My 60-year-old mother told me, “I’ll get the pneumonia vaccine now, and then I think I’ll wait a few more months before I get the COVID vaccine.” 

I suggested, “You know COVID pneumonia is way worse and more likely to kill you than pneumococcus pneumonia, right? So why don’t you get your COVID vaccine now and then the pneumonia vaccine two weeks after you’ve been fully vaccinated or get the Pneumovax now then the COVID vaccine two weeks later?” 

“You sound just like my doctor. That’s what he told me yesterday!” she replied.

That is probably because I, too, am a doctor. And once upon a time, my mother was a registered nurse. 

“My mom is getting weak. So I may need to go back home soon,” she added. My mother immigrated to the US for college, where she met then married, my father.

“What if Pau Pau (what I call my maternal grandmother) gets sick or has a heart attack, and then you need to go back right away, but you bring Covid? It takes two weeks from the second injection for full immunity. Then you’re going to regret having waited to get vaccinated or regret making her already fragile health condition even worse. Don’t you want to be able to hug her without worrying you might kill her?”

Harsh. I know. 

This exact scenario had already played out with Nying Nying, my paternal grandmother. My mother did not know at the time of this conversation and will soon learn through this post.

On March 12, all of the grandchildren received a group text. Our Nying Nying was stable in the ICU following a massive heart attack. I felt relieved knowing that my 90-year-old grandmother would not enter the Emergency Room with a heart attack and then succumb to COVID in the ICU because she had already been vaccinated. 

Likewise, I felt comforted knowing that her only living son (my uncle) would not have to choose between possibly visiting his mother on her deathbed and his own mortality (for indeed the combination of COVID on top of his COPD would mean his demise). Their choices to be vaccinated months earlier had saved our family not only from a deadly disease but heartbreakingly difficult decisions.

No visitors were allowed in the ICU, so I flew out to see her when she finally made it home. I arrived to see my feisty and proud grandmother (whose sass and sarcasm I obviously inherited) now a frail, silver-haired form slumped in a recliner. I crumpled to the floor, and the dam of emotions burst. I held her hand, and my tears saturated her sleeve.

I spent the next 24 hours at her side until I had to fly back for hospital work Monday morning.  

I was lucky. I work in a hospital setting, so I got first dibs on Covid vaccination back in December 2020. I had been fully vaccinated for a while before my grandmother’s heart gave out. My cousins and my brother could only send flowers and loving sentiments from afar because, at the time, they were not eligible for vaccination. They could only hope that Nying Nying would continue to hang on long enough for them to get vaccinated and visit safely, maybe for the last time.

My grandmother had a setback during her recovery. Se needed to be admitted to a skilled nursing facility (SNF). Because she was vaccinated, I didn’t worry that her name would be added to the list of nursing home deaths prevalent early in the pandemic. 

Fortunately, by the time she was well enough for discharge, all of her grandchildren had been vaccinated.

She made it out of the ICU. 

She made it out of the skilled nursing facility. 

She made it home. 

I’m not going to lie… I would have been furious with her if my grandmother had delayed her vaccination and contracted Covid from her ICU bed or if her physical therapy at the SNF put her in Covid’s destructive path. My profound grief would have been tainted with anger if her preventable Covid death would have deprived me of one last goodbye. 

In December 2020, I said that I was choosing to get the COVID-19 vaccine to hug my grandmother again without fear that it would kill her. Her heart attack almost stole that hug from me.

I did not, however, have to decide, “Do I selfishly scurry through a crowded airport and hop on a plane to see her one last time? Or do I love her enough to keep her safe by staying away?” 

Vaccination rescued me from a lifetime of guilt that whispering the words “I love you” in her ears might have been a Covid kiss of death for my grandmother.

So many families never got that one more warm embrace. So many families lost someone after a gathering they did not realize was so risky. 

As I sit here at her kitchen table while Nying Nying is napping, I am so grateful that the Covid vaccination gave me today… this one more day with the person I cherish most in this world. 

If I grow a tail tomorrow (or insert whatever internet vaccine conspiracy theory here), so be it. It was all worth it. This miracle of Medicine gifted my family with more precious moments.

Heart attacks and car accidents happen every day. I guess what I’m saying is… now that almost everyone is eligible for Covid vaccination, why wait until it’s too late?

Get vaccinated for the people you love.

Get vaccinated for the people that love you.

Of course, I felt terrible that my comments made my mom cry. But, sometimes the truth hurts… and hurts way more than the Covid vaccine my mother finally got. 

