the impression the patient is somehow wrong or has failed a test of some sort," Schaffner said.
Step back and affirm that they understand what the patient is saying so they feel reassured, even if they don't agree or it's based on falsehoods about the vaccine.
He said patients need to feel "the doctor heard them, it's okayto tell the doctor this." When you affirm what the patient says, it puts them at ease and provides a smoother road to eventually getting them to say "yes."
But if there's still a roadblock, don't bulldoze them. "You don't want to punish the patientlet them know you'll continue to hear them," Schaffner said.
Fear of side effects is great among some patients, even if the risks are low, Schaffner said. Patients may be hesitant because they're afraid they'll become one of the "two or three in a million" who suffer extremely rare side effects from the vaccine, Schaffner said.
In that case, doctors should acknowledge their concern is valid, he said. Never be dismissive. Ask the patients how they feel about the vaccine, listen to their responses, and let them know "I hear you. This is a new mRNA vaccineyou have concern about that," Schaffner said.
Doctors can segue into how there's little reason to wait for some elusive perfectly risk-free vaccine when they can help themselves right now.
"The adverse events that occur with vaccines occur within 2 months [and are typically mild]. I don't know of a single vaccine that has genuinely long-term implications," Schaffner said. "We should remember that old French philosopher Voltaire. He admonished us: Waiting for perfection is the great enemy of the current good."
Here's something that may seem obvious: Don't treat the vaccine as an afterthought. "Survey after survey tells us thisit has everything to do with the strength of the recommendation," Schaffner said.
Doctors typically make strong treatment recommendations such conditions as diabetes or high blood pressure, but "when it comes to vaccines, they're often rather nonchalant," he said.
If a patient is eligible for a vaccine, doctors should tell the patient they need to get it not that you think they should get it. "Doctors have to make a firm recommendation: 'You're eligible for a vaccineand you need to get ityou'll receive it on your way out.' It then becomes a distinct and strong recommendation," he said.
In the opening of Charles Dickens's novel "Hard Times," the stern school superintendent, Mr Gradgrind, scolds his students by beating their brow with the notion that, "Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else and root out everything else."
The idea that facts alone can sway a vaccine-resistant patient is wrong. "It often doesn't happen that way," Schaffner said. "I don't think facts do that. Psychologists tell us, yes, information is important, but it's rarely sufficient to change behavior."
Data and studies are foundational to medicine, but the key is to change how a patient feels about the data they're presented with, not how they think about it. "Don't attack their brain so much but their heart," Schaffner said.
Schaffner has stressed with his patients that the COVID vaccine has become "the social norm," suggesting virtually everyone he knows has received it and had no problem.
Once questions have been answered about whether the vaccine works and its various side effects, doctors could remind the patient, "You know, everyone in my office is getting the vaccine, and we're trying to provide this protection to every patient," he said.
You're then delving deeper into their emotions and crossing a barrier that facts alone can't breach.
Lead by example and personalize the fight against the virus. This allows doctors to act as if they're building an alliance with their patients by framing the vaccine not as something that only affects them but can also confer benefits to a broader social circle.
Even after using these methods, patients may remain resistant, apprehensive, or even indifferent. In cases like these, Schaffner said it's a good idea to let it go for the time being.
Let the patient know they "have access to you and can keep speaking with you about it" in the future, he said. "It takes more time, and you have to be cognizant of the nature of the conversation."
Everybody is unique, but with trust, patience, and awareness of the patient's feelings, doctors have a better shot at finding common ground with their patients and convincing them the vaccine is in their best interest, he said.
Nova Scotia
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Posted: March 18, 2024
People considered to have the highest risk for severe illness from COVID-19 can now make an appointment online for a spring dose of the vaccine.
The dose will be available from March 25 to May 31.
Those who are eligible to book for the vaccinationinclude:
Nova Scotia Health recommends people wait six months after their last COVID-19 shot or infection to get a vaccine dose, but a shorter interval of at least three months is allowed for the spring dose, the department said in a news release.
Nova Scotia Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang said COVID-19 cases are steady in the province.
