00:00 - Good morning. 00:01 Welcome and thank you for joining us 00:03 for our Northern Light Health 00:04 Business to Business Zoom conference. 00:07 Today, our theme is Vaccine Hesitancy, 00:09 Myths, Misinformation, and What We Know Now. 00:14 The pandemic has been very dynamic. 00:16 We will provide you with the latest information, 00:19 recognizing that it is a continuously evolving situation. 00:24 We are now into our fifth month of vaccinating people. 00:27 While people of all ages may be hesitant 00:30 to receive a vaccination, 00:32 we are seeing a drop-off in demand 00:34 as vaccines have been made available 00:36 to everyone 16 and older. 00:39 We'll take a look at the current status 00:41 of COVID-19 and vaccinations. 00:44 And with this as a platform, we'll explore vaccine hesitancy 00:47 with our panel of special guests and experts. 00:51 I'm Dr. Ed Gilkey, Senior Physician Executive 00:54 at Northern Light Beacon Health. 00:56 I'll be your moderator for the next hour. 00:58 Our panelists today are Dr. Melissa Maginnis, 01:03 a virologist from the University of Maine, 01:07 Dr. Elizabeth Marnik, 01:09 an immunologist from Husson University, 01:13 Dr. Jim Jarvis, a physician leader and clinical leader 01:17 for mass vaccinations at Northern Light Health. 01:21 And our other special guests today are Remi Geohegan, 01:26 Tanisha Gilbert, and Emily McLaughlin. 01:31 They are community members who will share 01:33 what they are hearing and seeing in their communities. 01:36 Before we get started, I will read our legal disclosure. 01:41 The coronavirus pandemic is an ongoing, 01:44 continuously evolving situation. 01:47 Northern Light Health encourages everyone to follow 01:49 federal and state governmental guidance and mandates. 01:53 Northern Light Health does not know 01:55 the particulars of your situation, 01:57 so the information presented today is general in nature 02:01 and it's based upon Northern Light Health's own experience, 02:04 which may or may not apply in your specific situation 02:08 and which may be revised 02:10 as we learn more about the coronavirus. 02:12 Accordingly, following any guidance 02:14 Northern Light Health presents today 02:16 in no way guarantees that you, your employees, 02:19 and/or your customers and clients 02:21 will not contract or spread the coronavirus. 02:25 A reminder, this hour is for you. 02:28 If at any time you have a question 02:30 for one of our panelists, please use the chat function. 02:33 I'll keep track of your questions 02:35 and have our speakers respond. 02:37 Also, I hope each of you will take a few minutes 02:41 immediately following this hour 02:42 to answer our quick five-question survey. 02:45 Your input directly affects our topics 02:48 and helps guide our future conferences. 02:51 I'll start us off with some updates. 02:57 Looking at the entire world, 02:59 we recognize that new cases per day and deaths per day 03:04 have been increasing over the last two weeks. 03:07 You'll note that in the lower right corner 03:09 where it says 14-day change. 03:13 Vaccinations worldwide have been quite variable 03:16 between countries and continents on the next slide. 03:20 Keep in mind that the rate for a two-dose vaccine 03:24 to fully vaccinate everyone 03:26 would be 200 doses per 100 people. 03:30 This graph helps us to understand 03:32 what has been achieved worldwide 03:34 during the first five months of vaccinating people. 03:39 Now, let's take a look at Maine. 03:41 We pay very close attention to the new hospitalizations. 03:46 This is not a rate, but an absolute number. 03:48 Looking to the right of the graph, 03:50 we see a rising slope and that's that orange line. 03:54 And we also know the average age of the patients 03:57 being hospitalized is getting younger. 04:02 On the next slide, the two graphs represent the data 04:05 in the table to the left. 04:07 What you see is that most of the positive cases 04:11 are in the younger age group, so that's the blue bars, 04:14 and most of the deaths are in the older age groups. 04:18 We have known this from the beginning. 04:20 What's different is we are seeing people 04:23 in the younger age groups dying. 04:26 Two people in their twenties died 04:28 in the last several weeks in Maine. 04:30 While one had an underlying condition, 04:33 this was felt not to contribute to the person's death. 04:37 Looking at Maine and vaccinations, 04:40 Maine is doing relatively well 04:42 with getting people vaccinated and is in the lead nationwide 04:47 for percentage of people with a final dose. 04:51 Please note that these numbers reflect 04:53 the entire population of Maine, 04:55 so that 39.19% will be a little bit different 04:59 than if you just look at eligibles only. 05:02 And you can see that this graphic, 05:04 most of the vaccinations have been done 05:07 in the older age groups. 05:11 Now, I want to touch upon PASC, 05:14 also known as post acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, 05:20 or Long COVID, also known as Long Haulers Syndrome, 05:24 post-COVID syndrome, and long-term COVID. 05:31 The clinical manifestations are listed 05:33 and you'll note in that grouping of manifestations, 05:36 they hit all organ systems. 05:39 Many of you probably have heard of COVID fog. 05:43 This is an impairment of thinking 05:44 during the weeks and months of recovery 05:47 that is thought to be an effect on the brain 05:49 caused by the virus and falls into this PASC category. 05:54 PASC occurs in upwards of 30% of people, 05:59 notably people with mild disease 06:02 and people in the younger age groups. 06:05 There's many examples across the country 06:07 of athletically fit people in their twenties 06:10 who go from being capable of running marathons 06:13 to barely being able to balance and walk. 06:17 PASC is becoming more known, 06:19 however, it is a severely under-recognized consequence 06:24 without a clear end. 06:25 Does it last three months, six months? 06:28 And it's affecting all ages and health status. 06:32 The final point on this slide is a quote 06:34 from Johns Hopkins University Medicine Group. 06:38 Prevention is the best way to avoid COVID complications 06:42 via following the precautions of masking, distancing, 06:47 hand-washing, and vaccinations. 06:50 This collection cannot be overstated. 06:54 So, this pandemic is almost over, right? 06:59 Let's take a quick look at what we know now. 07:03 First, worldwide cases and deaths per day are increasing. 07:08 New variants with unfavorable characteristics 07:11 are emerging across the globe, 07:12 and we've spoke about these variants in prior sessions. 07:17 Vaccination rates are variable 07:19 across countries and continents, 07:20 and quite a few of these continents is quite low. 07:25 Maine hospitalizations are increasing modestly. 07:30 Herd immunity may occur at 70 to 85% vaccination rate. 07:36 Maine is best in class of vaccination rate 07:39 at approximately 40%, so you could see the gap, 07:42 not only for Maine, but around the country and the world. 07:49 Prevention is an important tool. 07:53 And then highlighted here in bold, 07:56 achieving herd immunity is the global strategy, 08:00 one person at a time. 08:05 So let's transition to our round table discussion 08:10 with that platform in mind 08:11 and we'll discuss vaccine hesitancy. 08:14 We'll start off. 08:15 Dr. Maginnis, please introduce yourself 08:17 and share why today's topic interests you. 08:24 - Good morning. 08:25 My name is Melissa Maginnis 08:26 and I am an associate professor at the University of Maine. 08:29 I am a virologist and I've been studying 08:31 how viruses infect cells and cause disease 08:34 for the past 20 years. 08:36 And over the past year, I have served as the lead 08:38 of the UMaine system COVID-19 Science Advisory Board 08:41 and I'm delighted to be here today 08:43 to help provide answers to questions about SARS-CoV-2 08:47 and the vaccine. 08:48 I believe that vaccination is our best defense 08:50 against COVID-19 transmission 08:52 and the best way to get back to the state of normalcy. 08:56 - Thanks, Dr. Maginnis. 08:58 Dr. Marnik, please introduce yourself 09:00 and also comment on your interest in this topic. 09:04 - Hi, everybody. 09:06 I am Dr. Elizabeth Marnik. 09:07 I'm an assistant professor at Husson University. 