HOLIDAY HOURS 2021

 

Happy Holidays! The office will be open all day December 24th in Laurel. Closed on Monday 27th so the staff can have a holiday. Similarly we will be closed on Monday the 3rd of January. I will be out of town between those dates (but as always available 24/7 for concierge patients). Our annual sale ends on New Year's Eve. We still have Beautox (large and small), eye gel and serums for the face and hair on sale buy 2 get 1 free. Great stocking stuffers! Please enjoy a socially distanced holiday and stay safe. Let's get through this new surge with care and diligence. We will be giving boosters this Tuesday.

IS CONCIERGE MEDICINE RIGHT FOR YOU?

 

Is concierge medicine right for you? In these days of medical strife I have had quite a few enquiries about our concierge program particularly since we are at the end of another year. My staff is available to sit down and discuss the program with you but here are a few things to consider: If you could have exactly what you wanted from your doctor what would your priorities be? Rapport? Proactive, less waiting time? Same day appointments? Able to call directly to the doctor’s cell phone when you have a question? More face-to-face time? The ability to email directly? Honest opinions? Remote 24 hour monitoring for weight, blood pressure or blood sugar? Knowing that your office visit will never exceed $75? In addition what is it that YOUR personal situation requires; you have unique issues to stay on top of. Is your emphasis on preventive care? Weight? A special health condition? Are you out of state? All the above are managed with a concierge program. Concierge is a much more holistic approach in the sense that you are the center. Everything that affects you is important not just the one problem you have when you present to the office. As examples, let’s look at some real life scenarios: You had to go to an urgent care center and they are sending you home with a band aid prescription to “follow up with your PCP”. You don’t really understand what they say is wrong with you or whether the medication is good for you personally. Wouldn’t it be nice to call your personal physician directly and have them talk to the provider before you leave? I can ask what tests were done and how they came to that diagnoses (most of the time you will be seeing a PA or Nurse Practitioner). Maybe you need additional tests run while you are there. Perhaps you were told you had a UTI, I can order a test of cure in 2 weeks and save you an unnecessary follow up trip. You end up in the ER. Once again, I can steer your management in a manner that is in your best interest and prevent unnecessary interventions and consequently time wasting because I know your history. Your chart is in front of me when I discuss your case. How often do you leave the ER and you are told “we will send your information to your doctor” and it never arrives? You simply call me on your cell phone and I speak with the nurse to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding. Finally you are actually admitted, is it not comforting to know that I will speak with you regularly in the hospital and the staff who are taking care of you? You’ve been there: The nurse comes in and says, “ Here take your medicine”, 4 pills in a cup you have no idea what they are and she may not have the time to explain. Good patient gulp it down! :) The last scenario is that you, or I, are out of state. You still have 24/7 access by phone and email. You get as much attention as you or your doctor deems necessary with time to discuss diet, exercise regimen, natural solutions and mental health issues. It’s all about you. I am a text, email or phone call away. And for busy professionals there is no wait time if you have to come to the office. We schedule 2 concierge patients an hour and a full hour for your annual physical. Because you have a whole hour we can discuss labs and any other issues you want addressed, versus the standard physical dictated by the insurance company, which pays no more than 20 minutes. This is why you have to come back to discuss labs or issues when you have a physical. If you have a condition that requires 3-month follow ups and refills it will save you a lot of time because we can do phone or video visits. We accept HSA and cafeteria plans for the program and it is very affordable. With no slight intended, some people spend more per month on their hair and nails and going out to dinner than they do to have customized caring health care. But as is always the case with health care, the time is now not after things go wrong. Family plans are available and we offer up to 20% off through the end of the year. When I have an opportunity I will make a You tube video about the whole concierge concept but if any of this resonates with you and you feel you would like to explore the options further please call and make a free, no obligation, appointment to discuss further. Remember to take vitamin C, D and zinc and call early if you get a positive Covid test so we can work on keeping you OUT of the hospital. Here are other suggestions, if you have forgotten: https://anti-agingdoctor.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-infodemic-from-pandemic-covid-19.html

OMG its Omicron! What to do.

