Rapid Test Center of New York
Dr. Stuart Weiss, FACEP, FAAP, CBCP

By Dr. Stuart Weiss, Intelligent Crowd Solutions – Rapid Test Center of NY

March 3, 2021

CoViD-19 News and Information you can trust. Welcome new readers from the Rapid Test Center.

Topics: An interesting vaccine question

New Testing Centers Open! We have opened our testing center in Chelsea in Manhattan and lower Westchester County . They are going great and we’re planning several more. Stay tuned.

Interesting Vaccine question I received an email this morning from a reader, R.S. who writes to me every so often. R.S. and I are on completely opposite sides of the political spectrum and I often vehemently disagree with his perspective but that is what makes our country so great, we can both have our opinions. R.S. forwarded me an interesting piece asking several questions about getting vaccinated. I will post his piece here and then comment on it: “If I get vaccinated”: 1.- Can I stop wearing the mask? Government: No 2.- Can they reopen restaurants, pubs, bars etc. and everyone work normally? Government: No 3.- Will I be resistant to COVID-19? Government Response – Maybe, but we don’t know exactly, it probably won’t stop you getting it 4.- At least I won’t be contagious to others anymore? Government Response – No, it doesn’t stop transmission. 5.- If I am vaccinated, can I stop social distancing? Government: No 6.- If I am vaccinated, can I stop disinfecting my hands? Government: No 7.- If I vaccinate myself and my grandparents, can we hug each other? Government: No 8.- Will cinemas, theatres and stadiums operate as per normal thanks to vaccines? Government: No 9.- What is the benefit of the vaccine? Government Response – Hoping the virus won’t kill you. 10.- Are you sure it won’t kill me? Government: No 11.- If statistically the virus won’t kill me anyway (99.7% survival rate) … Why would I get vaccinated?” Government Response – To protect others. 12.- So if I get vaccinated, I can protect 100% of people I come in contact with? Government: No 13.- Can you guarantee that I won’t experience adverse effects from taking the vaccine or die from the vaccine itself? Government Response – No 14. – Since you’re encouraging every American to get vaccinated then, when people experience severe adverse reactions, long term effects (still unknown) or die from the vaccine will they or their families be compensated? Government response: NO – the government and vaccine manufactures have 100% zero liability in experimental stages. 15. -How long does the vaccine last? Government response- we aren’t sure. I disagree with the premise of several of the questions above especially 13 and 14 but it does raise some interesting questions.  So why do I recommend that everyone get vaccinated. First and foremost, in clinical trials, the vaccines prevent severe illness and death. That is a good endpoint for me. The vaccines do not prevent mild to moderate illness but I can recover from that, I can’t recover from death. Next, data coming out of Israel, where they have vaccinated well over 60% of their population, is showing that viral loads are so low that people are less contagious. Its early data because the vaccines are new but it is encouraging. So getting vaccinated is the pathway to slow the spread of the virus and return to normal life. Right now, people who are vaccinated are protected but there are still many unvaccinated people and since vaccinated people can have asymptomatic illness and spread CoViD-19 to unvaccinated people, we still need social measures like face coverings and social distancing. If you are vaccinated and your grandparents are not, do not hug them (q#7).  As to side effects, the CDC data shows that it is exceedingly rare to have a severe reaction, i.e. anaphylactic shock. Most people have mild reactions or feel ill for a day like I had but that is a minor inconvenience.  Lastly, vaccination will slow down the spread of illness when we get up to a good percentage of the population who are vaccinated based on Israeli data. Reducing the number of people who are infected is crucial to prevent more variants developing. Remember that mutations occur as the virus is multiplying in people. We must reduce the number of infected people as soon as possible and vaccination is the way to do that.  I also want to point out a couple of trap questions in the above list. I have taken many media training classes over my career and there are a couple of classic techniques to trap someone. The first is in question #12. Its the all or nothing question, making something either good or bad, black or white. Can we protect 100% of the people? The answer is no but it sounds bad saying you can’t protect 100% of the people. Nothing in medicine is 100%. I’d be really happy if we can protect 90-95% of the people.  The second trap is the “guarantee” question in #13 which is similar to the all or nothing question. Nobody can guarantee anything in medicine. We cannot guarantee that you wont have adverse effects. But then it ties any adverse effects (which are mostly mild) to dying which makes that link in your mind. So all of a sudden, you think, wow, I could die from an adverse reaction when it is exceedingly rare.  The last trap question I’ll talk about tonight is exemplified in question #14. It ties together several unrelated items into a string and then asks an unrelated question but you already have the previous elements linked. This is done often during difficult interviews you see on the news when an anchor has a point to make. Lets look at the first part: Since you’re encouraging every American to get vaccinated then, when people experience severe adverse reactions, long term effects (still unknown) or die from the vaccine … This has linked getting a vaccine with very rare severe adverse reactions, long term effects which are very scary sounding because these vaccines are new and then death. By the time you get to the question at the end, you are already terrified. Then it asks a question unrelated to safety in an attempt to take your fear and have you apply it to the question being asked even if the two are unrelated. So if you get all these terrible hypothetical things that are very scary, will you be compensated? What does compensation have to do with making a vaccine decision or safety? This is something that would be determined in courts decades from now. Its unrelated but presented in a trap question. So the person writing the piece definitely has an opinion to present and obviously had some media training. Watch for trap question next time you see a conservative on a liberal talk show or vice versa. When you are eligible, get your self vaccinated so we can get through this together. . Dr. Stu Weiss