Tough love. 

By: Dr. Stacey Thomas, Obgyn Physician at MacArthur Medical Center

The post A Doctor Gets A Covid-19 Vaccine So She Can Hug her Grandmother One Last Time appeared first on Medika Life.

I spent some time snooping the Facebook comment sections and pages sporting vaccine misunderstanding, misinformation, and myths. Here are some of the most common myths and the reasons why you shouldn’t believe them.

I GOT THE FLU VACCINE AND GOT THE FLU FROM IT!

No you didn’t. The flu vaccine does not contain the live flu virus and you cannot get the flu from it. Ever. Period. What may be happening to people is they have an immune reaction (which means the vaccine is working) to the shot and are showing minor symptoms such as redness or soreness at the injection site, fever, aches and pains. This is not the flu. It is also possible that people are literally sick with something (another virus like the common cold, perhaps) and it just so happens to coincide with the time they get a vaccine – in their minds the vaccine caused the sickness.

I HAVE NEVER GOTTEN THE VACCINE (FOR ANYTHING) AND HAVEN’T BEEN SICK.

Lucky you! Most people get sick at some point in their lives. The flu, COVID, measles, whatever it might be, you’re not only more likely to get sick without the protection from the vaccine, but you are more likely to spread it to others – like the sweet elderly gentleman across the street, or the newborn baby who hasn’t received their full vaccine schedule yet. They may not be so lucky as to never get sick.

MANY VACCINES CONTAIN CHEMICALS AND TOXIC INGREDIENTS.

This is actually kind of true, but it’s not bad. First, everything is chemicals – water is a chemical called Dihydrogen Monoxide – you are chemicals, I am chemicals, the air is a chemical. Secondly, everything is technically toxic. All chemicals (which is everything) is toxic at certain doses. So, yes, water is toxic if you drink too much. Vaccines do contain ingredients such as arsenic and formaldehyde – those are in fact toxic at the right dose. The amount of these chemicals (or any chemical) in a single dose of a vaccine isn’t enough to be toxic. A person actually eats more arsenic in an apple or more formaldehyde in a pear than they would get from a vaccine dose. Remember, when it comes to chemicals – nothing is ever “chemical-free”, and it’s not the chemical that is dangerous, it’s the dose. Trust the science and the chemists who know each chemical and at which dose it is harmful.

NATURAL IMMUNITY IS BETTER THAN A VACCINE.

No. Natural immunity to many common, dangerous illness that are typically mitigated through vaccination is not something you want. Becoming naturally immune to measles means you may have to live with infertility. Natural immunity to COVID, may mean you live with neurological or cardiovascular disadvantages the rest of your life. Natural immunity to chicken pox may mean you suffer from Shingles when you’re an adult. Natural immunity to polio may mean you no longer have the use of your legs. This natural immunity also means that while you’re sick, you’re spreading a dangerous disease to your friends, family, and community. Vaccines help you build immunity without risking life.

VACCINES CAUSE AUTISM.

I can’t believe this is still around. Millions of dollars have been spent debunking this doozy. There is unequivocally zero evidence (and hundreds of studies) that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that autism is not caused by vaccination. Unfortunately, many well-liked celebrities profited from these statements. The physician who originally made the claim no longer has a medical license.

When it comes to vaccination, leave the research to the professionals (you know, those people who have spent their whole careers studying vaccines and contagious diseases) and stay out of the comment section. If you have concerns or questions about vaccines, always reach out to a medical professional. The providers at MacArthur Medical Center Pediatrics will take time to help you understand why vaccines really are a good idea, and help you navigate common misconceptions.

Written by Erin Cox, Practice Manager at MacArthur Medical Center, reviewed by Dr. Nehal Shah.

The post Busted! Explaining Common Vaccine Myths appeared first on Medika Life.

The New Orleans bar partnered with Crescent Care to bring the Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine straight to the people in a true New Orleans style for the event held on April 9. While the DJs provided live music, Qween Amor, a licensed EMT and transgender activist, administered the life-saving single-dose Janssen/Johnson and Johnson vaccines. Nola.com reported 125 residents received their vaccine thanks to the program.

Crescent Care is a Federally Qualified Health Center servicing the Greater New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana community. The group has a long history of community activism, going back to its founding in 1983. In response to the early HIV pandemic in the city, the NO/AIDS Task Force provided care to the LGBTQ and underserved communities. Over the past three decades, Crescent Care expanded its services to provided comprehensive care to those who need it.