Season’s Greetings! You have probably noticed that I was giving you a break with the emails but the new panic button has caused me to write again. It’s called the Omicron variant of SARS-2-CoV-2 virus. “What shall we do?” people ask as they wring their hands. The short answer is nothing different, the same thing that you should have been doing all along but had started to slack off on. The masks, the social distancing, the avoiding crowds, the hand sanitizer and hand washing. Combine that with immunizations and hope. Hope that the rest of the country will eventually get the message and the pandemic will be over. As I mentioned well over a year ago, corona viruses are famous for mutating and we should expect variants fairly regularly. That is why you need to get a flu shot annually because the dominant variants this year may not necessarily be the dominant strain next year. With the Covid-19 pandemic the current cause of over 90% of the hospitalizations is the delta variant. Remember the panic when we heard about Delta? We can envision a time when the Omicron variant or some other variant will be the predominant strain. Whenever there is a new variant announced you can pretty much assume it is already here in the US. There is no need to wait and watch the state by state “breaking news”. This simply causes unnecessary anxiety. The idea is not to panic. Variants are guaranteed to happen but you must stay the course and follow scientific guidance and common sense. A patient wisely told me last week that he had just decided not to go to his family in South Carolina for Thanksgiving because his relatives all refuse to get vaccinated, smart move. Then he said “The last straw was when my aunt died of Covid…..” We are still offering Covid boosters in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please note: I will alter my modus a little with these emails. I don’t want to add to the stuffing of my patients’ inboxes unless it is very important. So I will continue to write blogs and also make videos on important topics and discuss experiences that patients have had that others can learn from. So this will be the last one for this year, hopefully nothing  major will happen this month. Soon you will be contacted for a phone satisfaction survey, I would love you to participate in those calls but they are by no means mandatory. All feedback is welcome and encouraged. Last but not least, all AALI products are on sale buy 2 (of the same product) get one free through Xmas day. These are great for stocking stuffers and the body wash is much less drying in winter than soap. (Especially since you are washing your hands all the time:). WEIGHT LOSS: All HCG programs will be 10%  off if paid for this year even if you don’t start the actual weight loss program until next year. Refer a friend for the program and get another 10% off. You can also pay in advance for B12 shots.   Call early for refills or other services that need to take place before the end of the year. Stock up on vitamins if you have extra HSA or cafeteria funds. Plan on looking extra good for the holidays? Call soon. I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season.

Remember to take vitamin C, D and zinc and call early if you get a positive Covid test so we can work on keeping you OUT of the hospital. Here are other suggestions, if you have forgotten: https://anti-agingdoctor.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-infodemic-from-pandemic-covid-19.html

The latest excuse for not taking a flu shot, J and J boosters, HSA saving and Thanksgiving sale!

 For those of you who would like the Covid vaccine boosters we are doing them for all adults on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Columbia office. Please call for an appointment.

Anyone who got only one J and J vaccine should get their second shot now, we have some in the office.

We also have flu shots for everyone including seniors. We give these any day of the week.

The latest excuse for not taking the flu shot is "I got THE vaccine". For those of you who have been reading my emails you know that the Flu shot and the Covid shot are two different things for two different illnesses. One doesn't protect from the other.

Covid and Influenza do have something in common: the early symptoms are similar and both are contagious. Besides making you miserable if you get the flu you may have to get unnecessary testing and quarantine to determine which one you have.

For those of you who have HSA money to spend before the end of the year  here are a few suggestions:

-Get that genetic test for cancer you have been meaning to do forever.

-Remove skin tags from your face and neck

-Get a vitamin study so you know exactly what you are deficient in

-Get your hormones balanced

Have an anti-aging consultation

-Acne treatment

-Stock up on vitamins and supplements especially your vitamin C and zinc

Our thanksgiving sale starts tomorrow:

All AALI products (hair serum, face and body wash, retinol and vitamin C serum for the face, eye gel) are buy 2 get one free through December 15th.

We work from 11am to 7 pm on Tuesdays.

VIP/Concierge subscribers please schedule your end of year round up visits now.

If you still want to schedule your physical this year please call soon.

Remember new deductibles start in January.

We will be available the first Saturday of December and the second Saturday of January in the Laurel office.

Boosters can be mix and match, which one is right for you?

 Well done to those of you who waited the 2 weeks I recommended, so we could get the rest of the facts on the boosters before making a decision.

