- 18 hours ago
ESSENCE sat down with a team of Black doctors to get answers to all of your burning questions about the COVID-19 vaccines and the delta variant and what the Black community should know.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Thank you for being here for another necessary conversation surrounding the Black community and
00:05COVID-19. As many of us know, our community isn't just battling COVID-19 right now.
00:11We're battling dangerous misinformation surrounding the virus and the vaccine.
00:16It's imperative that we continue to ask questions and seek answers from medical and scientific
00:21professionals and continue to hold space for these important and potentially life-saving
00:26conversations. We know that our community still has a lot of questions about the new Delta variant
00:32and the COVID-19 vaccine and many of the trends and numbers we're seeing. Today, to help you get
00:38more answers and clarity, we welcome three special guests from the medical community, all of whom are
00:44working very closely with the Biden-Harris administration to prevent misinformation and do
00:48their part to end the pandemic. Please welcome Dr. Cleveland Gilman, emergency room physician,
00:54Dr. Ebony Hilton, a critical care anesthesiologist and co-founder of Goodstock Consulting,
01:02and Dr. Rhea Boyd, pediatrician and child health advocate. Thank you all for being here. Welcome.
01:07Thank you for having us.
01:09Thank you, Brian.
01:10You guys, I think the word of the day is misinformation. And we really need to start there
01:16because it's really been alarming, I think, for so many of us to see how much information that is not
01:22accurate is being distributed, particularly within our community, and especially through the internet.
01:28So I'd like us to just dive right in and kind of talk about some common misconceptions that we're
01:33hearing. And I think we should start with the Delta variant because that's sort of the term we're
01:38hearing on the news every day, right? That's what we're hearing about the most. Dr. Boyd, talk to me.
01:43What are some of the biggest misconceptions you were hearing about the Delta variant?
01:46So just last night, we were talking to folks in South Carolina, and we heard a number of myths
01:51about the Delta variant and about the vaccines themselves. About the vaccines, people were
01:56bringing up myths about whether or not the mRNA technology can affect their genetic makeup or
02:03any of their own DNA. I think mRNA was a new term for people, and so we broke down those terms.
02:09People had myths about the other ingredients because those names are really hard to pronounce,
02:14and people didn't recognize them. And so they thought that there were other things that people
02:18were sneaking in the vaccines that were harmful to them. And then we had a number of folks who
02:24called in who were concerned about the Delta variant and how contagious it was and that their vaccines
02:30weren't working. So this is one of our first calls where instead of just reaching out to the
02:34unvaccinated, 60% of the people who joined were already vaccinated, and many of them had COVID
02:41during, like after they were vaccinated. And so people were worried that that was a sign
02:45their vaccine wasn't working. And so then we had an open conversation about the fact that
02:50when they called in, everyone spoke in complete full sentences. Nobody was having shortness of breath.
02:56Nobody called in from the hospital. Nobody who had been vaccinated with their family had lost someone
03:02to COVID, even though they got Delta variant. And so we talked about the ways the vaccine works to
03:08protect people, even when we're in the middle of a surge of a really contagious strain that will
03:14start to affect more and more of the vaccinated, that it's still keeping us alive and keeping us
03:18out of the hospital, which is most important for people to know.