09:09 My PhD is in immunology and genetics 09:11 and I spent my whole five, six years doing my PhD 09:15 focused on understanding how the immune system develops 09:17 an antibody response, 09:19 which is important both in the course of a normal infection, 09:22 but also in the course of vaccination. 09:24 But my side hobby throughout my career in science 09:26 has been trying to help people 09:28 who don't have a science background understand science. 09:31 Science is filled with a lot of technical jargon 09:33 and it's really important for me 09:34 to help make science understandable and accessible. 09:37 So when the pandemic hit, 09:38 I was able to put my background information with immunology 09:41 together with that passion to make science accessible 09:44 and understandable. 09:45 And I've been helping to bring a lot of awareness 09:47 to how your immune system works and how vaccinations work. 09:50 And I agree with Dr. Maginnis 09:52 that our best way out of this pandemic 09:53 is to get people vaccinated, both to help prevent deaths, 09:56 but also just to help our lives get back to normal 09:59 and to help prevent Long COVID. 10:01 And I'm excited to be here 10:02 to help answer people's questions. 10:05 - Great. 10:05 Thank you, Dr. Marnik. 10:07 Dr. Jarvis, please introduce yourself 10:09 and describe what you've seen over time 10:11 as a clinical leader, organizing vaccinations for all of us. 10:15 - Thanks, Ed. 10:17 So I'm Jim Jarvis. 10:18 I am a family physician by training 10:19 and that's where my interest is right now 10:21 for this particular discussion 10:22 because preventative medicine is a key factor 10:25 in family medicine in preventing all diseases, 10:28 not just COVID, but for the last 14 months or so, 10:32 I have been the physician lead 10:33 for Northern Light Health's response to COVID-19 10:36 and since mid-December, 10:38 maybe a little bit earlier than that, 10:40 have been leading its vaccination efforts, as well. 10:43 And so the things that I have seen 10:46 that have been interesting is, of course, 10:49 we first started vaccinating first responders 10:51 and healthcare workers, many of whom were incredibly eager 10:54 to step up and get vaccinated, 10:56 simply because their day-to-day job 10:57 put them at risk of getting COVID. 11:00 We certainly saw some hesitancy there, 11:01 though the rates in Maine, 11:03 the hesitancy amongst healthcare workers 11:05 was lower than we've seen around the country, 11:07 which was always good news for us. 11:10 Similarly, we started vaccinating people 11:11 in long-term care facilities 11:13 and we've seen the success of that. 11:15 In fact, in the state of Maine, where we had, again, 11:17 a higher uptake of individuals being vaccinated 11:21 both by staff and the residents 11:24 at these long-term care facilities, 11:26 we saw a dramatic decrease in the number of outbreaks 11:28 that we've had in those locations. 11:30 Unfortunately, we've had a few sporadic outbreaks recently, 11:33 and they've all been tied to unvaccinated individuals 11:36 who then infected others within there. 11:39 So again, it's the reason why we talk about 11:41 that vaccination is the way out of the pandemic. 11:44 But I think the thing that's been exciting me the most 11:46 is the last few weeks at our large-scale vaccination clinics 11:49 as we've been seeing younger and younger individuals 11:52 coming in and getting vaccinated. 11:54 I can certainly talk about the Cross Insurance Center, 11:57 where often, I'll see several thousand people a day 12:00 coming through and it's been great to see the diversity, 12:03 both in terms of race, ethnicity, and age, coming through 12:08 and everyone being incredibly excited 12:11 about their ability to once again feel safe 12:14 and comfortable in our communities. 12:15 This is a community effort, and when we talk about immunity, 12:19 we talk about an entire community 12:22 becoming immune to a disease 12:23 and the only way that can happen is through vaccination. 12:26 So thank you, Ed. 12:27 - Excellent. 12:28 Thanks, Dr. Jarvis. 12:29 Remi, please introduce yourself. 12:31 - Hi, everyone. 12:33 My name's Remi Geohegan 12:34 and I'm a third-year undergraduate student 12:37 at the University of Maine Orno, 12:38 pursuing a degree in microbiology. 12:40 - Great. 12:42 Welcome, Remy. 12:44 Tanisha, please introduce yourself. 12:46 - Good morning. 12:48 My name is Tanisha Gilbert and I am the program coordinator 12:50 for Acadia's wellness program called Healthy Life Resources. 12:53 I have worked at Northern Light Health 12:55 for a little over five years, 12:56 starting as a surgical technologist. 12:58 - Great. 12:59 Well, welcome. 13:01 Emily, please introduce yourself. 13:04 - Hello. 13:05 My name's Emily McLaughlin. 13:05 I'm a fourth year undergraduate student 13:07 at the University of Maine. 13:08 I'm pursuing degrees in microbiology and Spanish. 13:11 - Excellent. 13:13 Well, thanks to everyone. 13:15 I will start off by asking our special guests in turn 13:18 to share with us a common reason they have been hearing 13:21 or reading about from their peer group 13:24 about why people are hesitant to get the vaccination. 13:27 We'll then turn to our panel of experts to discuss. 13:31 So let's start off with Remi. 13:33 What are the biggest vaccine concerns 13:35 you're hearing among peers? 13:39 - So, by far the biggest vaccine concern 13:42 that I've been hearing is about long-term safety. 13:45 So how do we assess 13:47 and how do we think about long-term impacts 13:49 of taking these vaccines? 13:52 - Great. 13:54 Dr. Maginnis, would you mind tackling on that one? 13:57 - Absolutely. 13:58 So I can certainly understand this concern 14:00 and I realized that these vaccines 14:03 were developed very rapidly 14:04 and that this has been further complicated 14:07 by a lot of misinformation that has been circulating. 14:11 And I just want to talk about how these vaccines 14:13 were developed so quickly 14:15 and these vaccines were developed faster 14:17 than any other vaccine in history 14:19 and it is truly remarkable 14:21 and these vaccines are safe and highly effective, 14:24 but there are a few reasons why 14:25 and how they were able to be developed so quickly. 14:28 So, number one is that we're in a pandemic 14:30 that has completely impacted human health 14:32 and resulted in massive disease and suffering 14:35 and impact of the economy, education, mental health, 14:37 and every aspect of our lives. 14:39 But also, there has been years of research 14:42 that helped to support the early research 14:44 and development for these vaccines 14:46 due to other virus outbreaks 14:47 that really provided the foundation for this development. 14:51 Additionally, the government collaborated with 14:54 and supported the research of these companies 14:57 like Moderna and Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson 15:00 through Operation Warp Speed, 15:01 and that provided billions of dollars in funding. 15:04 And also, scientists and physicians around the world 15:08 were collaborating to share information. 15:11 So there was this effort to overall end the pandemic. 15:15 And so I think that there was less competition 15:17 between companies and between scientists. 15:20 Also, the development of vaccines normally takes many years 15:24 for research and development 15:28 and then it has to go through the clinical trials 15:30 and then if a drug or a vaccine is successful, 15:34 will a company start to produce and manufacture 15:37 the vaccine or the drug. 15:39 But the financial support that was provided 15:41 by the government allowed these companies to work at risk 15:44 and what that means is that they were able 15:47 to start producing the vaccine 15:49 before the trials were completed, so that way, 15:52 if the trials were successful, 15:54 they could get it distributed very quickly into the world. 15:58 And that's exactly what we're seeing. 16:00 So these trials were extensive. 16:02 They were not cut short. 16:04 They included tens of thousands of volunteers. 16:07 And once these vaccines were deemed safe 16:09 and extremely successful in preventing illness, 16:12 especially severe illness and hospitalizations, 16:15 then these vaccines received emergency use authorization 16:19 and that allowed them to be distributed 16:21 prior to receiving full FDA approval, 16:23 but we're expecting to see that soon. 16:27 So now what we're experiencing 16:28 is really the largest vaccination campaign 16:31 in the history of the world 16:33 and over 250 million people have received the vaccine. 