Knee jerk reactions to “breaking news” really is no way to manage your health!

Now you and your physician can choose what is best for you, with all the data available, always the best strategy.

Here are some basic guidelines.

If you feel that you need more information or just want to sit down and discuss your particular situation please feel free to make an appointment.

I could have paraphrased the article below but I did not because I think it is very clear and self explanatory.

 At the end of the day I would say that in general, if you want to take an mRNA booster choose Moderna because it lasts longer. It doesn’t matter which vaccine you got the first time.

I still lean towards vector borne vaccines for young children even though they haven't yet received the EUA for this.

If you got a J and J vaccine go ahead and get the second one.

Last, but not least, it is not really clear when the Moderna vaccine needs to be boosted especially without underlying conditions. I think the 6 month recommendation was somewhat arbitrary and more based on the need for a Pfizer booster after 6 months.

“FDA Authorizes Boosters for Moderna, J&J, Allows Mix-and-Match” (Medscape article)

Brenda Goodman, MA

October 20, 2021

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized booster doses for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, while also allowing boosters to be given interchangeably with any of the other vaccines, in people who are eligible to get them.

The move to amend the Emergency Use Authorization for these vaccines gives the vaccine experts on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices latitude to recommended a mix-and-match strategy, if they feel the science supports it. 

The committee convenes tomorrow for a day-long meeting to make its recommendations for additional doses.

People who've previously received two doses of the Moderna mRNA vaccine, which is now called Spikevax, are eligible for a third dose of any COVID-19 vaccine if they are 6 months past their second dose and are:

• 65 years of age or older
• 18 to 64 years of age and at high risk for severe COVID-19 because of an underlying health condition
• 18 to 64 years of age and at high risk for exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus because they live in a group setting, such as a prison or care home, or work in a risky occupation, such as healthcare

People who've previously received a dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are eligible for a second dose of any COVID-19 vaccine if they are over the age of 18 and at least 2 months past their vaccination.

"Today's actions demonstrate our commitment to public health in proactively fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic," said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, MD, in a news release. "As the pandemic continues to impact the country, science has shown that vaccination continues to be the safest and most effective way to prevent COVID-19, including the most serious consequences of the disease, such as hospitalization and death.

"The available data suggest waning immunity in some populations who are fully vaccinated. The availability of these authorized boosters is important for continued protection against COVID-19 disease."

On a different note:

FYI To accommodate patients who have gone back to work we will be extending our Tuesday hours.

Appointments will be available from 11 am to 7 pm on Tuesdays. We will also be available in the Laurel office on the first Saturday of the month.

Should you get a booster for Covid and which one?

 The booster situation is becoming clearer by the day.

For people who got the Pfizer vaccine and are 6 months out from their second shot, it is recommended they get a booster especially if they are immunocompromised or over 65. Studies have shown that with the Pfizer vaccine the antibodies to Covid go down precipitously by month 7, in some cases to undetectable.

Moderna has not been approved for a booster yet but I suspect that it will within the next week or two.

I am not allowed to make this recommendation yet because the FDA has not yet approved the Moderna booster but when they do, I am going to recommend that people who got the Pfizer vaccine consider getting the Moderna as a booster.

Moderna clearly has stronger protection and may eventually lead to less shots than Pfizer.

Not surprisingly people who got the Johnson/Janssen vaccine are going to need a second shot. The idea of the one shot deal turned out to be too good to be true.

The good news is that the second J and J shot takes immunity up to 95%. Which makes it even better than some of the 2 shot vaccines.

Here is an interesting commentary which I agree with:

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/958432?uac=214936CY&faf=1&sso=true&impID=3687470&src=mkm_covid_update_211004_MSCPEDIT

The office will be open on October 11^th which was the Columbus day holiday but has been renamed Indigenous Peoples day.

My office will also be open this Saturday October 9^th.

To accommodate patients who have gone back to work we will be extending our Tuesday hours.

Appointments will be available from 11 am to 7 pm on Tuesdays.

Covid vaccines and boosters

 To accommodate patients who have gone back to work we will be extending our Tuesday hours.

Appointments will be available from 11 am to 7 pm on Tuesdays.

