Infectious Disease

The rollout lacks the news that the COVID-19 vaccination “will change your life”.

April 23, 2021

3 min read

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Adalja and Mokdad did not provide any relevant financial information.

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At an Infectious Diseases Society of America press conference, Amesh A. Adalja, MD, The senior scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Safety said most of the hesitation about vaccines was due to misinformation.

Want to change people’s minds about COVID-19 vaccines? The solution can be in the message.

Adalja Pullquote

“These vaccines will change your life,” said Adalja. “I think that messaging was missing a lot – people didn’t necessarily see this vaccine as something that would make their lives better, personally.”

Adalja said the vaccines were overall effective in “catching” the virus and that the public should know that the vaccine will allow people to engage in activities without fear of disrupting the virus.

Ali H. Mokdad

Rochelle P. Walensky

He told Healio that public leadership should highlight activities that fully vaccinated individuals can participate in and should be “individualized” to include events such as sitting in a bar or attending a party. Vaccine-reluctant individuals should “address their concerns using data as best they can,” he said, as they may have unique concerns that need to be discussed.

Ali H. Mokdad, PhD, The professor of health metrics at the Institute of Health Metrics and Assessment (IHME) and chief strategy officer for population health at the University of Washington stressed that vaccine hesitation will undermine the US’s potential for herd immunity. He said the percentage of people ready to be vaccinated varies from state to state – from 49% in Wyoming to 86% in Washington, DC

“We believe that we will soon reach a time when we will have more vaccines than we will ask for, and that is a big problem,” Mokdad said during the IDSA briefing.

Model shows 619,000 deaths through August

According to Mokdad, IHME estimates 619,000 Americans will have died from COVID-19 by August 1. The projection assumes that 4.7 million deaths from the virus will have occurred worldwide by August.

More than 3 million people worldwide died of COVID-19 on Friday, including more than 570,000 Americans, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

CDC director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, During a White House briefing earlier this week, he said the 7-day average in new COVID-19 cases in the US is higher than it was a month ago. Walensky spoke on Monday, the day every U.S. adult was entitled to a vaccine.

“We all have a role in turning the tide and turning down our cases. One of the most important things we can do to get back to doing the things we love is vaccination, ”she said.

Mokdad told Healio that while vaccination numbers are the best predictor of future infection rates, masks are “key” as even vaccine-reluctant people can wear a mask to help mitigate the spread of the virus.

“While people – especially outside of rich countries – wait for a vaccine, they all have access to a mask,” he said.

The next 6 months

The theme of the IDSA briefing was, “What to Expect in 6 Months.” One topic that emerged was COVID-19 vaccine mandates in schools, which Adalja said are not likely in the short term but may be possible in the future could.

“Ultimately, this should be a vaccine that becomes part of the entry criteria for schools. Private schools will probably do it first and then we’ll see public schools do it, ”Adalja said. “It will probably be a fight. I don’t think this will happen in the short term – it will take time and require full FDA approval in children. “

Adalja said the vaccination helped ease the “immense burden” on hospitals in the US

“We are not concerned about hospital capacity as we have in the past because even as cases do arise, they are increasingly decoupled from hospitalizations and deaths,” he said.

Experts worried last year about the possibility of “twilight” from COVID-19 and influenza in the US, which already overwhelmed hospitals could have further emphasized. It never came about, however, as the US recorded “abnormally low” influenza activity due to efforts to contain pandemics.

Adalja told Healio that while it is “unclear” what the next influenza season will look like, it is still important that hospitals consider influenza capacity issues at all times.

“Hopefully we have another mild flu season and a vaccine update for both flu and COVID-19 will be enough to keep hospitals out of trouble going forward,” he said.

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