16:37 So this is larger than any clinical trial that I'm aware of. 16:40 If anyone else is aware of a clinical trial 16:42 that's larger than this, please let me know. 16:45 And of course, we have seen some side effects, 16:46 like allergic reactions or some adverse reactions, 16:50 like with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. 16:51 But when you look at the large number of people 16:53 that have been vaccinated with very few side effects, 16:56 it's really amazing to see how safe and effective it is, 17:01 especially in these real-world studies that are continuing. 17:04 And the safety of these vaccines 17:06 is continuing to be monitored 17:09 and this is monitored through a committee known as 17:11 Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. 17:14 And we know that the systems that we have in place 17:17 are working because when the adverse events 17:19 with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine were noted, 17:22 there was a pause on the Johnson and Johnson vaccine 17:25 so that it could be fully investigated. 17:27 So I think that this shows that everyone is fully aware 17:30 and they are looking out for the safety of everyone 17:33 who's receiving these vaccines. 17:35 And they're not expected to have any impact 17:37 on long-term health, 17:39 and that's because the material used in the vaccines 17:41 is processed very quickly by our bodies 17:44 so that we can make an immune response 17:46 and develop a memory immune response 17:48 that will then protect us from infection. 17:51 And so when people say, you know, 17:53 what if there's a long-term effect of these vaccines? 17:56 I also want to say, there are long-term effects with COVID 18:00 and we know much more about that. 18:02 We know that there have been over 155 million people 18:05 that have gotten COVID and over 3 million deaths 18:08 and there have been very serious complications 18:10 like Long COVID, like you mentioned in the beginning, 18:13 Dr. Gilkey, and these can have a long-term impact 18:15 on the brain and the heart and the lungs. 18:17 So I think if you take all of this information together, 18:21 the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks 18:24 and the risks of actually getting COVID 18:26 have serious impacts on our long-term health. 18:30 - So, Dr. Maginnis, we have a question from our audience 18:34 about what's the effect of exempting 18:38 the pharmaceutical manufacturers from liability 18:43 of any vaccine side effects? 18:47 Does that impact on the safety equation at all? 18:51 - I don't think that that impacts the safety equation 18:53 because like I said, there are third-party committees 18:57 that are monitoring the safety of these vaccines 19:00 and the people that are monitoring the vaccines, 19:02 they don't have any financial investment 19:04 in the development of these vaccines. 19:06 And even when clinical trials are being conducted, 19:09 there's a third party 19:10 that's monitoring those clinical trials. 19:12 It's not actually Moderna or Pfizer or Johnson and Johnson 19:15 that's watching the data come in. 19:17 It is a completely independent party that's monitoring it 19:20 and only once they have reviewed the data 19:22 is it then released to the organizations 19:25 that started the clinical trial. 19:27 - Excellent. 19:28 Well, thank you very much. 19:29 - Ed, can I comment just a little bit 19:30 on that too, as well? - Yeah, please, Jim. 19:32 - Yeah, and one thing to remember 19:33 is these companies don't have blanket immunity. 19:35 This is immunity from the actual vaccine 19:38 but if they were to cause, you know, 19:39 say they in production have a manufacturing error 19:43 that caused harm, they would be liable for that. 19:45 And also, it's not that it takes away 19:47 people's ability for recourse. 19:48 It just takes it away from the company. 19:50 It puts that recourse back on the federal government. 19:53 So there is actually what people have called 19:56 the immunization court. 19:57 There's a special one specifically for COVID vaccines, 20:00 simply because of the speed that we needed to develop this 20:04 and to make sure that companies were on board 20:06 and to provide them that relief. 20:08 But there is an avenue for individuals. 20:10 What we've often heard is, 20:11 oh, well that court never, ever sides with individuals 20:14 who have complained. 20:15 First of all, that's not true. 20:17 When individuals have been harmed by vaccine, 20:19 they have certainly been compensated by that. 20:21 But the fact of the matter is all vaccines, 20:23 including the COVID vaccines, are so incredibly safe, 20:26 it is rare that somebody is actually injured by one 20:29 and therefore compensation isn't provided 20:31 because they haven't actually been injured. 20:33 And so I think that's the confusion people have, 20:35 particularly when they hear this, 20:36 oh, well, they're immune from it, so it must, 20:38 you know, why would they care about safety? 20:40 Well, they care about safety a great deal 20:41 because it's their name that it's being spread out 20:43 over the media, and I can assure you, 20:45 Johnson and Johnson was not happy about the pause 20:48 and Moderna and Pfizer are delighted 20:49 that they did not have a pause because it is their name, 20:52 their name brand that's out there, 20:54 and that is a bigger liability to them 20:56 than actually vaccine safety is. 20:59 - Thanks, Jim. 21:01 I think that's very important to understand. 21:03 Dr. Marnik? 21:04 - Yeah, I don't mean to belabor this point, but I do, 21:07 I think the long-term safety issue is the biggest thing 21:10 that I hear people worried about. 21:12 So the only thing that I wanted to add to this conversation 21:15 is that we know, so vaccines, we know how vaccines work 21:18 because of extensive decades of research. 21:21 And if you go into the history of all these vaccines 21:23 and you look for adverse reactions that happen to them, 21:26 'cause they do happen, but they're very rare, 21:28 no adverse reaction has happened after eight weeks, 21:32 which is why, when the CDC wanted the data 21:34 for this emergency use authorization, 21:37 they required that eight weeks of safety data 21:39 before they would then authorize these vaccines 21:42 for emergency use. 21:43 So we never see long-term health impacts 21:45 from a vaccine that don't appear within those eight weeks 21:48 after initial vaccination. 21:50 And also, there's a lot of misconception 21:52 that mRNA is completely new and foreign 21:54 as being given to humans, and that's not the case. 21:57 The first mRNA vaccine for cancer immune therapy 22:01 was actually given to humans in 2009. 22:04 So we actually have a lot of research 22:06 that shows mRNA itself is not dangerous. 22:09 So, yes, this is the first mRNA vaccines 22:12 for infectious disease, but we've had mRNA 22:15 given to other individuals for other things 22:17 without any concerning safety signals. 22:20 - Great. 22:21 Well, thank you, Dr. Marnik. 22:22 You know, I think we've all come to appreciate 22:24 that the long-term effects, 22:27 when we realize that these are, 22:29 I'll put in quotes, new vaccines, you know, 22:32 forget about the moment of building on all the history 22:36 that we have with vaccines to our general public. 22:39 It certainly seems like these are brand-new 22:43 and we don't have enough time to actually see 22:45 what the long-term effects. 22:47 So, Dr. Marnik, your eight-week window is very helpful 22:49 for us to put some perspective. 22:51 And I think we have a much better sense 22:53 of the safety issues here and how they're being mitigated. 22:57 I'm gonna switch now to Tanisha. 23:00 Would you share with us what's the biggest vaccine concerns 23:03 you're hearing from your peers? 23:06 - Sure. 23:07 So one of the major concerns that I've heard 23:08 is just the general mistrust of the numbers 23:10 and how deaths are being attributed. 23:13 There's this belief that there's an effort 23:15 to inflate the numbers 23:16 and control people through fear and panic. 23:19 - Boy, that's kind of loaded. 