Why the flu vaccine is especially important this year
Winter is coming. So is what experts are calling "twindemic" season...
Not only is COVID still going strong - with the US fastly closing in on 7 million cases and 200,000 deaths - but flu season will be upon us soon as well.
As your FB doctor friend, please get your flu vaccine and remind your loved ones to get it as well! Not only can it decrease your risk of getting the flu by up to 60%, it can drastically reduce the severity of your disease course even if you do get it. It could very well save you from a hospitalization, which will be key with COVID numbers expected to rise as well this winter.
#liveVICTORIOUS but please stay safe and healthy!
(and yes, if it takes a dance to help you remember to get your vaccine, so be it!)
Why does covid info keep changing?
I am tired of all the comments about how the CDC “messed up” or Dr. Fauci “lied” back in March or whenever.
Look, physicians and scientists make recommendations based on the information and data we have at the moment. But sometimes (often times actually) that information can change.
It’s called the scientific method. You take a plausible hypothesis (like asymptomatic people don’t need to mask or young people don’t seem to get sick) and test it vigorously to see if it holds true. During this process, you can find new information - including that your initial hypothesis was wrong! So you take that new data, reassess your hypothesis, adjust the methods, and try again until you can get reproducible and conclusive results that make sense... It’s all part of the science and research.
This process can take years (or even ongoing for decades), and usually you don’t have a whole country watching and critiquing your every move. 👀
So please 🙏🏼 - be patient, understand that science is a process, and our scientists and experts are working as fast as they can and doing their very best with the limited information we have.
p.s. What you DON’T do is be stubborn and change or manipulate the data to fit your thinking... Scientists would call that unethical and misleading.
You are making a difference
Like it or not, and despite what you believe, or don't... We are all in this together. In a pandemic where a virus and emotions are running rampant, your actions and decisions have impact.
Check out video I found on TikTok. This girl has since called the whole thing a "joke" and deleted all her social media accounts. But I have no doubt her actions have already affected many in that terminal and on that plane, not to mention her family and friends.
Conversely, to those of you who continue to mask and distance - THANK YOU. Thank you for your sacrifices. Thank you for your kindness and respect for those around you. What you do matters so much. We will get through this together.
#IstandwithFauci
Dr. Fauci has served 6 presidents. He has led the NIAID and NIH for nearly 50 years. He’s won the medal of freedom, was the leading scientist that changed the tide of our largest pandemic (HIV), and for almost 20 years (1983-2002) was THE most published and cited scientist in the world. He literally WROTE THE BOOK - he is one of the authors of the most widely used internal medicine textbooks (which I and all my colleagues used). He is honest and speaks facts without a political spin.
I stand with science.
I stand with medicine.
I stand with my fellow doctors, nurses, pharmacists, healthcare providers, and all essential workers.
I stand with the truth.
The fact that people without any science background are arrogant enough to try to discredit a doctor so renowned and dedicated - who has held the health of the people in the forefront, despite others’ agendas - is just a sad metaphor of exactly what is wrong with this country and leadership.
Case in point, over the last several weeks during which his recommendations have been totally ignored - the U.S. numbers have skyrocketed. We need him and his expertise now more than ever.
I am tired
I have a confession guys: I'm tired. I really am. 😥 Yesterday was a tough day: Los Angeles went back on lockdown, and LAUSD announced that our kids will not be going back to school in the fall. 😭
I've tried really hard to make the best of this whole situation thus far - for myself and for my family. I know that while I cannot control what is going on around me, I can manage my own mind. 🧠
But it's getting to me.
Part of it is sadness - for our kids, for our economy, for my lonely friends and family. Part of it is true fatigue - from the worry, from the homeschooling, from the feeling that I can't get anything done anymore.
And part of it is anger. Angry frustration - as a doctor - knowing that had we as a country been able to put our arrogance and comfort and selfishness aside for just several weeks and properly mask and distance - this virus would have died out, like it has in many other countries (and NYC!).
But instead, we complain and fight and make it political and now we are worse off than when this all began... It's like the last 4 months have been for nothing. 😩
Is this really who we are? As Americans, that we care more about our individual "freedoms" and "rights" (to not wear a mask or go to a bar) than the health and safety of our neighbors and our entire country? That me, myself, and I are somehow more important and know better than everyone else? That our own agendas, desires, and arrogance trump science and experts? Are these the values and lessons we want to teach our children?
And so we are all paying for it now... Numbers are skyrocketing, and we are back on lockdown. This virus is not going away 🦠, and until we show some humility and respect - for it, for our experts, and for each other - it never will... 🙏🏼
(Tiktok is my coping mechanism. If the US bans it too, I will literally have a break down... 😂😩)
CoVID update: All up in the air
So reports are confirming that coronavirus 🦠 can be airborne (versus only found in droplets or surfaces and transmitted by contact).
Does this change the precautions we are taking? Are face masks still necessary?
Short answer: NOTHING has changed.
Scientists and healthcare professionals have always suspected that coronavirus was airborne, which is why social distancing has always been a major recommendation during this pandemic. Keeping your distance in a well ventilated space (ie outdoors) greatly reduces your risk of transmitting and/or contracting COVID.
Face masks 😷 are still very relevant especially in closer settings. Not only do they block droplets from your mouth and nose, they also reduce the radius of any smaller airborne particles (air will still flow around the mask - so don’t worry about your oxygen/CO2 levels - but airborne particles will not travel as far out).
#liveVICTORIOUS✌🏼 but stay safe, friends!
Thank you Theo + Leigh for our cute and comfy masks!!! Use VICKICHANMD when ordering to get 20% off!