This week saw the extraordinary coming together of the CDC, FDA and NIH in the fastest response we have seen in a while
If you live in the U.S. and have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, you don't need a booster shot, FDA and CDC said in a joint statement today pic.twitter.com/F8RfvBPwke
— APHA (@PublicHealth) July 9, 2021
If you live in the U.S. and have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, you don’t need a booster shot, FDA and CDC said in a joint statement today
Fred reviews the rising cases showing up in Florida which raises the concern that this could be forewarning given this has been seen in a few other states as well and we discuss the news out of Belgium where they have introduced Cos monitoring in public places/restaurants as a proxy for air exchange and encouraging fresh air circulation
Raw Transcript
Nick van Terheyden
Hi, this is Dr. Nick, I’m the incrementalist here with incremental insights for better business, better health.
Fred Goldstein
And I’m Fred Goldstein with accountable health here. We’re working with employer groups to help them and their employees improve their overall health and look at their benefits packages. So I believe it was about a day ago, Nick, there was this sudden announcement by Pfizer that they were working on a third shot as a booster. And I believe people were wondering, is this what’s gonna happen with this? Is this thing real? And there was suddenly a response from our federal government?
Nick van Terheyden
What what I believe in the in the US, colloquialisms of sport that will be called a softball. In an extraordinary piece of news, not only did we receive the fastest ever output and response to that piece of news, but we received it from three, count them three, so it was the FDA, the CDC, and the NIH, all came together and agree, and I’m not sure that’s ever happened maybe a little bit unfair. And was it minutes, it certainly wasn’t more than hours? To say, No, you don’t need it. We don’t think that’s necessary. We go based on science, I think was the word they use. So it was a pretty big slap to say, thanks. But we’re not focusing our energies on boosters at this point.
Fred Goldstein
So what sort of the bottom line thinking here was Pfizer saying, I think we have a need for this, we’re going to start getting ready for it. And was not communicating that you think to the federal government? And what’s the sense I
Nick van Terheyden
don’t know, I don’t walk in these, you know, fancy schmancy halls of power. And I’m trying to tease out from the tea leaves of social media. I, you know, I always start with the premise that there was not mal intent. I mean, I think everybody jumps over this and say, Well, this is them trying to make money. It’s this. And I don’t see any of that I really think folks are really trying to find the best pathway to give us the most resistance. And sure you give a booster, we get an even better response. And that was the interesting thing in the original data. Even with one dose, we saw effectiveness now that effectiveness not quite as good when you look at some of these more transmissible variants, specifically the Delta, but it was still pretty good. And comparatively speaking relative to the flu vaccine. It’s it, you know, it’s a good robust response. Do we need a an additional booster? I don’t think so. If we have that opportunity, and people willing, not a bad idea, I’m not going to run out and get one. But you know, at some point, I’m probably going to find I might need one. And when it comes to some of the other vaccines, there’s going to be some announcements, at least based on data. And I don’t know what those announcements will say yea, or nay. But we may see some updates on that that, you know, just gives you additional protection.
Fred Goldstein
Right. And I think this also raises the question. Now, a lot of people are wondering, when are we going to get this full approval from the FDA for the Pfizer and Madonna vaccines and the others as well, obviously, but we keep hearing something about it, but who knows.
Nick van Terheyden
And, you know, obviously, that’s important, because that changes the status a little bit, you know, it’s no longer this emergency use authorization. So hopefully, they’ll be able to focus and approach that problem. But, you know, I think viewers know that you’re a Florida resident. And Florida seems to be a something of a canary, I would say,
Fred Goldstein
it might be and it’s interesting, because, you know, as the as the virus levels have gone down the population, and it’s become less of a major news issue. Many of the states have stopped reporting as often or as frequently as they were in the past. And we’ve obviously seen now with Missouri, that they’ve had some major issues with the Delta variant, we believe creating outbreaks in that community, resulting in hospitals actually being full or running out of ventilators and needing to move patients. It’s a difficult situation, which sort of reminds us of the fall. And now Florida, which only reports once a week has just released its latest COVID weekly situation report. And for the first time since April 30. We’re approaching those numbers of 23,697 people infected this past week, we were at a low of 11,400. So we’ve essentially doubled that In what looks like about five weeks, and the question then becomes, are we going to see an increase in hospitalizations? 234 weeks out is this in fact, the canary in the coal mine related to areas with lower vaccination levels? It’s going to be interesting to watch this over time. But clearly, the numbers for the past four weeks of three weeks have been going up.
Nick van Terheyden
I think we need to watch closely.
Fred Goldstein
Absolutely. And there’s some other states that may be seeing something similar. So it’s something to pay attention to. The curve doesn’t look great. Obviously, we’ve got fairly substantial vaccination rates in certain communities. And in other communities, even as I look around the the Jacksonville area, Jacksonville may be fairly high. But you look at some of the outlying counties, and they’re at 20%. And so right for this kind of thing,
Nick van Terheyden
unfortunately, I wonder why they moved to weekly, I don’t understand the scale back, was it that much of an impact in terms of reporting, because obviously, more frequent data allows you to react more quickly? It’s a smaller incremental approach. But that’s what we’re living with. Talking about prevention, and, you know, people’s approach, some interesting news out of Belgium that we saw, right?
Fred Goldstein
Yeah, interesting that, we found that coming out of Belgium, they’ve decided to put in co2 monitors into restaurants and other indoor facilities, gyms, etc, that are available for the individuals clients coming in, or the patrons to see the co2 levels, which is an interesting thought, because while it doesn’t directly measure virus level, or what might be transmitting in that room, it does give you a sense for how much clean air or how many people have been in there without the air being allowed to leave and be refreshed. So an interesting approach, apparently, it’s not that expensive for these co2 monitors. And they’re gonna mandate them in these facilities, give them about three months, where they’ll monitor it. And then if they achieve a certain if they’re over a certain level, they will find the facility if they get too high.
Nick van Terheyden
And I’m just gonna say, they’re not expensive yet. Remember, the toilet paper incident?
Fred Goldstein
to Amazon, I’m gonna find me a bunch of co2 meters to put up with my facilities fill
Nick van Terheyden
your garbage up, I think you’ll be in great shape.
Fred Goldstein
afford them. There we go, just what we don’t need to be doing. But I think it’s it’s fascinating to watch this. It’s obviously not an exact science and doesn’t directly relate. But there are some clear studies from a number of groups that have said this is an important measure of quality there. And some places do use it in schools already, just in general for their students. And as they said, with this Belgium story, you can open the windows, open a door, those kinds of things to assist in getting more in there. And I know in the past, you’ve talked about specific fan placement, things like that, and some of the episodes
Nick van Terheyden
right and and certainly something we’ve seen in sports clubs, you know, another place where air circulation, it’s a good proxy for ventilation and the inclusion of you know, fresh air or more, more fresh air, so not a bad idea, but please don’t go out and buy the place out.
Fred Goldstein
Absolutely. Well, once again, another fantastic week talking with you, Nick. This is Fred Goldstein with accountable health. If you’d like more information about the work we’re doing, you can go to accountable health LLC COMM
Nick van Terheyden
And this is Dr. Nick on the incrementalist here with incremental insights for better business, better health.