UPDATE ON BOOSTERS

So this week as promised more information came out on the Covid vaccines and booster shots. Of note, the consensus is that Moderna is the most effective and long lasting of the 3 vaccines.

A nationwide study of more than 3,600 adults found the Moderna vaccine does a better job at preventing COVID-19 hospitalizations than the two other vaccines being used in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Protection said last Friday.

Vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 hospitalization during March 11–August 15, 2021, was higher for the Moderna vaccine (93%) than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (88%) and the Janssen vaccine (71%) the CDC’s weekly MMWR said.

The study also broke down effectiveness for longer periods. Moderna came out on top again.

After 120 days, the Modern vaccine provided 92% effectiveness against hospitalization, whereas the Pfizer vaccine’s effectiveness dropped to 77%, the CDC said. There was no similar calculation for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Other studies have shown all three U.S. vaccines provide a high rate of protection against coronavirus.

No surprise, J and J came out today with the idea that people who got their shot should get a booster and this increases immunity to 94% or more. Which is great but why call it a booster? It is basically a second shot and lucky for those who took it, they still will only have to get 2 instead of 3 shots and still be ahead of the game.

When given two months after the first dose, a booster shot increased antibody levels by four to six times compared with one shot alone. When given six months after the first dose, a booster shot increased antibody levels 12-fold. (This information is taken from Medscape).

The booster recommendations for now are for seniors and immunocompromised but only 6 months after the second shot. This really only applies to Pfizer because that is the group that the study on boosters pertains to.

Plus as mentioned above it is Pfizer that starts to lose its potency at this point. The studies on the other two vaccines are yet to come out.

We have Moderna in the office and I am happy to give it to anyone who desperately feels they must have a booster NOW but my suggestion is to wait and be patient. The jury is not out yet and if you got your initial Covid vaccination you are still protected.

How about you get your flu shot while you are waiting?(Smile)

Remember we now have late appointments on Tuesdays and I will be working in Laurel on October 9^th which is a Saturday.

New office hours, rapid Covid tests, Boosters, Flu shots, Covid shots and other info

 To accommodate patients who have gone back to work we will be extending our Tuesday hours.

Appointments will be available from 11 am to 7 pm on Tuesdays.

I will also work on October 9th which is a Saturday in Laurel until 1pm (last appointment 12 noon).

We have the rapid covid test for those who need it for air travel.

We are vaccinating all those who are interested, with the new flu vaccine. That includes the regular and the one for seniors.

Also those who need the yellow fever vaccine for international travel can call the office.

Covid vaccines are still available in the office: Moderna and Johnson and Johnson/ Janssen.

Unless you are a cancer patient or otherwise immunocompromised you do NOT need a booster yet.

Remember the sooner you get a booster the sooner you will need the next one!

Spending a lot of time worrying about it and indulging in panic mongering is not necessarily productive. Try to focus on the big picture.

For me right now, one of the major dilemmas is whether I would want to give a young child a mRNA vaccine. I prefer the idea of the tried and true vector technology for the young ones simply because of unknown long term effects of the mRNA. Maybe there are none but still.... this is my personal opinion at this point.

Its hard to drown out the noise of big Pharma and give a balanced look at this issue.

When you get a call from the office suggesting you follow up on labs there is usually a reason. I know these days patients access their labs on line and then look on the internet to see what they mean. Sometimes you can reassure yourself that you are fine.

However, I would like to think that there is added benefit to discussing your labs with me and I can give you the benefit of my over 30 years experience. Perhaps we want to recheck a borderline Blood pressure, we may want to nip something in the bud or determine how we can improve things for the future. Maybe there is new information that is pertinent or new concerns about the medication you are on. Maybe identify future potential problems etc, etc

If coming into the office is a problem, this type of visit can often be done in a telemed visit.

As always I am available for questions and to disseminate information.

Speaking of which, I was in the Munich airport in Germany last weekend and while I was killing time I wandered over to the makeup counter. The topic of covid vaccinations came up and the lady attending me happened to be Russian. She had had the Pfizer vaccine but was very concerned about her 26 year old daughter who had had Lyme disease pericarditis last year. 40 minutes later she had scribbled down notes and asked all her questions, I felt like I was giving a lecture but it occurred to me how badly people need good information. I did manage to impress on her that if her daughter did catch Covid she would likely end up in the ICU.