03:22Thank you for clarifying that, Dr. Boyd, because, you know, the fact that it's keeping people out of
03:26the hospital, because I think that's definitely a big one that we're hearing. And thank you for also
03:30pointing out that a lot of vaccinated people are still confused about the Delta variant. Dr. Hilton,
03:35what are you seeing in terms of misinformation about Delta? I think the biggest misinformation is
03:40related to who actually gets sick, right? There's been this big push from the very beginning that it
03:45was it was only old people and only those who are really sick. But unfortunately, what I see in my ICU
03:50is that there are people who look just like me and you. Literally two weeks ago, a person half my age,
03:57I had to tell their family, I'm sorry, there's nothing more we can do. Another thing that I think is a huge
04:03misconception is the fact that people think, oh, well, there's only a small percentage of persons
04:08who actually die from COVID. And that is true. The likelihood of you surviving is greater. But we
04:13have to look at who is actually in that surviving group who is recovered, because those persons include
04:19people who now have lung transplants. Those persons include people who have now, unfortunately,
04:23lost their limbs because of blood clots that COVID causes. There's people who've had strokes and heart
04:29attacks. And I'm not talking old people. I'm talking young. There's studies that look at even
04:35of those infected. There's a fair health report where they looked at two million people who had
04:40COVID. And what they found was that 23 percent of them, one in every four, right, actually had what
04:47we call long COVID, where their bodies, they're no longer able to breathe in the same way. Their GI tract
04:53doesn't work in the same way. They have chronic fatigue. They can't concentrate. We call it brain
04:58fog. And this is not only adults, but it's also children, right? And what does it mean when you take
05:05a nine-year-old, 10-year-old body who we know is still developing into what it's going to be like as
05:10an adult? What does it mean when you stress it out that greatly at that age? What does it do to the
05:16longevity of their life? What would their life look like when they're 40, 50 years old? Will it resemble
05:22someone who's 60 and 70 years old now? And it's just too big of a risk. I absolutely hear you. And
05:29I think the young people are starting to pay more attention because, like you said, we're seeing so
05:34many more of them. Dr. Gilman, you are in the ER, right, on a regular basis. Are you seeing more and
05:39more young people as well, like Dr. Hilton? One thing, the things that I'm seeing in the ER and then
05:46also outside the ER. I also post about people who have passed away from COVID as well. And what I'm
05:53seeing is more young people, some more teens are dying from the virus. So we know that Black
05:59communities were disproportionately affected by the pandemic early on. And so are the children. So
06:07just this week, we've had four Black teenagers who have died from the virus. We've had Jalen Fletch in
06:15Indiana, Tyler Ferry, Wanda Corpio, and then Kira Graham in Florida. These kids are not vaccinated.
06:26And so they're more susceptible to the virus. I think also as well, we are seeing a lot more
06:33pregnant women who are dying from the virus. Being pregnant, you're 20 times more likely to die from
06:43the virus. Those are the two large groups I'm seeing. And yeah, I've seen you on Twitter sharing
06:49these stories about people who are passing away, young people from COVID. And I think it's important
06:56that we say their names, right, and we share their story. So thank you for doing that. Dr. Boyd,
07:01you are a pediatrician. I know a lot of parents are very concerned and, you know, nervous about
07:07that's a variant as they're sending their kids back to school, especially because we're hearing
07:10that it's as contagious as the chickenpox. Is that true? And what should they know? And what
07:16should they do to prepare their children, who many are under 12 and unable to get vaccinated yet?
07:22Yes, we are hearing from so many parents and caregivers who have students who are already
07:27starting school this week or who are preparing to start school in the coming weeks this fall
07:31who are really concerned about how they can keep their kids safe. So there's a couple of things
07:36that I say to all parents. First, get vaccinated. The best way to make sure that COVID isn't introduced
07:42into your house is to make sure that you have the most protection we have so you don't get infected
07:48in the first place. So parents and caregivers of kids, especially kids under age 12, need to get
07:53vaccinated. Second, kids down to age 12 right now are authorized to receive a COVID vaccine, the Pfizer
07:59vaccine. And so all kids who are down to age 12, who are approved for a vaccine, need to receive one.
