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Several important updates about COVID-19

2/15/2021

Monoclonal Antibody Treatment: San Diego now has established a facility that will provide monoclonal antibody treatment for people who are at high risk for complications from COVID-19. These risk factors include age 65 or more, or certain individuals with diabetes, obesity, kidney disease, or other chronic medical conditions. Please look under the COVID-19 tab on my website to find out more information about who is eligible for this treatment. This is the same type of treatment that the former president received when he contracted the disease last year, and it has been shown to decrease the chance of hospitalization and death. The important thing about this treatment is that it is only effective within the first 10 days of symptom onset, so it is extremely important that if you have any symptoms that potentially could be COVID-19, GET TESTED EARLY. Treatment is free and is available for anyone who meets the criteria.
New COVID-19 vaccines: The CDC is currently evaluating the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, and the AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines are not far behind. With different choices, many people are wondering which is the best vaccine to get. At this point, I would recommend that if any one of these vaccines is available, I would go ahead and get it. Although the 94-95% efficacy of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines appear to be higher than the 66% efficacy of the Janssen vaccine, it does not mean that you should not get the Janssen one. It is important to remember that the first two vaccines were tested when they were fewer mutations of the vaccine, so they appear to be more effective. The Janssen vaccine was tested later, with a higher incidence of circulating mutated strains which may be more resistant to the vaccine, so the comparison is not equivalent. What is very important to remember is that for all five of these vaccines, the preliminary data show that they are all extremely effective at preventing admission to the intensive care unit and preventing death, which in reality is the most important benefit of these vaccines. If you get a vaccine but later still contract COVID-19, it is much more likely to be a mild case. It is important to note that when a group of virus scientists were surveyed, all of them stated they would get the Janssen vaccine now rather than wait three weeks for the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
Vaccine side effects: While the incidence of anaphylactic reactions to the vaccines is low, many people do get side effects from the vaccine. They do include fatigue, headache, fever, and local reactions on the arm. You can try preventing these by taking Tylenol or anti-inflammatory medicines before and after getting the vaccine. There has been a number of patients who have developed a delayed local reaction consisting of enlarging area of redness and warmth on the arm, close to the injection site, starting up to one week after getting the infection. It can be associated with a low-grade fever as well, so taking Tylenol or anti-inflammatory medications, as well is using cool compresses on the arm can be helpful. If you have severe pain associated with it, or a high fever, please call the office.
How to get vaccinated: if you are currently not eligible to receive the vaccine, you can sign up to be notified when it is your turn at MyTurn.CA.gov. This is a new resource developed by the State of California and is being piloted in San Diego and Los Angeles counties. Not all sites that give the vaccine have transitioned over to this, but most intend to in the future. In addition, if you know of any neighbors who don’t have access to the Internet, they can call 211 to get assistance in getting appointments for the vaccine. 211 may also be able to help provide vaccination in the home for elderly patients who are homebound.

COVID-19 Vaccine Status

1/27/2021

Status of COVID-19 vaccines: Currently California is allowing healthcare workers and all people ages 65+ to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Those under 65 with medical comorbidities are still not eligible quite yet. The only vaccines currently available are from Pfizer and Moderna. Both of these vaccines are excellent, and it does not matter which one you receive. If you have already been diagnosed with COVID-19, the recommendation is that you still get vaccination, but wait until 90 days after you’ve been diagnosed as you are likely already immune, and getting the vaccination too soon may give you a stronger adverse reaction.

Below are the options for getting vaccinated – those that require registering online have new appointments that open frequently, so check back frequently. For people that don’t have computer access, call the County at 211 from any phone to get assistance:

County of San Diego: 2 Super Center locations at Petco Park and at Sharp Hospital in Chula Vista, but other locations are available throughout the County as well as at Rady Hospital and Sharp Grossmont and Coronado. They are planning on opening up 2-3 more Super Centers within the next few weeks. Book an appointment on-line at www.VaccinationSuperStationSD.com.
UCSD and Scripps Hospital: Both hospital systems are sending out invitations to schedule appointments for people that have been seen in their systems in the past. They are scheduling their appointments only through their apps, so if you have been seen at either system, make sure to download their apps. Each hospital decides which patients to send invitations to, and there is no way to request that an invitation be sent to you, so please be patient.
Pharmacies: Most major chain retail pharmacies have plans on offering the vaccine as soon as they get supplies and are trained. Please check their individual websites to find out which locations are offering them. This is a website (https://www.vaccinateca.com) that does list some of the pharmacies that have the vaccine, although you have to check back often for availability. However, if you happen to be at a pharmacy late in the afternoon, you can always check if they have any extra doses that are available, because if people don’t show up for their prior appointments, the pharmacy may have some doses that need to be given that day, and you could get lucky!

Private medical offices: There are a few private medical offices that have been able to request the vaccines and have been giving them out at their offices. However, the government is currently halting shipments to private offices and directing them to larger mass vaccination sites in order to reach more people quickly. We currently do not plan on getting vaccines in our office.

We will provide you with more information as we receive it!

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Several important updates about COVID-19

COVID-19 Vaccine Status

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