23:21 There's lots of pathways to go down with that, for sure. 23:25 So I think the issue of trust 23:28 and then the information being shared with us, 23:31 specifically the data, you know, 23:34 there's lots of ways to count, if you will. 23:37 So, Dr. Marnik, would you tackle that one for us? 23:42 - Yeah, so this is definitely a concern 23:44 I hear a lot of people have, as well. 23:47 So one of the ways that you can look at this 23:48 is that over the last decades, years, 23:52 governing bodies, governments, organizations 23:55 have collected information that gives us an idea 23:58 of how many people die per year on average 24:02 from all sorts of causes. 24:03 So that gives us a level of baseline 24:05 about the average levels of death 24:07 that happen both on a country level, 24:09 for individual countries, but also at a global level. 24:12 How many people do we expect will die a year from disease, 24:15 from accidents, from all of those sorts of things? 24:17 So if COVID-19 deaths were being misattributed 24:21 and they were actually caused by preexisting conditions 24:24 or other things, 24:25 then we would not expect to see deaths above that baseline 24:29 because there'd be nothing else contributing to more deaths. 24:32 So if you go through and look at the number of people 24:34 who died in 2020 compared to the average number of people 24:39 we'd expect to die in 2020, 24:41 we see a huge excess above that expected average, 24:44 and this is not just in the United States. 24:46 This is globally and also on individual country levels, 24:50 where if this was being just misattributed, 24:52 we would not see increased deaths overall. 24:55 They would have just been coded differently. 24:58 So this really shows us that we're not skewing the numbers, 24:59 that there are significant amounts of people who are dying 25:02 above what we would expect to see normally. 25:06 - Thank you. 25:07 Thank you for that insight. 25:13 So, Emily, share with us what you're hearing. 25:18 - I know one big concern I'm hearing is about blood clots. 25:22 I'm sure that we are all very inundated 25:24 with news with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine 25:26 and I think a very practical question people may have 25:29 is if the Johnson and Johnson vaccine 25:31 becomes available to them 25:32 and they haven't been vaccinated, should they get it? 25:37 - Great question. 25:38 Jim, we'll go in your direction with that one. 25:42 - Yeah. 25:43 So, of course, the concern with Johnson and Johnson 25:44 was about blood clots, and we've seen this before, 25:46 'cause AstraZeneca had a similar issue 25:48 and so there were concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine, 25:52 which was being predominantly used across Europe 25:55 and in some other nations around the world, 25:57 in some other countries around the world. 25:59 And so, but the blood clot issue really was 26:01 is that a very small number of individuals, 26:05 in fact, in the United States, 26:06 it was about 12 over about six million people 26:09 that had already received the vaccine, 26:12 so a very, very small number. 26:14 They were all women, most of whom were under the age of 40. 26:18 There were some severe consequences from these, 26:20 the particular type of clot that they had, 26:22 including one death and one long-term case 26:25 of somebody being in the intensive care unit. 26:27 And all those individuals had been vaccinated 26:28 with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. 26:30 Right now, to date, 26:31 there is really still not a causality between the two, 26:35 meaning it is still not proven that the shot 26:37 was what caused the clot to occur. 26:40 It's just that the clots occurred 26:41 within a reasonable timeframe of when the shot was given. 26:44 And why I say that is important for us to realize 26:48 because every day, 26:49 people do develop this particular type of clot 26:52 as a normal part of our background disease process 26:56 in the world. 26:57 And it really doesn't seem that these people 26:59 were outside the statistical norm 27:02 for having these clots be developed. 27:05 But it also shows that our process works, 27:08 that we do report when we think 27:10 that there might be an adverse reaction 27:12 to a particular product, 27:15 whether that be a vaccine or a medication, 27:17 and that we actually sit down and review the data. 27:21 After reviewing of the data, both the European Union 27:24 and the United States came to the conclusion 27:27 that the risk of the Johnson and Johnson causing this clot 27:30 was so low that it was much better 27:33 for people to be vaccinated 27:35 because the risk of COVID-19 27:36 and the clots that COVID-19 cause 27:39 as well as all of the other concerns that COVID-19 causes 27:43 far outweigh the risk of the shot, 27:46 if it was indeed the cause of those clots. 27:50 And so they think that's what happened. 27:51 Now, of course, because of media, 27:54 that was a lot of discussion about this. 27:56 Certainly, the pause on Johnson and Johnson 27:59 made it a big deal here in the United States 28:01 as we had expected that particular vaccine to be the answer 28:05 for being able to vaccinate those who are home-bound, 28:08 out in small rural communities, so certainly affected Maine. 28:11 But I think, to tell you the truth, 28:13 it was a little bit overblown. 28:15 Really, what they should have focused in on 28:17 was the process was working 28:18 and that safety is our number one priority, 28:22 that we were willing to take a chance 28:23 and pause on Johnson and Johnson 28:25 to look at the data more clearly, and when we did, 28:29 we really found that there was no concern there 28:31 and that people should go ahead 28:33 and receive that vaccine if offered to them 28:35 and that's the one that they're choosing to get. 28:39 - So, Dr. Jarvis, thank you for that. 28:41 I'll add, there's another layer 28:44 of a safety discussion in here, as well. 28:47 I think during that pause of, you know, 28:49 just short of 11 days, 28:51 I think the physicians and other providers were informed 28:57 that if they diagnose this particular condition, CVST, 29:02 that they don't treat with heparin, 29:05 which is a typical drug used for blood clots, and in fact, 29:10 they can use a very commonly available treatment 29:14 called intravenous immunoglobulin. 29:17 And if a person does end up with CVST, 29:22 whether it's related to vaccine or not, 29:26 we have effective treatments at this point, as well. 29:30 So that really adds another layer of safety. 29:32 - Yeah, Ed, and I think that's a great point. 29:34 And again, it shows that our system works. 29:36 We recognize that there may be an issue here 29:38 and it may be an issue around education 29:41 and we provided that education 29:42 and we do that on a regular basis. 29:45 I would say that probably once a week, 29:47 I receive some kind of alert that says, 29:49 hey, you should be aware of this medical condition 29:52 that is now more prevalent in Maine than we typically see 29:55 or this treatment plan is now available to you. 29:58 Again, I think we should have celebrated this 30:01 as showing that we have now been sharing information 30:05 far more readily than we had before, but even before, 30:08 we shared information amongst clinicians pretty readily. 30:11 And so that's important. 30:12 And I think, Ed, you're spot-on to point out 30:15 that if somebody was to develop 30:17 this incredibly rare form of blood clot, 30:20 that there is a treatment for it 30:22 and doctors now are very well-prepared 30:24 to be able to deal with that situation. 30:26 But again, incredibly rare. 30:29 - Great. 30:30 Well, thanks for that. 30:31 I'm gonna get caught up on our chat room a little bit here. 30:33 One of the questions is what is the thinking 30:37 about people with Long Haulers getting the vaccine? 30:39 Does it help? 30:40 And Dr. Jarvis responded, there've been reports 30:43 that some feel better after being vaccinated. 30:46 So, yes, it may help. 30:47 Dr. Marnik reported that that Dr. Iwasaki at Yale 30:52 has launched a study on vaccination 30:56 as a potential treatment to help those with Long COVID. 30:59 So I don't know if you want to elaborate on that at all, 31:02 Dr. Marnik. 31:03 I know it's pretty early in the course here. 31:06 - Yeah. 31:07 Dr. Akiko Iwasaki is one of the foremost immunologists 31:10 in the country. 31:12 She's pretty amazing. 31:12 I have a fan girl crush on her. 31:14 But she has some really interesting articles 31:17 people can look up if they Google her 31:20 about the reasons why she thinks vaccination 31:23 may be helping some patients who have Long COVID. 