08:06That will give them the greatest protection when they get into the classroom where they might be exposed
08:11to common colds and COVID. And then the other thing that we need to think about is what we're doing
08:17to protect kids in the school environment. So parents really need to advocate that all of the staff,
08:22all of the teachers, all of the environmental services workers. Every person who's in the
08:29school building who's of an eligible age to receive a vaccine needs to have one. Schools need to encourage
08:35it. They need to provide it at back to school events. And some schools and areas where vaccination
08:39rates are really low need to make it mandatory because that's the only way we can guarantee that
08:45it's safe for us to send all our kids into those buildings. And then everyone who's in the building
08:49who's older than age two needs to wear a mask. Because as we've seen, the Delta variant is more
08:54contagious than chickenpox. It will spread like wildfire through schools if we don't have additional
09:01precautions on top of vaccines to keep people from getting infected and if infected from spreading it
09:07to their classmates or teachers or the other folks who work in the school building. And then for folks who
09:12live in areas where it's possible, we need to also have conversations about what normal school looks like
09:17right now. It should be normal during a pandemic to have smaller class sizes, to have schools separated
09:24between multiple buildings so you don't have as many people inside the same structure where they may be
09:29exposed to infectious diseases like COVID. And the last thing I've been telling to people is we should
09:34also expect that this year won't be normal for kids even though they're going back. Many kids have developed
09:41a social anxiety the past year as they've been away from their typical routines. And so being back in the
09:47classroom is going to trigger for kids a number of their behavioral health needs. And so we also need
09:51to make sure that it's normal for behavioral health supports to be available to all kids free of charge
09:57independent of their insurance status so that school becomes a place that really supports kids' social
10:02and emotional well-being as they cope with all of the changes to what their classroom looks like
10:07and what their lives look like this year. I'm really happy that you brought up the behavioral support.
10:12We're hearing a lot of parents talk about, you know, our readers talk about their children and what
10:17it's been like for them working remotely and not having contact with friends and going to camp.
10:21And there's going to be a lot of, you know, acting out and wanting to be free and, you know, and mandates
10:26feel like the opposite, right, of what they want. So there's going to need to be support on both
10:30sides. I'm so happy to bring that up. Dr. Hilton, would you like to add anything,
10:33need note for parents or touch on anything with the concerns that parents have right now with the COVID-19
10:38COVID-19 variant in schools? Yeah, I think even broader with, you know,
10:42I wrote our children's book called We're Going to Be Okay in the beginning of the pandemic to talk to
10:47children. And it goes over, you know, asking children how are they feeling about their emotional
10:53well-being of social change. But I think the next book that I'm going to write is about those children
10:58that are not okay. And this is what I really want to drive home to parents. By March of this year,
11:03we literally had 40,000 new orphans related to COVID-19, 40,000. And at this stage, we're
11:10estimated over 120,000 kids have lost either one or both parents to COVID-19. In fact, this collateral
11:19damage is going to be left in the wake of COVID. We don't talk about, right? How does the system take
11:25care? And so when we're looking at our vaccination patterns, we know that our older population, 65 and
11:31older, we did a fantastic job of trying to get those persons vaccinated. It's that middle group,
11:36the ones that are 25 to that 55 year old group, that we're really struggling to get that large
11:43movement of persons buying into this vaccination program. And unfortunately, with that, those
11:48persons have children at home that are depending on them to live, right? And so I would use that if
11:55I'm, if I'm on the fence thinking about this, just understand that right now in New York City,
12:00the age group that has the highest number is actually 25 to 35. That's who's in the hospital
12:05right now struggling. If we look across the deep South, we look at Florida, Oklahoma, Arizona,
12:11Alabama, literally Arkansas only has eight total ICU beds in the entire state. The pediatric ICU beds
12:19are literally overflowing to the point that we don't have anywhere to put. If you are going in for your,
12:25your delivery, Lord forbid, but if you, if you deliver your child prematurely, where is that baby
12:31going to go? Because our ICUs are filled with COVID patients. This is not the time for us to,
12:38to kind of wax and wane because unfortunately the Delta variant, as you know, Dr. Boyd was just saying,
12:43is so much more contagious. It's literally a thousand times higher viral load than the original COVID that
12:51we were seeing back in December. And that just means that it's able to overwhelm your system
12:56much more effectively, which is why we're seeing younger and younger persons getting infected,
13:02including our children.
13:04A thousand times that has to, we have to just stop and say that again, because I think a lot of people,
13:10when we talk about misinformation and misconception are saying, oh, I beat it the last time. I beat it last
13:16year. Right. We're hearing this or I was fine up until now. Right. Dr. Gilman, are you, we're seeing
13:22a lot of news stories where people are literally in the ER being put on ventilators and dying and saying,
13:28I wish I had been vaccinated. This is different. It seems to be happening a lot faster, a lot quicker.