Something that had not been made clear to her, she was just focusing on the vaccine side effects.

Do you sometimes feel like the wheels are coming off the rails? I hope to write some more about this next time :).

Meanwhile stay well.

FLU SHOTS AVAILABLE IN THE OFFICE!!!, Do you need a booster shot? Maybe not so fast!

 I hope you were able to enjoy your summer with the appropriate restrictions.

First and foremost we have flu shots in the office!!! Call for an appointment.

Once again, people are making noise about the “Twindemic” of the flu and Covid just as they were last year. I don’t subscribe to scare tactics. The reason you should get a flu shot every year is because you don’t want to get the flu!

Amazingly, we are still discussing Covid because people still refuse to follow basic public health guidelines including getting vaccinated.

And so we are now in the 4^th phase of Covid infections.

But let’s talk about booster shots: Is it politics, profit or really about protection?

Stay abreast of the information and make up your own mind.

I get a lot of questions about Covid vaccine booster shots. I hope this answers some of them.

Many healthcare practitioners and pharmacies have already been giving people third doses of vaccines, even if they are not among the immunocompromised — the group for which the shots are currently approved.

If you go to your local CVS they are happy to give you one. Even if they know nothing about you or your health conditions.

Just because you can get one doesn’t mean that you necessarily need to get it. At least not at this time.

FYI, the whole booster thing was a Pfizer idea and the notion of boosters was ‘rushed to market’ i.e the court of public opinion way before the jury is out.

We know that the Pfizer people said that their vaccine starts to wane and that people need boosters at 8 months. Hmm! 8 months, very specific! What about all the others?

Meanwhile we practitioners were advised that boosters should not start until September 23 2021 but only to those who are immunocompromised.

It seems that it is the usual theory that if some is good, more is better. Or is it just that some people had such a hard time getting the first one, getting one easy feels like winning a prize?

But let’s look at the opposite view. Just because immunity wanes around the 8^th month doesn’t mean that by the 9^th month you have no protection at all!

Yes, people who have been vaccinated are still getting Covid infections. And I told you very early in the year that just because you are vaccinated doesn’t mean that you cannot contract Covid or transmit it to others but the third dose will still not change that.

What does that mean?

Let’s look at the flu vaccine. Everyone who get’s the flu shot every year knows that it doesn’t guarantee they will not get the flu. But if they get the flu of a different strain they will still be protected to some extent and they will not get as sick.

Similarly with Covid, the people that got vaccinated are NOT dying, This is the main take home message: If you get vaccinated you will not die! 

Does that mean exactly 8 months after your last shot you will die from Covid if you get it? Probably not!

One of the downsides of getting boosters too early is that now you will end up getting more shots per year than you really need with a shorter interval to the next shot.

But if you have it in your mind that you need booster shots every 6 months that is certainly your prerogative I just don’t recommend it.

For people who got the J and J they haven’t even had to take two shots yet, does that mean they are ahead or behind?

For people that got the mRNA vaccines they already got two shots and then they now get another one every 6 months? Do you get the same type or will mixing and matching give you stronger protection?

So what happened to all the concerns and reservations about taking the shots in the first place? All that has now gone out the window and now its "give me more and more".

Yes, I will be giving booster shots in my office because it has been recommended, but I will not be giving them to anyone who is not at least 8 months out from their last shot. Why?because I don’t think that it is necessarily in a person’s best interest, unless certain circumstances show it to be appropriate (like travel to a country without healthcare).

That’s my view on the booster shots.

There is no harm in boosting immunity, we do it every year with the flu shot and I think that is reasonable but if someone said you should get a flu shot every 4 months ‘just in case’ it would sound excessive. In fact why not get two at the same time so you can be bulletproof? Common sense says maybe not, right?

As it is, we do not know what the long term consequences of the mRNA vaccines are and we will NOT know until we get to the long term! They started being given in January, this is not long term.

This is one of the reasons that I think the vector vaccines have an advantage as far as immunizing children but that is a whole different subject.

