Research Update: Part II

All right, great to be back with everybody. Once again. In this video we're going to talk about the CDC guidelines for distribution of the COVID 19 vaccine, IF and when it's approved for emergency use. At the bottom of this video will be a link for anybody to actually look at the CDC guidance. One thing we need to remember is that the CDC guidance is for guidance usage only. It depends on every state and how they actually enact the CDC guidance. I practice in Virginia and our department of Health is keeping the physicians apprised of their plans for distribution of the vaccine and they are closely following the CDC guidance. I'm going to stick with discussing what the CDC is saying simply because depending on what state you're in will determine how the vaccine gets distributed, but it's mostly likely going to follow that guidance of the, of the cdc. So that's, that's the first thing to keep, keep in mind. The second thing to keep in mind is we are pro information, pro medical freedom, pro independent decision making. So this information is mainly for people to make first and foremost to be able to interpret the information they're reading in the news media as well as just to be able to make good, wise decisions for themselves. That's the purpose is to educate, encourage, empower, and that's part of our values. So that's what we're hopefully doing with this video series. So, so again, every state department playbook is a little different, but we'll be focusing on what the CDC is actually recommending and if you want the information at the bottom of this, this video. So there's three phases. The first phase is basically going to be a limited dose availability for health care workers, essential workers and high risk individuals. There's two parts to that. The second phase is actually continuing phase one and then expanding it to critical populations and the general population. And then phase three is continuation of phase one and phase two and maintaining that distribution, realizing and the reason they start phase one and continue it throughout, then start phase two and continue it going forward in phase three is because it's a process of getting a vaccine out there. It's not as if you deploy it and every healthcare worker has it, then you deploy it and all high risk people have it. It's going to be a process that's going to take a while and I'll talk about actual timelines at the very end of this. So phase 1a is mainly due to supply constraint. There's maybe 50 up to 100 million vaccines available potentially by the end of the year from PFIZER other manufacturers will come after that. But it's going to be focused towards the high risk populations first. They're mainly determining that to be healthcare workers, those in critical jobs in the healthcare industry as well as those that are potentially high risk in the 1B. And 1B is other essential workers and other high risk individuals that might be your first responders. You know, doctor's offices, public health would be in that Phase 1B. Once Phase 1B has met the critical mass and there's more vaccine available, and then phase two will start. Now what you have to also realize is the purpose of phase 1a and phase 1b is also to work out some of the kinks. We can't just deploy this vaccine, expect it to go everywhere and to work cleanly. So the idea is to find places that distribution will be easier, like particular doctor's offices, particular hospitals that have actually applied in this case of Virginia to the state. And our office is actually one. We did apply to the state to be one of those sites. Our Office has about nine or 10 practitioners. We have a pretty large population we take care of. Our hope is to be able to be one of the sites that gets picked by the state for distribution. But ultimately it's not up to us, it's up to the state. And that's something else to keep in mind that once the vaccine is available and the FDA says it's okay for distribution for emergency purposes, only then and only then it goes to the states and the states determine how to distribute it. So that's going to be very interesting to see how this actually plays out, how something else developed in the private industry and now is passed off to the state governments and local officials. How well it's actually distributed. And that's what the purpose of phase 1a and 1b is, to kind of work out some of those kinks while the vaccine is going out, two again will be other critical populations and working into the general population and three will be continuation of that and then open access to the vaccine. That will be your mediclinics, cvs. You may even drive through vaccine plan places. So that's kind of the way it's going to work. Now timelines, what is the expectation for that? Well, the Virginia Department of Health has stated that they expect it to be available to the general population. So that'd be like near phase two going to phase three in Virginia mid to late 2021. So when a lot of people have alarm about the rapidity of deployment of the vaccine, you have to realize the General, at least in Virginia, and probably this is the case in other states, that it won't be accessible to the general population until mid to late 2021. The first people getting will actually be healthcare workers and then the front lines, high risk patients, hospital workers as well. And so we have to realize that's the vaccine. With that skipping phase three, so to speak, it will be actually be watching post deployment. It's not really phase four, which I talked about in the last video, but it is since it's being deployed to the general population. You know, we'll be getting updated data, you know, other side effects from the vaccine, et cetera. So all this is being closely watched by both Pfizer as well or Moderna or whoever the vaccine manufacturer is, as well as by the government, the FDA as well as each individual internal review board or irb. But it's not going to be a fast process. It's going to be the fastest we've seen in history, but not fast by our expectations. So we have to kind of temper our expectations when we'll have access to the vaccine, what that's going to look like. Currently, most places are not taking wait lists because that's not possible because no one even knows who's with the vaccine as far as clinics and who's not going to get it. It's also not allowing us to like prepare for that. We just have to wait and see what the the FDA says and then once it goes to states, what the states say, and then when it goes to clinics and the clinics will be abiding by their state regulations, which means it'll first go to healthcare workers and those working in the healthcare system that are at high risk. So basically hospital employees, medical office employees, et cetera. So that's how the process will play out as of today, as things change. We'll try to let you know, but you should use this information to judge the information you're seeing and reading and hearing, because a lot of information that's being put out there either and the print is not corresponding to what the actual information either from the vaccine manufacturers or from the CDC or from local government, since that's where a lot of confusion is coming out. And so I'm hoping to use this information in the first video and second video and do like a mini literature review. I'm not going to be doing medical literature, but more like articles that people are seeing in the general media. And these are things that people are bringing to my attention that concerning people is walk through a couple of these using information you now have from the first two videos to critically analyze this information and say is it true or false? And what perspective are the authors of the articles trying to purvey? Because that's ultimately everything. There's a perspective, there's a bias. I have a bias. I just try to be open about my bias. You have to realize hopefully by reading things you can kind of pick out what the bias of the author is and that helps you to read deeper into whatever is being written. So hopefully when we do a third video that will be helpful in that if you feel like this is helpful, share with your family and friends. Ultimately, anything we do on social media, YouTube, etc. It's only gets out there if people share it. If you feel it's helpful. So hopefully you feel it's helpful, place comments in the section below as well. It can be helpful to help us have ideas, answer questions, and as well go forward and keep all this informed as best we can as things progress. Thanks a lot. Take care.