13:33Is that true? And is that Delta variant? And what should people understand about how quickly this can
13:37happen? Yeah. So this, so this Delta variant is not the original string. This Delta variant is more
13:44contagious. It's spreading, it's seeking out the unvaccinated people and finding them and it's,
13:51and it's making them critically ill. I think the people, I, you know, I think at the beginning of
13:57the pandemic in March, the more rural places were pretty much isolated from, from the pandemic at that
14:04time. And so many of the people who probably didn't lose a loved one to COVID or didn't get the,
14:13a virus at that time, they think they're safe now, but the Delta virus, the, the Delta variant is
14:21sweeping through these communities and it's taking out entire families. I think it's not
14:26common to see a grandmother, mom's son all killed by the virus. And we're seeing this a lot in Florida.
14:33There's been multiple cases of this three family members passing away from the Delta variant. And,
14:39you know, we have to, we have to wear masks and being in a high transmission area, I would suggest
14:47that KN95 mask, which protects you a lot better than a cloth mask. Thank you for that. And, you know,
14:56I think that we have to keep telling these stories. We have to keep talking about masks. We have to keep
15:00talking about vaccines. And then I also want to take a moment to really talk about breakthrough cases,
15:06because that's something we're hearing a lot. And I think I know most people that I know are
15:11vaccinated and up until recently, they were feeling pretty confident and now they're hearing breakthrough
15:17cases, right? And people are vaccinated. People are being alarmed. So Dr. Boyd, we'll start with you.
15:23Can you explain a breakthrough case for us? And then tell us, should we be concerned if we're vaccinated?
15:30This is something we all have to have a conversation about. So when the vaccines were first approved
15:36back in December, right? Now we've had more than seven months of the vaccines being authorized.
15:41We knew that people could get COVID even if you had the vaccine. We knew that from the beginning.
15:48What we knew from early data was that you were less likely to get symptomatic disease. So you were
15:52less likely if you got COVID to have symptoms of COVID. And obviously you were extremely less likely.
15:57The vaccines protected you from that original strain, alpha of COVID, so that you had a 90%
16:05protection against hospitalization and death, right? So we always knew people could get it.
16:11But then came Delta. And this is what we've been trying to have conversations
16:15with Black folks around the country about. Delta is different. And by different, we mean way worse,
16:21right? Right now, people are more likely to be exposed to COVID because Delta spread so easily. And if
16:29exposed, infected with Delta, because it's so much more infectious than the common cold, than chicken
16:36pox, than the original strains of COVID. And so because of that, more and more people who are vaccinated
16:43are also going to get infected. There are varying rates of how many people are actually experiencing
16:51breakthrough infections, that's really based on how much COVID is in your area, how likely are you as
16:56a vaccinated person to have run into somebody else who had COVID. So if you have an area who most people
17:02aren't vaccinated, you're more likely to run into people who have COVID. And that's why rates of COVID are
17:07highest in those areas. In those areas, the rates of breakthrough infections or COVID infections in
17:12people who are fully vaccinated, who have two doses of an mRNA vaccine, or one dose of Johnson and Johnson
17:19could be as high as 20% as one out of five people, right? So breakthrough infections will be common.
17:26And as more folks get vaccinated in this country, more people are going to have breakthrough infections.
17:32That's just math. The more people that are vaccinated, among the people who get infections,
17:37you're going to catch more vaccinated people. But the thing to underscore for everybody is that the
17:42reason we have the vaccines is to save everybody's life. It's to make the fact that you get COVID
17:48not a death sentence. It's to ensure that if you get COVID, you can still breathe comfortably.
17:53It's to ensure that you don't get long COVID. It's to ensure you never have to go to the ICU and see
17:58Dr. Hilton or show up in the, you know, ER and see Dr. Cleveland. So I think we all have to
18:06recalibrate our understanding of the pandemic because Delta has truly changed everything.