A study out of England showed that AstraZeneca maintained its immunity longer than the Pfizer vaccine even though the original efficacy number for Pfizer was in the 90’s and AstraZeneca was in the 80’s. AZ is a vector borne vaccine like the J and J and they work in a manner that we have been very familiar with over many decades. (Hence less hesitancy with young children).

A study from the UK showed that Moderna vaccine creates twice as much antibody as Pfizer. We don’t know if that necessarily relates to stronger immunity but maybe that's why Pfizer brought up the whole booster issue.

Finally, this is from a Medscape article today on boosters:

(FYI The ACIP is the committee that makes the rules on immunization schedules, they and some of the FDA people are ticked off that the politicians announced the need for boosters before the scientific groups had had a chance to study the data Pfizer brought forward to support boosters).

“In Monday's ACIP meeting, Demetre Daskalakis, MD, who leads vaccine equity efforts at the CDC, cautioned that physicians who give extra doses of the vaccine before the FDA and CDC have signed off may be in violation of practitioner agreements with the federal government and might not be covered by the federal PREP Act. The PREP Act provides immunity from lawsuits for people who administer COVID-19 vaccines and compensates patients in the event of injury.

The ACIP signaled that it is considering recommending boosters for a much narrower slice of the American population than the Biden administration has suggested.

They said that so far, the data only point to the need for boosters for seniors, who are the patients most likely to experience breakthrough infections that require hospitalization, and healthcare workers, who are needed now more than ever and cannot work if they're sick.”

Sorry the email is so long but it only touches on the tip of the iceberg.

Knowledge is healthy but fake news is dangerous to your health.

Do you need a booster? The Delta variant and three Secrets to Anti-aging

I get a lot of questions about Covid vaccines and I try to put out information as often as I have time to. I hope you find this information useful.

The new Delta variant of the Covid 19 SARS-2 virus has now been identified in Maryland. Before you panic, please remember that this really isn’t news as it was inevitable. Also this is not as alarming as the news we received this time last year.

All viruses evolve over time and undergo changes as they spread and replicate so we knew that there would be multiple variants.

Studies have shown that the only people without co-morbid conditions dying from Covid right now in the US, are those who did NOT get vaccinated.

(BTW We still have the Moderna and J and J vaccines in the office).

The reason the Delta variant is a concern, is that it is a highly contagious (and possibly more severe) SARS-CoV-2 virus strain. It was first identified in India in December. It then swept rapidly through that country and Great Britain as well, leading to rising numbers of infections and deaths. The first Delta case in the United States was diagnosed a couple of months ago (in March) and now cases here are rapidly multiplying.

The other name for the Delta variant is B.1.617.2.

Towards the end of June, Delta had already made up more than 20% of cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates. That number is rising swiftly, prompting predictions that the strain will soon become the dominant variant here.

People who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 are most at risk. In the U.S., there is a disproportionate number of unvaccinated people in Southern and Appalachian states including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Missouri, and West Virginia, where vaccination rates are low (in some of these states, the number of cases is on the rise even as some other states are lifting restrictions because their cases are going down). 

So far it is believed that all three vaccines give some protection against the Delta variant.

It seems like cough and loss of smell are less common symptoms with Delta Covid than the first one (Alpha). And headache, sore throat, runny nose, and fever are present more often based on the most recent surveys in the U.K., where more than 90% of the cases are due to the Delta strain.

Moderna has reported on studies (not yet peer-reviewed) that showed its vaccine to be effective against Delta and several other mutations (researchers noted only a ”modest reduction in neutralizing titers” against Delta when compared to its effectiveness against the original virus). Johnson & Johnson also has reported that its vaccine is effective against the Delta variant, showing only a small drop in potency compared with its effectiveness against the original strain of the virus.

The most important thing you can do to protect yourself from Delta is to get fully vaccinated. That means if you get a two-dose vaccine like Pfizer or Moderna, for example, you must get both shots and then wait the recommended two-week period for those shots to take full effect. Whether or not you are vaccinated, it’s also important to follow CDC prevention guidelines that are available for vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

Covid vaccine boosters

I have had a lot of questions about boosters and the answer to most of them is “we don’t know”. But here are some of the questions scientists are grappling with.

If a booster is needed, when will that be? How do we know the maximum duration the vaccine protection lasts? Right now it appears we are not going to need boosters as frequently as initially thought.

