ETSU’s College of Public Health hosted the second iteration of “Coronavirus: Separating Fact from Fiction” on Feb. 23 with a focus on the distribution and mechanics of COVID-19 vaccines.
The event began at 6 p.m. with an introduction by Dr. Randy Wykoff, dean of ETSU’s College of Public Health, who outlined the general structure of the evening as well as thanked the panelists present.
First to present was Dr. Michelle Fiscus, medical director of the Vaccine-Preventable Diseases and Immunization Program within the Tennessee Department of Health. Fiscus outlined the state-level plans to roll out COVID-19 vaccines as well as the tier system in which vaccine recipients are to be organized.
While distribution varies across counties, first priority populations include high-contact healthcare workers as well as first responders in order to maintain key response infrastructure. Age is an important factor as well, with aggressive rollout among citizens aged 65 and up in order to prevent hospitalization and death. The plan also places considerable emphasis on equitable deployment of vaccines, ensuring that anyone slated to be eligible for vaccination is able to receive it regardless of circumstance.
Next was Dr. Jonathan Moorman, chief of the ETSU Quillen College of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases. Moorman spoke to the nature of the SARS-COV-2 virus and how scientists have begun to unravel and repurpose the mechanisms by which it enters the body’s cells.
The three types of vaccines in development all revolve around reproducing the spike protein that allows the virus to attach and enter human cells where they reproduce. By isolating this part of the virus, vaccines can introduce the protein into the body where the immune system can run as normal, learning to fight the foreign body in the bloodstream. Later, if a vaccinated body comes into contact with the virus, the immune system “recognizes” the intruder and opposes it more effectively.
“It does not stay in the body very long,” said Moorman. “mRNA is very prone to degradation, it doesn’t even live on the surface when we work with it in the laboratory because it just gets degraded so quickly. So, I’m not worried about this being a long term kind of ribonucleic acid that’s going to cause problems. It encodes the spike protein, and that is how this particular form of vaccination works to introduce it to the immune system.”
Moorman said that some recipients of the vaccine may experience infection site pain, swelling, fatigue, headaches, muscle pain and chills.
“We see that quite often,” Moorman said. “It’s more common in this particular scenario after the second dose with both Pfizer and Moderna, where the second dose commonly leads to some significant side effects but not enough to require hospitalization or anything like that. These are very standard kinds of reactions. There’s always going to be people, always, that develop anaphylaxis to anything we inject them [with]. I swear you can inject water in some people and they’d still have a problem.”
Dr. David Kirschke, health officer with the Tennessee Department of Health’s Northeast Regional Health Office, finished the lecture with a summary of region statistics regarding vaccine rollout. Currently, hesitance to receive the vaccine is dropping, with 32.1% of the population intending to refuse it in December as compared to the 38.1% polled in September.
Kirschke also compared the pros and cons of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated immunity, citing the potential injury or death possible with developing immunity through contracting the disease as well as potential for spread. While receiving a vaccine is a welcome assurance, Kirschke warns not to take immunity for granted.
“It’s unclear how long natural immunity or vaccine induced immunity lasts,” said Kirschke. “Natural immunity, we think, lasts at least 90 days which is the reason for some of the recommendations. We are continuing to study people after they get vaccinated to see if people get infected after vaccination to see how long that vaccine induced immunity lasts.”
For more information regarding COVID-19 vaccines, visit TN.gov/health.