18:11The vaccines are incredibly effective. The vaccines people have already received are
18:15working well to protect them from hospitalization and death, but we will see more breakthrough
18:20infections. Well said, Dr. Boyd. Thank you for, you know, breaking it down that way. I think,
18:26you know, a lot of vaccinated people have that, have that fear and that concern. So thank you for
18:31explaining and there will be more, but we will be here. Right. Which is what you're saying. And I
18:35think that's important. Dr. Hilton. Yeah. Yeah. So like you, I was going to say something to you,
18:40because I hope people understand that breakthrough infections does not mean that the vaccine did not
18:46work. Right. And if we can explain that for a second, the analogy I like to use is a raincoat,
18:51right? If I'm walking through in a rainstorm, a raincoat does a fantastic job. If I jump into a pool of water,
18:58it's not going to keep me dry. Right. So when we're talking about the vaccine,
19:02the vaccine is not a shield that prevents someone from being able to cough into your face, right?
19:07It's not some imaginary border. What a vaccine does is to say, I am going to prepare your,
19:14your body to give you this blueprint that if you see this piece of protein. So when we're, when we're
19:20talking about the mRNA vaccines in general, what they do is they, they teach your body how to recognize
19:25the coat of the virus, right? Just a little piece of the virus. Um, and so the idea behind a vaccine
19:33is that if someone does cough into your face and this virus gains entrance into your body, that when
19:39your immune system recognizes this coat, immediately it starts to fight off that virus. So it can't
19:45replicate to high, high numbers. Typically on normal infection, it takes your body about five days
19:52to fully ramp up with an immune response. And with COVID-19, if you're waiting five days before your
19:57immune response is ready, you're more likely to be in my, my hospital with a breathing tube
20:03because it's overwhelming of your system. So when people say, oh, I had the vaccine and I got infected
20:10anyway. Um, it's, it's one of those things of the vaccine, you got infected, but the vaccine literally
20:17saw the virus and tried to kill off as many of those viruses before it overwhelmed your system
20:22to the point that you can talk to me and say, I got the vaccine and I still got infected. That's
20:27the difference is the difference in your body having that blueprint to know exactly what's the game
20:34strategy of how do I fight off this virus and not is truly the difference in life and death at this stage
20:40with Delta. Um, just because of how high of a viral load, um, and how fast this thing is able to
20:47replicate within the body. Um, because of that speed, you don't have days to wait. You have to be ready
20:53on day one. It makes a lot of sense. And I think the raincoat analogy will stick with a lot of people.
20:58Um, that makes sense as well, which is another reason why you need to wear a mask. Again, if somebody
21:04comes and coughs in my face, if I have a physical barrier that prevents that, you know, when you're,
21:10when you're a kid and you like to breathe on a window in the winter time and you see where you can
21:15write your name, all of that mist carries literally millions of viruses with it, right? If I am breathing
21:21out, if I have a physical barrier on my face that prevents those large droplets from being able to get
21:27gain entrance right into my body system, then I reduce the amount of exposure I have.
21:33So the combination of reducing the physical exposure and then the vaccine, giving my body
21:39that blueprint to fight off this virus, that's the difference. I think what we're seeing in
21:44some pockets of the population who, um, are vaccinated in any hospital, um, because they've
21:50gotten infected, right. Versus those persons who said I was vaccinated. I was wearing a mask.
21:56My kid went to a camp, came home or what have you. Um, but if they had that physical barrier,
22:02when they got into contact with that person who was infected, that they probably are one
22:07of the ones that are having the better outcomes. So two hit approach.
22:11Definitely.
22:12No, absolutely. Thank you. And that's really important. Dr. Gilman, it sounded like you
22:16wanted to add something. Please do.
22:17Yeah. Um, how I think about it is I think of it as breakthrough infection and breakthrough disease.
22:24I'm worried about the breakthrough disease aspect of it.
