Infectious disease doctor says taking any FDA-approved vaccine is key to getting back to normal



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Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease doctor from California, believes there is a simple and safe solution to get back to normal as quickly as possible: get vaccinated. Any vaccine.

It’s a state of mind and a lot of science.

Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease doctor and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, is very optimistic about the future of the United States in dealing with the coronavirus.

She believes there is a simple and safe solution to get back to normal as quickly as possible: get vaccinated. Any vaccine.

Following a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released March 29, Gandhi tweeted: “To put [it] simply 161 COVID infections out of 1000 unvaccinated; 1 in 1000 if vaccinated. “

They’re all good, he said, and he’s also not concerned about different vaccines that provide different variant protection. Gandhi said there are studies showing that people have their own mechanisms to fight disease and that any vaccine protection helps the general population.

In an interview Friday with WTOP’s Will Vitka, Gandhi answered questions about some of the concerns people have about Covid-19 vaccines.

But first, he addressed the mixed messages America’s top health officials are sending to the American public.

The CDC announced Friday that fully vaccinated people can travel with their families over the holiday weekend and not worry about wearing a mask indoors. However, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a briefing at the White House later that day that the CDC is still discouraging nonessential travel. President Biden backed her.

“I think it is difficult to be a politician or a public health official, because you want to deliver good news and, at the same time, your message of caution,” Gandhi said. “It can make people look like, you know, like they’re coming and going.”

Gandhi fully supports people who travel fully vaccinated.

“We have had a lot of amazingly good news, just this last week, about the incredible effectiveness of these vaccines,” Gandhi said. “Both from the CDC in a great article Monday through front-line responders, and then from Pfizer [on Thursday] it gave us six-month data of incredible vaccine effectiveness from 40,000 people around the world, even across all variants. “

He said it stands to reason that with all the good news, fully vaccinated people should be able to have fewer travel restrictions.

Gandhi adds that Recent studies show that a person’s own “T-cell immunity” can also naturally fight off the coronavirus variants that are so often talked about.

“The big news, and it really came out mostly this week … there are two articles that show us that our T-cell immunity, our cell-mediated immunity, which is actually the best way to fight viruses, is completely intact against the variants, ”Gandhi said.

She added: “[S]or people should stop worrying about which vaccine to get and just get vaccinated. ”

Gandhi also wants people to have confidence in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“I like the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, there are six reasons I like it,” he says.

First, Gandhi liked that the J&J vaccine is “one dose and that’s it”, and that the trials showed that the immunogenicity of the recipients increased over time, that is, when the trials stopped, people were improving antibody responses.

She was also reassured by how well it worked against newer variants of COVID-19 and that the J&J vaccine was tested among truly diverse populations.

Lastly, the speed at which the J&J vaccine helps boost herd immunity and the few side effects it has give you hope.

“I really think it is safe and effective. And I would take any dose of anything I could get, ”Gandhi said.

Gandhi is also not concerned if a person receives a vaccine from a different manufacturer for their second dose.

“It’s okay if doses of vaccines from different manufacturers are injected into your body. The silver lining is that that situation could create a stronger response, stronger antibiotics. “

WTOP’s Will Vitka contributed to this report.



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