31:26 And we do have some evidence that in some people, 31:29 they can't effectively completely clear the infection 31:32 and it seems to have pockets of areas 31:34 where the infection may be hiding out 31:36 and that could be contributing to some people's Long COVID. 31:38 We don't know if that's the case in all patients. 31:40 It could be a lot of different things. 31:42 But she developed a really fascinating study 31:45 to look at who is actually getting a benefit from getting, 31:49 if they have Long COVID symptoms, 31:51 who actually benefits from then getting a vaccination 31:54 to see if it is potentially helping. 31:56 - So my understanding, currently the recommendation is 32:00 if you've had COVID-19 documented by a positive test, 32:04 you are still eligible for vaccination. 32:08 Is that correct? 32:09 - That's correct. 32:10 In fact, we actually strongly recommend that. 32:12 We recommended that you can get that, 32:14 that you can be vaccinated 32:16 any time after you're out of the quarantine period 32:19 for being acutely effective 32:20 and we hope that you then get vaccinated before 90 days. 32:23 And the reason why we use that 90 day term is because, 32:26 and again, this gets back to the reason 32:28 why vaccination is more important than natural immunity 32:30 is that we have seen that natural immunity to COVID 32:32 wanes after about three months. 32:34 And so you would actually then not be protected 32:37 against future cases of COVID-19, and therefore, 32:39 that's why we recommend that you get vaccinated 32:41 after your quarantine period 32:43 and before that 90 days has elapsed 32:45 so that you now have antibodies due to the vaccination. 32:48 Again, another reason why vaccine 32:50 is our way out of the pandemic, 32:52 because natural immunity will not be. 32:54 We've known this for years, because we've always known 32:56 that coronaviruses do not provide 32:59 long-term natural immunity to human beings 33:01 and we can see that in our own lives 33:03 because we always get colds every now and again, 33:06 except during this year, as we've been wearing masks. 33:09 Respiratory diseases, including colds have gone way down. 33:12 And so just show that masking 33:14 was the right thing for us to do. 33:16 - And probably always was, right? 33:18 So, another question here 33:21 about how long does the protection last from the vaccines? 33:25 And Dr. Marnik, you addressed that somewhat. 33:29 At least six months, 33:32 but that's all the data that we have now. 33:34 So we're looking forward to it. 33:36 And then the follow-up would be, 33:37 will we need boosters and that? 33:39 So if you could come into a bit more 33:41 than the chat room answer. 33:44 - Yeah. 33:46 So we're limited by the time that we have this data, right? 33:49 Because we have the trials. 33:51 The emergency use authorization were put through 33:54 about two to three months after the trials started. 33:57 So we're still following those participants 33:59 to see exactly how long protection lasts. 34:02 Moderna and Pfizer released data that showed 34:04 still really great antibody response at six months. 34:08 The media then said it's only gonna last six months. 34:11 No, that is not what they said. 34:13 They showed that the protection lasts still at six months. 34:16 It's likely going to last longer 34:18 'cause antibodies don't suddenly drop off a cliff. 34:21 So, but the exact number of how long it will last, 34:25 we don't know because we're still following those patients 34:27 and we don't like to say things we don't know for sure yet. 34:30 The other question is variants. 34:32 So far, we have data that shows these vaccines do protect 34:36 against the currently known circulating variants. 34:39 They do have a little bit less effectiveness, 34:41 but they still protect. 34:42 But the more we let the virus spread, 34:44 the more it's going to mutate, 34:46 and eventually, that may change. 34:48 So we could end up needing boosters, 34:49 not because our immunity to the old one is waning 34:52 but because we are letting the virus run rampant 34:54 and we're getting mutations that evade immunity. 34:58 - Great. Thank you. 35:00 Well, this is a tough question. 35:02 Dr. Maginnis, I'm gonna share this one with you. 35:05 How effectively are vaccines being distributed? 35:09 Why are there discrepancies 35:10 between different areas of the country 35:12 and where the vaccines are greater or less available? 35:17 And actually, there's another question 35:19 in the chat box about the politicization. 35:22 So, maybe you could try to tackle that. 35:26 I mean, we all have opinions on it, I'm sure. 35:29 So, Dr. Maginnis? 35:30 - Yeah, sure. 35:31 I think that's a tough question, but, you know, 35:32 initially we saw massive vaccination clinics 35:35 across the country, and I think that was the best way 35:38 to get people vaccinated and get as many people vaccinated 35:42 as possible in the beginning. 35:44 And now what we're seeing is a decline 35:46 in people attending those vaccination clinics 35:49 and I think that now we need to start reaching out 35:51 to other remote parts of the country. 35:53 And so there has been a shift 35:55 from the massive vaccination clinics 35:57 into mobile vaccination clinics 35:59 so that we can start to reach people 36:01 who don't have a means to get to those sites 36:03 and reach people in remote parts of the country. 36:06 And I think that's true also for remote parts of the world. 36:09 And so I think that that's sort of the next phase 36:11 in vaccination, which is also very important. 36:15 Regarding the politicization 36:16 of both the virus and the disease and the vaccine, 36:20 of course, I think this has been really a struggle 36:23 and I think that we need to come together as a country 36:26 and it doesn't need to be something 36:29 that is Democrat versus Republican. 36:31 We're all in this together. 36:32 We're all human beings. 36:34 And I think that we're all really bound 36:36 by wanting to protect one another. 36:40 And so the best way to protect one another 36:42 is to become vaccinated. 36:44 And another really important point 36:46 is once we do become vaccinated, 36:47 we have to continue to follow these practices of distancing 36:51 and wearing face coverings in the beginning 36:53 because we don't know who has been vaccinated. 36:56 And like Dr. Marnik said, 36:58 we have to prevent the spread of these variants 37:01 because every time we spread the virus, 37:03 we're giving the virus an incubator 37:06 and the virus is gonna continue to mutate 37:08 and we're gonna have continued spread of these variants. 37:10 The only way that we can stop that 37:12 is by halting the spread through vaccination 37:15 and through these other practices in our own behaviors 37:18 of distancing and wearing face coverings, 37:21 until we have this pandemic under control, 37:24 and then we can move more into a state of normalcy. 37:27 - Excellent. 37:29 Any other comments on the distribution 37:33 and politicization of the vaccination? 37:38 - And I think it follows actually the history 37:39 that we've seen before with health care. 37:42 We know there are disparities in certain populations 37:44 and we know there are disparities between states 37:46 and certain locations within those states. 37:48 And you can almost see all of that occur 37:50 with our vaccination efforts. 37:52 I used to always talk about, 37:53 I could never understand how West Virginia was number one 37:55 in vaccinating in the country 37:57 because they rarely are number one in anything positive 38:01 on the healthcare front. 38:02 And that's not a slight 38:03 about our friends in West Virginia at all. 38:05 It's just a fact. 38:07 But then what did we see? 38:08 West Virginia is not doing very well in vaccination anymore. 38:11 They were excellent at having private 38:13 and public partnerships go out and vaccinate those people 38:16 who are most eager to be vaccinated, 38:18 but they peaked at about a third of their population. 38:20 In Maine, we're starting to see that now 38:23 after 50% of our eligible population got vaccinated. 38:27 I was asked the other day, should I be proud of the fact 38:30 that we're number one in the country? 