22:27How many people who get COVID who are vaccinated are severely ill who have to be in the hospital
22:33and the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccines are 93% effective against breakthrough disease. Then you,
22:41you can still get the virus and, uh, but it's most likely to be a mild case, which is how come
22:48it's important to wear masks to stay six feet apart to avoid indoors and all these other things.
22:52But I like to think of it very simple like that. No, that's really helpful. And, um,
22:57one of the questions we've been getting a lot from our readers who are vaccinated
23:00is how much they're putting unvaccinated friends and immunocompromised friends at risk
23:06when they are vaccinated and maybe traveling again or visiting family or not wearing their
23:11masks with other unvaccinated, I mean, other vaccinated people, how at risk are vaccinated
23:17people putting unvaccinated people in their families and circles.
23:20So there was this term that kind of came out from some of our nation's leadership that said,
23:26this is now a pandemic of the unvaccinated. It was meant to highlight the fact that most of the
23:33folks who are now hospitalized and the vast majority of folks who have died of COVID have not had a single
23:39dose of a COVID vaccine yet. But what that did to people's perception was it made people think that the
23:46unvaccinated are the only people who are participating in spread of COVID or who can be affected by the
23:52pandemic. And so we want to dispel that myth, actually. This is not a pandemic just of certain
23:58people based on your vaccination status. The most recent data from the CDC tells us that even if you
24:04have a vaccine, like we were talking about with breakthrough infections, you can get COVID. And even if you
24:10have a vaccine, you can spread COVID to other people, you're less likely to spread COVID to other
24:17people if you never get COVID in the first place, which is what your vaccine is helping you do. But if you do get
24:22COVID and you have a vaccine, you can spread it to other people. So that's why we've seen a recent change in CDC
24:28guidelines. It's why the vaccinated also need to wear masks. Because if you don't get any symptoms, or you only have mild
24:36symptoms that you don't recognize are COVID, you can then be spreading that to the people in your household
24:41or at your job or when you go to the grocery store. And so everyone needs to wear masks when you go into
24:47public spaces, especially crowded indoor settings, even if you're vaccinated. And then for folks who are
24:53thinking about who they hang out with right now, or what their social life looks like, I think everybody
24:58has to understand that the Delta variant spreads so efficiently between people, that being around more
25:04people right now increases your risk of being exposed. So any setting you're in where you're
25:09around lots of people at one time, especially if those people are not wearing masks, especially if there
25:16isn't good ventilation, meaning you're indoors and air isn't circulating frequently. And especially if most
25:23people in that space do not have any protection against COVID, you are likely being exposed to the Delta variant
25:29again and again and again and again in a single outing. And so people need to be careful. You need
25:35to wear masks when you go out in public. You need to stay in small groups instead of going to large venues
25:40like concerts right now, or baseball games. People need to be careful because it is spreading really
25:47easily between people.
25:47I'm happy you mentioned that because I think the optics can be a little misleading now that we're seeing
25:53concerts come back and, you know, a lot of vacations and there's a lot of things happening in our lives
25:58and on our feeds that appear a bit more normal than it sounds like we are at. So I'm happy that you
26:04gave some of those examples. Dr. Hilton-Gillen, would either of you like to add anything about, you know,
26:09unvaccinated versus vaccinated gatherings in front? Yeah, I think that, you know, the main point is that
26:15both vaccinated and unvaccinated persons can get infected and both persons have the potential then to
26:21infect other people. And particularly when we're thinking about who's going to be the most vulnerable
26:26groups, we got to think about the immune compromised people. And I think Americans,
26:31or people in general, we don't do a good job of explaining who is immune compromised. Most
26:35times people just think of people with cancers, of which, yes. They think about people who have had
26:41organ transplants and have a new heart or a new liver. Yes. They think about, you know,
26:48those children who we see on the St. Jude commercial. But what we have to remember is that
26:53if you're on a dialysis patient, guess what? You're immune compromised. If you are pregnant,
26:59pregnancy, babies are absolutely fantastic little creatures. And guess what? They stress a mother's
27:07body. It causes the mother's body to change literally the way your heart, your lungs. When I put you,
27:12if I have to put you to sleep for a surgery and you're pregnant, the medications I use have to be
27:17different. My approach to you has to be different because your body changes and it causes you to be
27:23in an immune compromised state. In the United States of America, total, we're talking about upwards of
27:29three percent, if not greater, if we're truly expanding it out to think about persons with sickle cell
27:34anemia, cystic fibrosis. All those different types of just living life makes you at risk of having a
27:42more severe form of COVID-19 if you get infected. And so as a person who, you know, knock on wood,
27:50I don't have to have those types of conversations with myself about being immune compromised.