To help fight vaccine inequities, Crescent Care has planned a series of vaccination community outreach events throughout New Orleans. This April 9 event was the first in a series to help get more shots in more arms. Like many US cities, New Orleans is working to overcome vaccine hesitancy and improve vaccine acceptance among people of color.

The Dragon’s Den is not the only private company finding creative ways to promote vaccination to help us reopen safely. Krispy Kreme announced a national public health campaign offering a free Orginal Glazed doughnut to anyone who shows a valid COVID-19 vaccination card. Dollar General, Aldi, and Trader Joe’s encourage employee vaccination by offering up to four hours of paid time to get vaccinated.

Every day more companies announce creative ways to help encourage widespread vaccination to help us reach herd immunity. Herd immunity occurs when enough people in a community are protected, making it hard for a virus to spread from person to person.

Many believe marketplace solutions, not government actions, can help the United States reach the necessary immunity level for us to get our lives back to normal. Private industry can be an essential driving force to incentivize the public to sign up for Covid-19 vaccines. Public events like the Crescent Health Shot for Shot program increase awareness and generate public interest in vaccination.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Janssen/Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 Vaccine under emergency use authorization (EUA) on February 27. It only requires a single dose to be effective and is not burdened by the cold storage requirements, which slowed the distribution of the two previously approved vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer. This vaccine can be mass-produced and widely distributed.

Like the messenger RNA Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine does not contain a live virus. One cannot catch Covid-19 from these vaccines.

Forty-four thousand people participated in Johnson and Johnson safety and efficacy clinical trials in the United States, South Africa, and Latin America.

The Johnson and Johnson’s/Janssen vaccine offers 72% protection against infection and 86% against severe disease. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine uses Adenovirus 26 (AD26) as the vector to deliver DNA material into our cells to provoke an immune response. Adenoviruses are the group of viruses causing the common cold. These viruses can be genetically altered to maintain their efficient ability to get into our bodies but remove their ability to make us sick.

Everyone in the US is ready for a return to normal. Widespread vaccination is how we get there. If a Krispy Kreme donut, or in New Orleans, a free watermelon lemon drop shot, serves as motivation, then pass the shots around.

The post New Orleans Bar Promotes Covid-19 Vaccinations With a Shot for Shot Offer appeared first on Medika Life.

If you want your arm all over social media, reach out to us via email at vaccinechallenge@medika.life and we’ll make you famous (sort of). The #vaccinechallenge is all about highlighting the safety of the covid vaccine and restoring faith in the vaccination process. Your voices and contributions make a massive difference, don’t underestimate their importance. We’d also like to add that no elves were injured in the construction of this page.

So without further ado, welcome to our gallery of medical warriors without whom we’d be lost.

Dr. Julie Grimes, OBGYN, Austin, Texas

I am doing this because I want 2021 to be the year of the hug! So thankful for science and cooperation to make this happen for all of us

Jessica McNeills, Certified Nurse Midwife, Parkland Hospital, Dallas, Texas

Thankful to have access to healthcare options that can protect my life and others, and hopeful for the future

Veronica Oviedo, Labor and Delivery Nurse, Baylor Scott and White, Irving, Texas

I am proud to be a frontline worker and make decisions to improve/save lives #thankful

Dr. Andrea Arguello, OBGYN, MacArthur Medical Center, Grapevine, Texas

Have never been so excited to get one of these! Sleeping a little more soundly tonight knowing my daughter, family and patients are a little safer.

Hujefa Vora, Internal Medicine, Arlington, Texas

Overwhelmed. Exhausted. Fatigued. These are the emotions that have defined our existence on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic over the last 9 months. We have watched helplessly as many of our patients and loved ones have slipped away. We have held the hands of patients who have passed on in respiratory isolation, their loved ones on the phone and miles away. But I have seen joy when the infection overwhelms, and the body and spirit fight on, conquering the virus and returning our patients to health. We have seen families reunited after long battles in the hospital or at home in quarantine. We have seen hope. We have known Love. I have seen the fantastic power of the human spirit. I have seen God’s love and the power of prayer. There were moments when I felt that I could no longer fight for myself or anyone else, when the exhaustion would creep in and leave me battered, bruised, and almost beaten. But we are physicians. And we work with amazing powerful nurses, medical assistants, medical techs, administrators, therapists. So I saw unexpected acts of bravery that I may never see again from my colleagues and friends. I saw us fight an unknown adversary. Courage and honor as we wrapped our patients in an armor of hope. I have seen hands that are raw from washing and sanitizing and wringing, but there was never any giving up or giving in. And today, at the hospital where I have seen and experienced all of this, there was a moment where my hope was recovered, where I became recharged and ready to step back onto the battleground. I saw the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, the sun peaking over the horizon at the end of a cold dark night. The promise of a new day. The vaccine. I want to thank all of my colleagues and compatriots who have shared this year with me and my family, and my staff without whom none of this is possible. We have shown that together, we are stronger, and we will overcome…

