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FDA, CDC precaution with vaccine side effects is ‘encouraging’: Doctor

Dr. Jessica Osterman, Emergency Medicine Physician in Los Angeles, California, joins Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers to discuss the latest on the coronavirus.

Video transcript

KRISTIN MYERS: The CDC has identified 5,800 people who were vaccinated against coronavirus and still got infected. So let's bring on Dr. Jessica Osterman, emergency medicine physician, out of Los Angeles. So doctor, I'm curious to know if we need to stop thinking about this vaccine as something that will 100% prevent us from getting the virus, and maybe we need to start thinking about it a little more like the flu shot, for example, where you might still get the flu. It just won't be as serious if you do.

JESSICA OSTERMAN: Absolutely. I think that's an excellent point, and this is why we're still recommending things like social distancing and masks. Vaccines, as we know, are not perfect magic bullets. We have found that they reduce the severity of the disease. They reduce the amount of time patients spend in the hospital, if they are hospitalized, but they're not perfect. And so we are expecting to see cases of coronavirus in vaccinated individuals, still, and I think the numbers that we're seeing right now are completely consistent with the efficacy of the vaccines that are currently available.

We saw that the Pfizer was predicted to give 95% protection, and what we're seeing is actually, it's probably closer to 91%, but that's still a pretty fantastic amount of protection that it's providing out there.

KRISTIN MYERS: So I want to ask you something that some of my friends and some other younger folks that I've heard asking which is, what is the point of me getting the vaccine if I can still get the virus even after I've been vaccinated? And as a young, healthy person with no underlying conditions, I'm not that afraid if I do get it and I haven't been vaccinated.

JESSICA OSTERMAN: So the one thing I tell all my patients coming through is that we have seen this disease affect young people, previously healthy people. And so even though you feel like you're a little bit invincible and not at risk, there's still a strong chance that this disease could dramatically affect you. And so any layer of protection that's available out there is really important. So I would encourage everyone that is eligible for the vaccine to go out and get it as soon as possible.

KRISTIN MYERS: Are you seeing vaccine hesitancy at all increasing right now? I know that the demand far outstrips the supply. I'm wondering, however, if you're seeing the impact of headlines like the Johnson & Johnson vaccine being paused because a blood clot concerns, which we also saw when it came to the AstraZeneca vaccine, which I know is not available here. However, I'm sure it might chip away a bit at the confidence or willingness of folks to go out there and get vaccinated. Are you seeing that or hearing that from patients right now?

JESSICA OSTERMAN: Yeah. I mean, I think there is some increasing concern about the safety of vaccines amongst the general public, but what I would propose to them is that this is actually a really encouraging thing to realize that the CDC and the FDA are noting some side effects from the vaccines, and they're willing to take that pause to investigate further to make sure those vaccines are really safe. And while the J&J is on a pause and going under some additional vaccination, we have two other really great vaccines that are available out there that have been shown to have great efficacy and very minimal side effects.

And so I would encourage anyone with vaccine hesitancy to really do your research and look into some of the more common and prevalent vaccines that we have that are available and have been shown to be really safe.

KRISTIN MYERS: You know, doctor, it feels like not too long ago, just a couple of weeks ago, we were having conversations about this fourth wave, about the spikes and the surges that we're seeing around the country. I know this is something that folks are still talking about in States like Michigan. However, the concern feels a little bit muted, and I'm not sure if that's because-- and if you're seeing that as well, perhaps because of the increased vaccinations right now. Or it's because we don't really need to be as concerned about this fourth wave because so many people are going out and getting vaccinated or wearing masks and washing their hands and taking those precautionary measures everyone, by now knows, that we need to take.

JESSICA OSTERMAN: Yeah. I mean, I think those measures are all really important, but we have to remember as well that viruses continue to change, and there's always a risk that these viruses will continue to mutate and become resistant potentially to the vaccines that we have available. So we really need to continue to use all the measures we have at hand-- the social distancing, the masks, the hand washing. I think all those things are really important along with vaccination strategies to really prevent a fourth wave, a fifth wave, even the sixth wave from coming down the pipeline.

KRISTIN MYERS: It feels, to me, at least, that now more and more of these coronavirus conversations have a little bit more optimism and positivity in them, which is great news after we've been dealing with this for over a year now, are there still major concerns that are lingering, if so, what are they? Are they those variants, those mutations that you were just mentioning? Is it the vaccine hesitancy? Is it all of the above?

JESSICA OSTERMAN: I think it's a little bit of all of the above. And then additionally, we are seeing hotspots around the world, where places like Brazil and even France, where we're seeing these pockets that coronavirus is just replicating quite quickly. And as things start to open up, we anticipate people are going to continue to travel and want to travel.

And so there's higher chances that we'll have transmission of these more infectious or more virulent strains to the US and other places. So there's still a lot of things to be concerned about, although I am definitely enthusiastic about the rates in, at least California, that we're seeing going down, and I think a lot of that has to do with vaccine administration here.

KRISTIN MYERS: All right, Dr. Jessica Osterman, emergency medicine physician in Los Angeles, thanks so much for joining us today.