27:55Then it's up to me to make sure I do what's best for other people around me. And so again,
28:00that means to make sure that I reduce my risk of being able to infect them. I get vaccinated and
28:07I wear a mask so I can try my, like I said, try my best to protect them because with COVID,
28:12you don't get a second chance to do it over again. Yeah. It's final like that.
28:17No do overs. That's an excellent point. Dr. Goodman, did you want to add anything?
28:22Yeah. I think that people, people who are over the age of 60, if they're vaccinated or not,
28:30should still be very careful indoors. We are seeing vaccinated people at age who are being
28:39hospitalized for COVID. So it's important to wear a mask indoors and to, you know,
28:45practice everything that we've kind of talked about earlier, masks, social distancing and getting
28:52vaccinated, et cetera. Now, my last question before we close is about boosters. A lot of people are asking,
28:58hey, if I was an early, if I was early to jump on the vaccines, right? And I was vaccinated in
29:04early 2021, we're coming on six, seven months later. Am I going to need a booster shot? I see
29:09that they're recommending them for the elderly, but what do we need to know about booster shots? And
29:14how do we know when we may need one, particularly younger people? So the first thing that everyone
29:19should understand is if you're fully vaccinated, which means if you've received two doses of the MRNA vaccines,
29:24which is Pfizer or Moderna, or one dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, you have incredible
29:30protection against hospitalization and death from COVID, including the Delta variant. All of the
29:37vaccines right now protect folks exceedingly well from the Delta variant. But there are folks who not,
29:44who were not able to develop that maximum level of protection. And Dr. Hilton was just talking about
29:49them. For folks who are immunocompromised, who immune systems are more fragile than other people,
29:56even when you got the vaccine, you didn't develop that immune response that gives you that maximum
30:02level of protection. And so they don't have the same protection as the rest of us who got the vaccines,
30:07whose immune systems might be stronger. And so those are the folks who the FDA recently approved to say,
30:14you need another booster dose. You need another dose of the vaccine so that we can try to get
30:19your immune response to the level that the rest of the population has from those two doses of the
30:25MRNA vaccines or one dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. So if you are not elderly living in a
30:32congregate setting like a nursing home or a nursing facility, if you are not immunocompromised or taking
30:39medicines that make your immune system less strong or more fragile, then you don't need a booster right
30:48now. But if you are in those groups, now is the time to reach out to your provider to talk about
30:54how you can get a booster dose so that you can have the same protection the rest of us have.
31:00Thank you, Dr. Boyd. Dr. Gilman, Dr. Hilton, anything to add about boosters before we close?
31:04The main thing is being in contact with your doctor. And for those persons, I know there's
31:10several of us who may not have a primary care physician. If you are looking for more information
31:15of where to go, you can literally text your zip code to get VACS, which is G-E-T-V-A-X.
31:21It can give you locations as to where you can go to get vaccinated and other additional resources.
31:26But we know there's a lot of information out there that's misinformation, unfortunately.
31:30Get in contact with someone who can sit down with you and talk through what are your concerns.
31:37And so we can go through the risk benefit at this point. Yeah, but we can get through this together.
31:43We will. And speaking of Dr. Gilman, Dr. Hilton, Dr. Boyd, thank you all for your time,
31:48for the lifesaving work that you do and for holding space for such an important and necessary
31:53conversation today. We appreciate you all. Thank you. Thank you. Stay safe.
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