Sarah Vignali, RN, Fort Worth, Texas

Moritz Bartels, OBGYN, Tacoma, Washington

The beginning of the end of the pandemic. I’m so grateful to be able o do this

Dr. Ethan Nguyen, Anesthesiologist, Texas Health Resources, Euless, Texas

Hopefully this is the beginning to the end of the pandemic. So grateful to get it.

Elf on a shelf, LaborUnit, Bayer Scott and White, Irving, Texas

As per Santa’s directive, I’m safe to wrap presents. Anyone missing a syringe?

Dr. Danielle LeBlanc, Plastic Surgeon, Fort Worth, Texas

So grateful to get my first round of Covid-19 vaccine today

Judy Busch, Labor & Delivery Nurse, Baylor Scott and White, Irving, Texas

Taking care of me so I can take care of you

Jennifer Willoughby, Surgery Technician, Texas Health Resources

Round 1 of my vaccine…here’s to the beginning of the end of this awful pandemic!

Dr. Mitch Carroll, Geriatrician Dallas, Texas.

As a Geriatrician, I am proud to get the Covid-19 vaccine today. This step helps keep my family and I safe and allows me to reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to my high-risk patients. I trust the science!

Tracy Speight, OBGYN, Health Central Women’s Care, Dallas, Texas

It’s a better day today!

Jay Patel, Interventional Radiologist, Baylor Scott and White, Irving, Texas

Just got the #covid vaccine and it feels like a new chapter has begun.

Dr. Julian Escobar, Fertility Physician, Irving Texas

COVID vaccinated. What else would you want more in 2020 when you interact with dozens of people daily? Thank you, Scientists. Thank you, Virologists. Thank you, Immunologists. Thank you Health Care.

Sarah Abbott Chang, Internal Medicine Physician, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas

Here’s to hope – Team Vaccine!

Dr. Naomi Levy, Pediatrician, Memorial Herman, Houston, Texas

Felt a mixture of overwhelming relief, joy, hopefulness, gratitude, and awe as I received my first Covid vaccine today

Carissa Brown, RN, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago

Best Christmas present ever – thanks Science. Covid does not care who you are. It does not care where you live. how old you are or who you voted for. Covid does not care if you think it is real or not. With Covid you may have a mild cold for a few days, you may struggle with a loss of smell or taste for months; you may die. I have seen friends, family, and coworkers on all ends of this spectrum over the last several months, which is why I feel so lucky to be able to receive this vaccine. As healthcare workers, we will sleep a little easier knowing our patients and those we love are safer due to these advancements.

April Wilson Bleich, Maternal Fetal Medicine, Fort Worth, Texas

Got my shot today. Thankful for modern medicine and all the researchers that made this possible. One step closer to beating this sucker.

Dr. Greg Tichenor, ER Physician, Texas Health Resources, Euless, Texas

I am so thankful I was able to get my first dose of the Covid Vaccine Wednesday. This week, two of the patients I’ve admitted for Covid-19 have died and I attended (via live streaming) the funeral of a co-worker who died of Covid. Special thanks to my hospital system, Texas Health Resources, and the whole staff at Texas Health HEB for doing everything they can to protect staff.

The post Medika’s #vaccinechallenge: Add your photos here appeared first on Medika Life.

Medicine sometimes snatches away health, sometimes gives it. — Ovid

African-American patients suffer greater numbers of deaths from the COVID-19 virus than white patients. Why is that?

Racists and those who follow the teachings of people like William Shockley, the Nobel prize-winning physicist who developed the transistor, would see a damaged-from-birth individual.

He spent the second half of his career, from the 1960s on, espousing a racist eugenics agenda, taking occasional breaks to help promote a high-IQ sperm bank. He ended up a disgraced bigot — ostracized and (as his biographer speculates) perhaps mentally ill. Shockley believed African-Americans were inferior and he would have, undoubtedly, attributed their high death rate to this inferiority.