38:31 And I said, I'm proud of it, but I'm not happy with it. 38:33 I want to be better than number one. 38:35 I'd like to see us reach out to more individuals 38:38 who are either disenfranchised 38:40 or not represented well enough to get the vaccine 38:44 up in the front of the line, but then reach out to those 38:47 who are hesitant, as well, 38:48 which is why these kind of discussions 38:49 are so, so, so important, 38:51 so we can reach everybody in every aspect 38:53 because until we get every Mainer that's eligible 38:55 to vaccinated, vaccinated, 38:57 we're gonna still be in the same problems 38:59 that we're having now. 39:00 - Yeah, and during the slide presentations, 39:04 I did make a point that the global strategy 39:07 is to try to achieve herd immunity. 39:09 You know, all things considered, the collective, 39:13 that's been the approach that we're taking. 39:15 So, you know, hence the importance here. 39:18 So I'm gonna switch gears on us just for a few minutes 39:21 and come back to questions in the chat room, 39:24 but I wanted to switch over. 39:26 Tanisha, could you talk to us a little bit 39:29 about your personal experiences with the vaccines 39:33 and what you've been hearing out there? 39:45 Not yet. 39:46 You're connecting to audio. 39:51 Now, maybe. 39:56 - Can you hear me now? 39:57 - [Ed] I can. 39:58 - All right. Sorry. 39:59 Having some technical difficulties. 40:00 Yeah, I definitely have some personal experience 40:03 that I'd love to share. 40:05 I was raised religious and due to those beliefs, 40:07 there was this huge mistrust about vaccines 40:09 and just medicine in general. 40:11 My parents were very cautious 40:12 about what was injected into my body 40:14 and I attended private Christian school 40:16 and my vaccination record was never an issue. 40:19 So when I attended secular college, 40:20 I had to get certain vaccinations 40:22 just to be able to attend classes. 40:25 So this mindset and the way of thinking 40:26 really clouded my judgment 40:28 when it came to getting my COVID-19 vaccine 40:31 and I was hesitant to get my vaccine, 40:34 but ultimately, I chose to get it 40:36 after doing my own research because I decided that, 40:39 you know, there are people out there, 40:41 like my grandfather in a nursing home, 40:43 who I care about and I love 40:45 and I would feel terrible if anything ever happened to him. 40:48 So my decision to get a vaccine was about others 40:52 and choosing to do the right thing 40:54 and protecting the people that I care about. 40:57 - Yeah, that's another piece of it 40:59 that we kind of forget about 41:01 as we're getting online for our vaccine, huh? 41:05 Yeah, well, thanks for that. 41:07 Remi, how about from your point of view? 41:11 - So I have had conversations 41:13 with friends and family members 41:15 and throughout all of this, it's really made me appreciate 41:18 how difficult it is to communicate with individuals 41:23 who might be vaccine hesitant 41:26 and the approaches that are taken and really building trust 41:29 because there is so much misinformation. 41:32 And I think a lot of people are really confused 41:34 about what are reputable sources 41:36 and who they trust and where they go to for information. 41:41 So, really, a lot of these conversations started with 41:45 trying to understand what knowledge was there 41:48 about how the science of vaccines and how they work. 41:52 And then really kind of building off of that 41:54 about safety, efficacy, 41:56 and pointing to as many reputable resources 42:00 and then really explaining why, why we can trust these, 42:04 the processes of data collection, 42:07 and why I would trust these sources. 42:10 So that's been my experience 42:12 with talking to vaccine hesitant individuals. 42:16 - You know, Remi, when we were talking last week 42:20 in preparation for this, 42:21 you really opened up my eyes, I have to say. 42:24 I can think back where everything on the internet 42:29 was considered trustworthy, you know, 42:32 and now that seems like a very long time ago, I must say. 42:35 And I certainly saw it 42:38 in the course of my training and education. 42:41 The people who were talking to me, 42:43 they're trustworthy, you know? 42:45 They're teaching me this stuff. 42:47 But when you said to me last week 42:49 that your generation, as students, 42:53 you need to actually be equipped with the tools 42:56 to effectively understand 42:58 what information you can trust and not trust, 43:02 that's really made me consider a great deal. 43:05 So thank you for that. 43:06 I appreciate that. 43:08 Emily. - Thank you. 43:09 - Emily, what's been your experience? 43:14 - I've had a very good experience. 43:16 I got my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday. 43:20 And I think one thing I see around my friends, 43:22 even people who are very pro-vaccine, 43:24 is it's not fun to get a shot. 43:27 And I think a lot of people, 43:28 more than we would think, have a big fear of needles. 43:31 And I think the tricky thing with the COVID vaccine 43:34 is it's really up to individuals 43:36 when and where they get the vaccine. 43:38 So I know I have many friends with the best of intentions 43:41 who just take a very long time or don't ever get it 43:44 because I have a list of a hundred things I'd rather do 43:48 than get a needle in my arm. 43:51 So I think it can be kind of tricky as adults to say, 43:54 well, we have to do this, 43:56 even though I know there's a lot of anxiety 43:58 surrounding going in and getting a shot. 44:01 - Thank you for that. - Emily, that's a great point, 44:02 and I think as we transition now 44:04 away from our large-scale vaccination clinics 44:06 and put them into more intimate settings 44:08 and trying to make meetings more readily available, 44:10 such as now, no longer requiring appointments 44:13 and being able to walk in, hopefully very shortly, 44:16 we'll see widespread use in our practices 44:18 as well as retail pharmacies and making it more convenient. 44:21 And convenience often is the way to go nowadays, right? 44:25 It's much easier to use your Starbucks app 44:27 than it is to actually walk in and talk to a barista. 44:30 And so we know that those are the kind of things 44:32 that we need to do to reach out. 44:34 I applaud all of you for sharing your stories. 44:36 I did want to comment a little bit, 44:37 a little bit about how religion 44:40 has played a role into this for us. 44:42 And in some ways, I think it's somewhat unfortunate 44:44 because if we look at certain religious tenets, 44:46 they're actually based on sound scientific principles. 44:49 The reason why in the Judeo Christian belief 44:52 was that circumcision was on the eighth day or later 44:56 was because it took that long 44:57 for babies to develop enough vitamin K 44:59 to have their clotting system work so that they didn't have 45:01 bleeding aspects after circumcision. 45:05 The kosher model that's in the Judeo and Muslim cultures 45:08 were, again, to protect you 45:09 because the certain things that they avoided during 45:13 to keep kosher actually were things that caused disease 45:16 before we had things like refrigeration 45:19 and purification and things like that. 45:21 And so actually religious beliefs very early on 45:23 and principles that they set were actually based on 45:26 sound scientific principles of observation, 45:28 and that's really what we're talking about now 45:30 is observation. 45:31 Observationally, we have realized that COVID, the disease, 45:34 is far worse than preventing that disease, 45:37 regardless of what the consequences of are that prevention. 45:40 And similarly, when we talk about vaccine, same thing. 45:43 We have known for for more than 100 years 45:47 how effective, in fact, 200 years 45:49 of how effective immunizations are. 45:52 When Jenner first inoculated people 45:55 with cowpox to prevent smallpox, it was revolutionary. 45:58 And then he was just an amazing person 46:00 who literally went out and gave away his procedure 46:02 and process around the world for free. 46:05 But there was vaccine hesitancy then 46:07 and he faced a lot of criticism about this kind of thing, 46:10 but he literally saved millions of lives. 46:13 And that's what we're asking people to do now. 46:15 With the thing that he thought about a long time ago 46:17 and then building on those principles, 46:19 we're able to now stop a pandemic 46:22 that has unfortunately killed 46:23 hundreds of millions of people. 46:26 - Yeah, thanks, Jim. 46:28 While you're at the podium, if you will, 46:30 we have a question from one of our participants on Facebook. 46:34 Can COVID-19 vaccines mess with people's medications? 