“Our biggest concern is the second wave and how it will impact us, together with the coming flu season. We’re encouraging everyone to get a flu shot. Avoiding the “twindemic” – flu and covid 19 is critical.”
Dr. Tom Balcezak, Chief medical officer, Yale New Haven Health SystemThe Yale New Haven Health System’s vaccine trial with Pfizer has enrolled 250+ participants to date, and there is room for more. Go to the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation website to sign up to be a candidate for this trial. A second second vaccine trial will get underway soon, and more vaccine trials are coming.
Dr. Balcezak talked about the challenges ahead for Connecticut to distribute a vaccine to the 3.5 million residents of Connecticut.
“One challenge is that genetic material vaccines require storage at extremely cold temperatures, minus 70° centigrade, and have to be stored at that temperature until a day or two before you administer them,” he said. “We just don’t nave that number of freezers evenly distributed across the state.”
There are reports of large shippers including UPS and FedEx putting in ‘freezer farms’ to store vaccines at these extremely cold temperatures.
The Connecticut Hospital Association is working on guidelines for vaccine distribution in advance.
“We need 80% of (residents) vaccinated to have community immunity. That is logistically very difficult,” he said.
The other challenge is that the vaccine candidates require two doses approximately 30 days apart. If someone receives one manufacturer’s vaccine the first time, they have to get that manufacturer’s vaccine for the second dose.
“Community immunity is possible,” Balcezak said, adding that the only disease completely eliminated is Smallpox, which was done entirely through a vaccination campaign. “We are still closing in on eliminating the Polio virus.”