The famed physicist wasn’t alone in his distorted beliefs about persons who trace their origin to Africa. He was one of many who clung to this belief in white exceptionalism. Often, they put their beliefs into action.

An unfortunate urban myth surrounds the eminent Black physician’s death, Dr. Charles R. Drew, who developed blood banks. While driving a car, he was involved in a serious auto accident. Despite the efforts of hospital staff, Drew died. He had been taken to a “white” hospital, and the erroneous belief that he had been denied blood transfusions was born.

Drew’s injuries were so severe and his loss of blood so great that he could not be saved. His family later wrote letters to the attending physicians thanking them for their efforts. But the belief of denial of blood survived.

Marks on the History of Medicine

The infamous Tuskegee “research” is probably the best-known study involving Black men. It was to be a study of untreated syphilis. Begun in 1932 with 600 black men, 399 with syphilis, 201 who did not have the disease, it was conducted without informed consent. The men were told it was to assess several ailments, including syphilis, anemia, and fatigue.

As is usual in some studies, participants received free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance. The initial objective was to conduct the study for six months, but it lasted for 40 years and many men died of the horrific, debilitating disease.

Once the unethical aspects were discovered, and that the researchers failed to provide treatment for men with syphilis, the research was halted and branded as highly unethical.

A review of the study found that the subjects were never given a choice to quit even when new, highly effective treatments were available. The most likely available medication would have been penicillin, which was an accepted treatment in 1945.

A class-action lawsuit against the researchers was won in an out-of-court settlement in 1974. Participants and their families were awarded $10 million. Men and women weren’t the only Blacks involved in questionable research studies.

Children as young as three months old were, according to one researcher, used as guinea pigs in UK medical experiments to test out drugs such as those for HIV. The children in the clinical trials were either Hispanic or Black and resided at an orphanage.

Tests were performed to check for drug safety and tolerance, and the president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection said the children had been treated like “laboratory animals.”

Pain has also received new research attention as it pertains to Black patients. A belief in differences not only in the color of their skin, but the thickness of Black skin vs. white and pain tolerance persists.

…a substantial number of white laypeople and medical students and residents hold false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites and demonstrates that these beliefs predict racial bias in pain perception and treatment recommendation accuracy. It also provides the first evidence that racial bias in pain perception is associated with racial bias in pain treatment recommendations.

The result is that many Black patients are undermedicated for pain and do not receive the relief that a white patient would under the same circumstances.

Good Reasons for Hesitancy

What are the barriers to greater participation of Black people in Covid-19 trials? Although they are multiple, a critical factor is the deep and justified lack of trust that many Black Americans have for the health care system in general and clinical research in particular.

This distrust is often traced to the legacy of the infamous syphilis study at Tuskegee, in which investigators withheld treatment from hundreds of Black men in order to study the natural history of the disease. But the distrust is far more deeply rooted, in centuries of well-documented examples of racist exploitation by American physicians and researchers.

The unethical medical practices perpetrated against Black patients were not limited to the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. During the 19th century, the physician James Marion Sims performed gynecological surgery on enslaved Black women without anesthesia.

Defenders of his actions indicate that this was groundbreaking surgical research for which the women may have asked. But, according to articles written since that time, there was no way to know that they either gave consent or that their owners agreed to the procedures.

The owners, however, had a financial interest in their slave’s recovery and most probably would have agreed with the procedure going forward.

Considering the requirements for medical school today, Sims’ period of study was rather slim. He worked with a physician for a short period of time and took a three-month course at a medical school before starting his medical practice.

Sims, in his autobiography, indicated that once he established himself in a small hospital on a slave plantation, he operated daily and had many patients. Considered the “father of modern gynecology,” Sims worked in an area of medicine considered undesirable, if not somehow unsavory.

When any of Sims’s patients died, the blame, according to him, lay squarely with “the sloth and ignorance of their mothers and the Black midwives who attended them.”

Medical researchers have not always been forthcoming in their work. One reason they would indicate is that to do so would skew the results. But there is sufficient evidence of medical deceit and continuing bias to cause vaccine hesitation — especially in the Black communities.

An additional consideration might be found in how the studies of the vaccines have been carried out. What was the number of Black persons involved in the samples, and were genetic differences noted? When I worked in a research study of an Alzheimer’s drug, few Black patients were enrolled.

The post The Black Community Has Painful Reasons Not to Trust Medicine appeared first on Medika Life.