46:39 - Yeah, that's a great question, 46:40 and typically we don't see anything like that 46:42 when we talk about vaccinations. 46:43 Now, we are being very cautious with this 46:45 and sometimes we may ask a little bit more 46:46 of a health history before we administer a vaccine, 46:48 but really, for most people, 46:51 if they're with chronic illnesses, 46:53 regardless of what their chronic medications are, 46:54 vaccines are very safe, and in particular, 46:57 the three vaccines that are available 46:58 here in the United States. 47:00 We may talk about a pause between one thing or another, 47:03 but really, that hasn't been a concern. 47:05 And I've been fortunate to work 47:07 at the Cross Insurance Center. 47:08 We've now gotten over 100,000 vaccinations administered 47:11 and seen very, very few adverse events from that. 47:15 And that's a wonderful thing to say. 47:17 In fact, if we talked about the Cross Insurance Center 47:20 for its normal use for basketball games 47:23 and other sporting events and concerts, 47:25 we would have seen more adverse events 47:28 just from having a general population here 47:30 than we've actually seen while we're vaccinating 47:32 that same number of people. 47:33 Partly, that's because I think healthier people 47:36 have come in and seen that, 47:38 but we know we have people from all walks of life 47:40 that have come through to be vaccinated. 47:41 So it actually confirms to me that these vaccines are safe 47:44 and have not had problems with anybody 47:46 with any particular medical condition. 47:48 I did see somebody in the chat asked a question 47:50 about those who already have auto-immune diseases 47:53 and could this cause an exacerbation of that? 47:55 And actually, biologically, that makes little sense. 47:59 Auto-immune diseases are usually caused by an antibody 48:02 to a particular substance or part of our body 48:05 and so vaccination wouldn't affect that. 48:09 It would say that because vaccination is similar 48:11 to the process that we talk about when people get infected 48:13 and infections themselves 48:15 don't cause particular exacerbations 48:17 of any particular auto-immune disease 48:19 outside of what that auto-immune disease 48:21 already is related to. 48:23 And so we have not, again, seen anybody 48:25 who has had adverse reactions 48:27 who have a known auto-immune disease, 48:29 even some pretty severe auto-immune diseases. 48:31 In fact, it's safer for them to get the vaccine 48:33 because they're already vulnerable due to that. 48:36 - Great. Great. 48:37 That's great insight, Dr. Jarvis. 48:38 I'm gonna switch over now. 48:40 Remi, I'll ask you in follow-up. 48:43 What other concerns are you hearing from your peer group? 48:47 - So another really big one that I'm hearing is the concern 48:50 that these vaccines will alter people's DNA. 48:54 - Hmm. 48:56 Dr. Maginnis, you care to weigh in on that? 48:59 - Sure. 48:59 And I also just want to follow up on something 49:02 that Remi and Dr. Gilkey brought up earlier 49:04 is that there's so much misinformation 49:06 that's circulating on the internet 49:08 and we have to not believe everything we read. 49:12 We really have to drill down on the information 49:14 and critically think through it 49:15 and look for reliable, trustworthy sources. 49:19 And if someone has posted something on Facebook 49:22 and your cousin says that these vaccines 49:26 are changing your DNA, you might want to say, 49:28 well, where did you read that? 49:30 Can you provide the source for me 49:32 so that I can read into that more? 49:34 Rather than just believing what someone is saying 49:36 on Facebook or somewhere else on the internet. 49:39 And then find multiple sources 49:40 and then critically think through the information. 49:42 So if we were to just break this down and say, 49:45 could these vaccines actually alter your DNA? 49:49 Let's just think about this. 49:50 So the goal of the vaccines is to deliver the instructions 49:53 or the blueprint for your cells 49:55 to produce the spike proteins 49:56 and these are the proteins that protrude 49:59 from the surface of the virus. 50:00 We've all seen pictures of the SARS-CoV-2 virus 50:04 circulating in the news. 50:05 And so the goal is to express those spike proteins 50:09 so that our body can produce antibodies 50:11 to the spike proteins to prevent infection. 50:14 So the vaccines that we have available 50:16 from Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines 50:19 and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine 50:21 is a viral vector-based vaccine 50:23 that does deliver DNA to encode for spike in your cells. 50:27 And we have to think back to the central dark dogma 50:29 of molecular biology that we learned in high school. 50:32 DNA is made into mRNA is made into proteins 50:36 and DNA is the genetic material that's present 50:39 in the nucleus of our cells. 50:40 And this serves as the instructions 50:42 to build all of the cells and tissues and organs 50:45 that make up our bodies. 50:46 And if we think of this as kind of a building project 50:49 to build a house, the DNA are those instructions 50:52 and they're sort of the plans 50:53 in the architect's mind before the project. 50:55 And we can't access those plans. 50:57 In order to access those plans, we need a blueprint. 51:00 And so to make a blueprint, the DNA is transcribed into mRNA 51:05 and the mRNA gets shuttled out of the nucleus 51:08 into the cytoplasm, and there, it gets sent to the builders 51:11 and the mRNA gets made into proteins. 51:14 And this is just like the blueprints getting made 51:17 into building a house by the building team. 51:20 So if we think about Pfizer and Moderna, 51:22 which are mRNA vaccines, 51:23 they already are the messenger RNA or the blueprints. 51:26 They don't need to go to the nucleus. 51:28 They go into the cytoplasm of the cell 51:30 and they get converted into the spike protein 51:33 and then the spike protein gets expressed 51:35 on the surface of our cells 51:37 and antibodies get produced to that spike protein 51:40 so that we can develop an effective immune response 51:43 to prevent infection. 51:45 The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a DNA-based vaccine 51:48 delivered in a viral vector 51:50 and the vector is just really a tool 51:52 to deliver the DNA into the cells. 51:54 The virus does not replicate or reproduce. 51:58 It's just a tool to get the DNA into our cells. 52:01 So this DNA will enter the nucleus of the cell, 52:04 but it will get immediately made into the mRNA 52:07 or the blueprints and get shuttled into the cytoplasm 52:09 and get made into protein, the spike protein. 52:13 And again, our body can then make antibodies 52:16 to the spike protein to help prevent us 52:18 from getting COVID-19. 52:20 So that's what I mean about thinking through the information 52:23 and this information about altering your DNA 52:25 first came about when the mRNA vaccines were circulating. 52:29 And if we think through it, 52:30 the mRNA doesn't even need to go to the nucleus 52:32 and it can't get into the nucleus, 52:33 so how would it alter our DNA? 52:35 So we have to critically think through the things 52:37 that we're seeing that are circulating on the internet. 52:41 - Sign me up for Dr. Maginnis' class. 52:43 Where were you when I did my bio degree? 52:46 That was awesome. 52:48 Well, thank you. 52:49 And I will say, I'll share with our audience 52:51 that I had a conversation about a week and a half ago 52:54 with my wife's cousin. 52:56 Her biggest concern 52:57 was that DNA would be altered in her cells. 53:03 I mean, that was a major part of her concern. 53:05 So thanks for that. 53:06 Tanisha, what else are you hearing? 53:09 - Yeah, I think one of the final major concerns 53:12 that I've heard is from parents. 53:14 There's this thought that signing yourself up for a vaccine 53:18 or this vaccine in particular, 53:19 you're participating in a science project. 53:21 And while some of those parents 53:23 have decided to get the vaccine for themselves, 53:26 they're very hesitant to submit their children for this. 53:29 They don't want their children to be a part 53:30 of some experiment. 53:32 And I know that 12 and older 53:34 are going to be eligible for the vaccine 53:36 and I think that hesitancy is just going to increase 53:38 now that more children are eligible. 