Should the booster be the same kind as the first vaccination or should people be boosted with a different kind of vaccine? They are looking at this question in the UK. The UK decided to vaccinate most people with the first shot and delay the second one to make sure there was enough for everyone. Everyone got Astra Zeneca as the first vaccine but some people were given Pfizer as their second shot.

Studies are being carried out to see what regimen is most effective.

There are those who think that mix and match may give added protection.

“Oh, don’t worry I’ve been vaccinated!”

I cringe every time I hear someone say this when they are asked to put on a mask. Just because you have been vaccinated doesn’t mean you cannot pass the virus to someone else. It does however mean that if you get infected you will not have a severe illness so you are personally protected.

ANTI-AGING

On a completely different subject, always thinking about my patients (smile), I actually made 3 short (2 minute) videos on anti-aging to answer another question I get quite a bit. “What is your secret?” well here is the answer!

The three main ‘secrets’ to anti-aging that you probably already know, especially if you have been my patient for a while. Sometimes we know things but we need to be reminded. If you would like to, please click on the links below and check out the answer and the south of Spain!

https://youtu.be/i-Jek2y2E1s

https://youtu.be/EAlOjKC-ljE

https://youtu.be/8lsaW-pS3Fo

Johnson and Johnson as well as Moderna Covid vaccines available in the office now

 

Moderna and Johnson and Johnson Covid vaccines available now. All vaccines are free of charge for patients as well as non patients. Appointments required.

Please note: I will be out of the office from June 17th to 25th ‌

COVID NEWS, how is it going? Good, could be better.

 

What’s new? I get a lot of questions about Covid vaccines and I try to put out information as often as I have time to. I hope you find this information interesting. More than 500 people a day are still dying in the US from Covid. This is progress but it is not normal! Pfizer Covid vaccine has been approved for 12 to 16 year olds and Moderna is expected to be approved within the week for the same age group. If you would like your adolescent vaccinated (especially those headed off to college) please call the office and schedule. Maryland has a scarcity of J and J vaccine, presumably partly because of the Baltimore plant being cancelled. All the J and J available in Maryland right now is made overseas. We have been promised some this week. Stay tuned. As expected, more side effects of the vaccines are cropping up irrespective of which vaccine. (Not surprising based on the method of action). I still maintain that people should get the best vaccine of the three depending on their health circumstances and what is available. Interestingly, more than 10,000 vaccinated people in the US have still contracted Covid. Fortunately most of those people had mild disease, however 160 of these people still died. This must be viewed in the context of the death rate of those who have not been vaccinated. Plus ten thousand is a very small number compared to the hundreds of millions who have been vaccinated. It's way better than any flu vaccine we have had thus far. "The number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths that will be prevented among vaccinated persons will far exceed the number of vaccine breakthrough cases." CDC Can I get other vaccines at the same time as the Covid vaccine? No. Because of the lack of data at the moment the recommendation is that you wait at least 2 weeks before and after other vaccines. The only exception would be vaccines that have to be given in an emergency like Rabies or Tetanus. So if you child is going to college factor in the meningitis and other shots as well as time for the Covid shots. Plan ahead. Nearly 2.8 million residents have registered for Ohio's Vax-a-Million vaccination incentive program, with participants hoping to win either the $1 million prize for adults or a full-ride college scholarship for children. Finally, I am doubly proud of this announcement: Leading coronavirus scientist, Kizzmekia S. Corbett, to join Harvard Chan School to continue vaccine development research Harvard Chan School news / May 11 Corbett will be an assistant professor in the Department of Immunology and Infectious diseases and head the new Coronaviruses & Other Relevant Emerging Infectious Diseases (CoreID) Lab. Watch a video (https://youtu.be/J6gWLoYhqUk) welcoming her to the School. I am very proud that a young black female scientist can rise to such prominence (she went to UMBC) and also proud of my Alma Mater (Harvard School of Public Health) for making such an historic appointment after such a tumultuous year. Recognizing her contribution to the mRNA Covid vaccine. Thanks to all of you who read my emails and send me messages that encourage me to keep writing them! I will be out of the office from June 17th to 28th. Please get you refills and concerns taken care of before that time.