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COVID-19 HEADLINES FOR TODAY

Coronavirus update for March 3, 2021 World Wide Updates Head of Gavi vaccine alliance says it’s delivered 10 million doses to 14 countries Novavax experimental coronavirus vaccine 50% effective against variant in South Africa, study finds India’s Covaxin Covid-19 vaccine 81% effective against coronavirus Brazil’s largest state to enter most restrictive “red phase” as cases rise Polish health minister says he does not recommend China’s Sinopharm vaccine at present Netherlands looking into authorizing AstraZeneca vaccine for those over 65 Peru expects to receive 50,000 Pfizer/BioNTech doses today Fake Covid-19 vaccine network dismantled in South Africa and China, Interpol says Israel partially re-opens borders for citizens Rwanda receives first batch of vaccines through the COVAX initiative, health ministry says Pope’s visit to Iraq must go on as “act of love” despite Covid concerns, Vatican says The UK failed to impose an effective quarantine system German Chancellor and state premiers to discuss extending Covid-19 lockdown Explosion reported near Covid-19 test center in the Netherlands Kenya receives more than 1 million vaccines through COVAX Brazil records highest daily number of Covid-19 deaths Italy closes schools in worst-hit areas amid concerns over new variants Rwanda first African nation to get Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine Greece prolongs lockdown to March 16 Czech Republic and Slovakia to receive 100,000 extra vaccines each Estonia imposes weekend shutdown on hospitality and retail Total Cases Worldwide: 115,649,628 Total Deaths Worldwide: 2,568,089 Total Recovered: 91,370,887 US Updates New Mexico health officials urge residents not to follow Texas’ lead in loosening Covid-19 restrictions CDC director urges people not to give in to pandemic “fatigue” Pandemic control measures must continue, leading infectious disease group says Louisiana health official calls decision on masks in Texas and Mississippi “dangerous and self-defeating” Arizona governor orders schools to reopen to in-person learning by March 15 Texas school and childcare personnel now eligible to receive Covid-19 vaccine Biden criticizes Texas and Mississippi governors for lifting Covid-19 restrictions: “Neanderthal thinking” More than 2,500 reported cases of concerning variants in the US, CDC says Austin city leaders slam Texas governor’s decision to lift mask mandate Harris shines a light on women-owned small business during pandemic Teachers in West Virginia are now eligible to receive Covid-19 vaccines Study identifies several coronavirus variants of concern in patients from Houston area Biden agrees to tighten income cap on COVID stimulus checks in cave to moderate Democrats White House announces private sector effort to vaccinate vulnerable seniors CDC director says “now is not the time” for states to lift Covid-19 restrictions Massachusetts teachers, school staff and childcare workers can receive the vaccine next week Johnson & Johnson says vaccines for children under 18 could be available by September This US grocery chain, Kroger, will still require masks despite some states lifting mask mandates Johnson & Johnson aims to exceed current vaccine target with new Merck partnership Mississippi mayor calls governor’s decision to lift mask mandate “reckless and premature” CDC’s ensemble forecast now projects up to 564,000 US Covid-19 deaths by March 27 Texas doctor says the nearly 350 straight days he’s worked “go down the drain” after mask announcement Mississippi lifting mask mandates will “sabotage” fight against Covid-19, Jackson mayor says Biden urges patience on Covid as Republican governors go rogue on US state reopenings Alamo Drafthouse, Target and Macy’s are not having Texas governor’s plan as state’s mask mandate is lifted Total US cases: 29,442,207 Total US deaths: 531,263 Total Recovered: 19,994,460 Total Tested in US: 353,137,885 Total cases in CA: 3,579,596 Total deaths in CA: 52,829 Total cases in TX: 2,677,288 Total deaths in TX: 44,701 Total cases in FL: 1,924,114 Total deaths in FL: 31,273 Total cases in NY: 1,700,369 Total deaths in NY: 48,155 Total cases in IL: 1,191,520 Total deaths in IL: 22,853 Total cases in GA: 1,014,542 Total death in GA: 17,625 Total Vaccines Administered in US: 80,540,474

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