53:41 - Hmm. 53:42 So as I ask for a response to that, 53:45 I'll give us all a five minute warning here. 53:48 And actually, it's a short five minutes. 53:51 Dr. Jarvis, if you could comment. 53:53 - Yeah, so I think the bigger experiment 53:56 would be allowing your child to be exposed to the virus 53:59 and seeing what the consequences of that would be 54:01 and that would be a detrimental experiment. 54:03 And that's really what the issue is here. 54:05 Again, vaccinations, 54:08 all vaccinations are safe and effective. 54:10 The experimental portion of this vaccine is well over, 54:15 just simply because of the sheer number of individuals 54:18 who have already been vaccinated with these vaccines. 54:22 Typically, as I've said before, 54:24 after about a million doses of vaccine 54:26 is usually when we start seeing issues, 54:28 whether that be severe side effects 54:29 or consequences from the vaccine. 54:32 Now we're talking about tens of millions of people 54:34 who have already received these vaccines 54:36 and are not seeing those severe side effects 54:38 or consequences, and so that that's important to know. 54:42 Volume means everything here 54:44 and then the volume that we have here 54:46 is well beyond anything we have ever seen 54:48 from a clinical trial, as we've said before today. 54:52 Where I really fear is that we are starting to see 54:54 more and more children who are affected with COVID-19 54:57 and we know that there are long-term consequences there. 55:00 We know that there's something called 55:01 multi-system inflammatory disease 55:03 that's an effect of COVID-19 that affects only children 55:06 and devastates them by having multi-system organ failure, 55:10 and in fact, can lead to death. 55:12 That's what you're trying to prevent is to have that. 55:15 The best safety we can do is vaccination. 55:17 We do that all the time in children 55:19 by vaccinating them against childhood diseases 55:21 and we vaccinate adults against adult diseases. 55:24 This is a disease that doesn't care whether you're old, 55:26 young, black, white, Republican, or Democrat. 55:29 It is just there to harm 55:31 and our best way to prevent that harm 55:32 is through vaccination. 55:34 - Great. 55:35 Well, thank you for that. 55:36 And, you know, I think we've all heard about microchips. 55:40 The latest that I've been hearing 55:41 is that it connects us to the 5G network. 55:44 I just have one glib question for you, Dr. Jarvis. 55:48 Does that mean we won't get a monthly fee 55:50 if we're connected to the 5G network via vaccine? 55:54 - One would only hope, but no, as I've said before, 55:57 while it's great to see Tony Stark and his nanotechnology, 56:00 that technology actually doesn't exist. 56:02 If we were able to put a microchip in, 56:04 it would not fit through the needle for these vaccines. 56:07 One of the things, 56:08 and then we talked about a little bit 56:09 about people's hesitancy due to the needle fear, 56:12 these vaccines, because of the molecular way 56:16 that they are delivered actually require 56:17 a very, very tiny needle to be delivered. 56:20 Those of you who have had microchips placed 56:22 in any of your pets know that that is a very large needle 56:25 because it needs to be large 56:26 to put the microchip through it. 56:28 We use very, very tiny needles because mRNA is microscopic 56:32 and doesn't need to be very big to go through. 56:34 We don't need a very big needle to do it. 56:36 So we wouldn't even have the ability to do that. 56:38 And frankly, if the government wanted to spy on you, 56:40 you guys carry phones with you wherever you go, 56:42 and those are connected to 5G. 56:43 And by the way, I appreciate the faster download speeds, so. 56:47 - Thank you very much. 56:49 I'll switch over. 56:51 Emily, what else are you hearing out there? 56:55 - I know one big concern that especially young women have is 56:58 if getting the vaccine will affect menstruation 57:01 or also if it would affect fertility. 57:04 I think a lot of young women my age have a concern 57:06 that they get the vaccine now, 57:07 and then 10 years, when they're trying to conceive, 57:09 they won't be able to as a result of the vaccine. 57:13 - Dr. Marnik, would you like to tackle that? 57:16 I'm gonna thank you right now for all of your effort 57:19 in answering the questions in the chat. 57:21 That's very helpful. 57:22 We have lots and lots of engagement today. 57:24 So, Dr. Marnik? 57:26 - Yeah, so I think this is really important example, too, 57:29 of going back to what Dr. Maginnis said 57:31 about finding where this information originated from. 57:34 And this is one of the most common fears 57:36 that I hear people express, as well. 57:37 And I will say that I'm fully vaccinated 57:39 and plan to have more children, so it's not something 57:42 that, as a scientist, I'm concerned about 57:43 because there's no basis in scientific fact. 57:46 But if you go to where this myth originated from, 57:48 it's because somebody decided 57:51 that because the spike protein, 57:52 which is what your body produces antibodies to, 57:55 both if you're infected naturally, or if you get vaccinated, 57:58 so they said that because the spike protein has amino acids, 58:02 which I'll explain what those are in a second, 58:03 similar to a placenta protein, 58:05 it means that the antibodies you make 58:07 against the spike protein 58:08 are gonna cause you to be infertile. 58:10 And this is not true. 58:11 So proteins are the building blocks of your cells 58:14 are what make up living organisms 58:16 and all proteins are made up of 20 amino acids. 58:19 Those are the building blocks. 58:20 I like to explain those 58:21 like 20 different colored Lego blocks. 58:24 If I take those 20 different colored Lego blocks 58:26 and make a castle, and then take 20 more 58:28 of those same colored Lego blocks and make a house, 58:31 I can tell the difference. 58:32 Even though they have those same building blocks, 58:34 I can tell the difference 58:35 because they have a different structure. 58:37 And the same is true for the spike protein 58:40 versus that placental protein. 58:43 Yes, they share some same amino acids, 58:45 but every single protein does 58:47 because there's only 20 amino acids to choose from. 58:49 So your body and your immune system is very sophisticated. 58:52 Your immune system is not going to mistake 58:54 the placenta protein for the spike protein. 58:57 And we now also have a lot of data from people 58:59 who've gotten pregnant after getting vaccinated 59:02 or who were vaccinated while pregnant 59:04 and none of those data shows concerning safety signals 59:07 for risk of miscarriage or for any sort of birth defects. 59:11 - So, thank you for that. 59:12 We've actually reached the end of our time today. 59:15 And as you could tell, we'd all love to keep going. 59:18 So for those of you who we didn't answer your questions 59:22 in the chat room, our team will try to pick up on that. 59:26 Feel free to reach out to Lanie Abbott 59:29 and get to us that way. 59:32 We'd love to answer your questions. 59:34 I think we all recognize that vaccine hesitancy 59:37 engages people significantly, 59:39 and we'll be revisiting that over the coming months. 59:42 We've included some tools for you 59:44 at the end of this presentation. 59:46 Thank you all for joining us 59:47 and thank you to our experts and special guests. 59:50 I hope this hour has been a help to support you, 59:53 your employees, and our communities 59:54 to safely manage your business. 59:56 Just a reminder, we will be emailing you a survey 59:59 right after our conference. 60:01 Please be sure to give us your feedback 60:03 so we can continue to provide relevant information. 60:06 Our next session will be on May 20th. 60:09 Our theme is The Pandemic's Impact 60:11 on Mental Health and Substance Use. 60:14 The topics will include looking at the details 60:16 that one in three people have longer-term mental health 60:20 and neurological symptoms after COVID 60:23 and increase in diagnoses of anxiety and mood disorders, 60:27 rising alcohol use in Maine, 60:29 and the latest on COVID-19 and vaccinations. 60:33 We will send you the link for this session. 60:35 We encourage you to share the invitation 60:37 with your friends, colleagues, 60:39 and others who might benefit from this information. 60:42 By working together, we will keep Maine safe. 60:45 Thank you, and have a good afternoon.