Those who didn't opt to get a fall or winter dose can still get oneeven if they aren't eligible for the spring campaign.
People who aren't eligible for the spring dose but who did get a COVID-19 booster shot during the fall or winter are "considered to be up to date," Nova Scotia Health said in its release.
In addition to booking the shot online, people can also make an appointment for the vaccinationby calling1-833-797-7772.
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Posted By: Jan Larson McLaughlin March 20, 2024
Wood County Health Department and Wood County Committee on Aging are hosting a COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Wood County Senior Center, located at 140 S. Grove St. in Bowling Green, on March 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Appointments are limited and must be scheduled in advance. Call the Wood County Committee on Aging at 419-353-5661 for an appointment, available on a first-come, first-served basis. Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are available.
Adults aged 65 and older are now eligible to receive an additional dose of the updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine, which first became available in September 2023. The CDC recently recommended an additional dose for people 65 and older in recognition of the increased risk of severe disease from COVID-19 in older adults, along with the currently available data on vaccine effectiveness.
Participants with insurance are asked to bring their insurance card and insurance will be billed. No payment will be collected at the time of vaccination. People who do not have insurance or whose insurance does not cover the vaccine will not be charged.
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Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and infectious disease epidemiologist, was fired from his position at Harvard Medical School for opposing vaccine mandates, according to a recent article that he wrote.
I am no longer a professor of medicine at Harvard, Dr. Kulldorff wrote in a City Journal article published on March 11. The Harvard motto is Veritas, Latin for truth. But, as I discovered, truth can get you fired.
[RELATED: Harvard FINALLY drops COVID-19 vaccine requirement for incoming students]
In comments made to Campus Reform, Kulldorff indicated that the universitys decision infringed upon academic freedom. Academic excellence is founded on freedom of speech with open, passionate, and civilized discourse, without bullying or cancellation, he stated.
In his article, Kulldorff said that it was clear from the beginning of the pandemic that COVID-19 would spread across the globe, and that it was futile to try to suppress it with lockdowns. He also stated that it was evident that lockdowns would inflict enormous collateral damage on both education and public health.
We will be dealing with the harm done for decades. Our children, the elderly, the middle class, the working class, and the poor around the worldall will suffer, he wrote.
Dr. Kulldorff also argued that Sweden, his native country, successfully defeated COVID-19 without using lockdowns. Yet, he noted that in a 2020 Harvard-edited article on whether primary schools should reopen, the researchers ignored the example of the Swedish approach in their analyses.
It was like ignoring the placebo control group when evaluating a new pharmaceutical drug, Kulldorff noted. Thats not the path to truth.
Based in part on evidence from Sweden, Dr. Kulldorff opposed lockdown measures during the pandemic.
To advocate his position, Kulldorff and two other epidemiologists published the Great Barrington Declaration in October 2020, which argued in favor of age-based focused protection instead of universal lockdowns. This solution would, in his view, protect the elderly while letting children and adults live close to normal lives.
Kulldorff explained that he was immediately described as fringe and accused of being enticed . . . with Koch money and cultivated by right-wing think tanks by Harvard colleagues.
Though Kulldorffs position against lockdowns drew the ire of many pro-lockdown advocates, his position against vaccine mandates ultimately led to the termination of his position, he argued.
For scientific, ethical, public health, and medical reasons, I objected both publicly and privately to the Covid vaccine mandates, Dr. Kulldorff wrote. This stance got me fired by Mass General Brighamand consequently fired from my Harvard faculty position.
Ultimately, Kulldorff expressed hope for Harvard to return to academic freedom, which he believes is the only solution to the problem it now faces.
If Harvard and its hospitals want to be credible scientific institutions, they should rehire those of us they fired, Dr. Kulldorff concluded. My hope is that someday, Harvard will find its way back to academic freedom and independence.
[RELATED: Rep. Foxx says Harvard has absolutely failed to comply with subpoena, handed over useless documents]
A professor of medicine at Harvard since 2003, Kulldorff is a founding fellow at Hillsdale Colleges Academy for Science and Freedom.
Campus Reform has contacted Harvard University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
