County Executive Alsobrooks Moderates Fauci Q&A Call

On Monday, February 8, 2021, County Executive Angela Alsobrooks treated PG County to a conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

After making comments about the vaccine, which he called the light at the end of the tunnel, Dr. Fauci set out to clarify a few misconceptions and concerns. Questions were pitched to him by PGC Health Officer Dr. Ernest Carter and Dr. Joseph Wright, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of the University of Maryland Capital Region Health.

There were a few instances where Fauci spoke more science-speak than plain English. Like the term “clinical disease,” which might sound like an oxymoron to a non-medical person. According to a medical dictionary, a clinical disease is one that generates recognizable clinical signs and symptoms. In the case of the coronavirus, those would include:

• fever
• cough
• loss of smell/taste
• shortness of breath

So it’s possible to not experience any of those things and still have the virus sitting in the back of your nose (nasopharynx), waiting for a free ride to someone else’s nasopharynx the next time you sneeze, cough, laugh or talk loudly, or huff your way through an exercise routine.

That also answered the question of why people who get the vaccine should continue to wear masks. The vaccine stops the virus from making you sick but doesn’t keep it from landing in you and getting passed on to someone else.

Many people are suspicious of the vaccine because they were developed in a little less than a year. Advances in technology, in use for 10 years or so, are credited with that rapid turnaround. No corners were cut, no unsuspecting citizens were used as lab rats.

The circumstances that made possible the infamous 40-year Tuskegee syphilis experiment or the use of a patient’s tissue for research (see Henrietta Locks) don’t exist anymore. Today, medical ethics require informed consent, which means nothing is done without a person being made fully aware of what they’re agreeing to. (In the case of Mrs. Locks, the framework for requiring consent wasn’t yet in place. The Tuskegee participants were just misled.)

The coronavirus vaccines were tried out by well-informed volunteers, over 44,000 in the Pfizer trial and some 30,000 in Modena’s trial. The vaccines were 94-95% effective in preventing clinical symptoms. They are “very good” in fighting the UK variant and somewhat less effective - but still protective - against the South African variant.

Two to 6 persons per million with “a strong history” of severe allergic reactions have reacted badly to the vaccine. Since severe reactions to vaccines usually occur within 45 days of inoculation, the Food and Drug Administration requires a 60-day wait time between when the last dose is given to a volunteer in a clinical trial and the first vaccination is given to the public, even with an emergency use authorization (EUA) approval.

Doctor Fauci emphasized that it’s impossible for anyone to get COVID-19 from the vaccine because the virus isn’t in the vaccine. That’s the new vaccine technology which has been at work for over a decade. It uses messenger RNA, an organic substance that carries information needed to compose a specific protein. It does not affect a person’s DNA in any way.

For more information, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives a basic explanation of how a mRNA vaccine works. The short, short version: the vaccine teaches the body to recognize and protect itself from the coronavirus.

While drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson continues testing its 1-dose vaccine, for now, the 2-dose vaccines are what's available. Dr. Fauci explained that the second (booster) dose yields a 10-fold increase in the body’s immune response. The boosters are scheduled for 21 to 28 days following the first dose. However, in January the CDC said that schedule could be stretched to 42 days if circumstances warrant it.

Many of the common concerns about taking the vaccine were covered in the relatively short (less than 20 minutes) session. If you missed the call, it’s available on the County’s YouTube channel.

Deciding to take the vaccine is very much a personal choice. The information presented in today’s call should go a long ways to replace urban legends and speculation with facts, leading to informed decision-making.