State immunization chief talks flu shots, COVID-19 vaccines
Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, Arkansas medical director for immunizations, spoke to Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club on Wednesday about the importance of getting an influenza shot and the status of a
COVID-19 vaccine.
“As you know, flu season is on the way,” Dillaha said during the virtual meeting. “It’s my hope that the steps we are taking to reduce the spread of
COVID-19, such as social distancing, wearing cloth face coverings, good hand washing or using hand sanitizer and strongly encouraging people to stay home when they are sick, it is my hope that all these things will serve to lessen the spread of influenza in our communities as well, because COVID-19 and influenza are spread in very much the same way.
“I do want to remind people that we do have a vaccine and a treatment for flu, which we do not have for COVID-19.”
Last year, she said, Arkansas recorded 124 deaths due to the flu, but over 1,000 deaths due to COVID-19 have been recorded.
“So COVID-19 is much more serious than the flu, although both can kill you,” Dillaha said. “We do want to strongly encourage everyone to get their flu vaccination this year. Now is the time; the local health units or health departments around the state have begun to provide
a flu vaccine through drive-thru clinics or walk-up clinics. … We strongly encourage people to go ahead and get vaccinated now; it takes a couple of weeks for the immune system to develop the desired immunity from the vaccine.”
As for the COVID-19 vaccine, she said there are over 200 vaccines under development worldwide.
“In the United States, when a vaccine is developed it has to go through certain clinical trials to test whether the vaccine is safe, and whether it works,” Dillaha said. “There is a phase one, which is a small number of participants who get the vaccine and it’s basically to make sure the vaccine is safe, and … they are merging (phases) two and three together so they are enrolling a larger number of people and they have a better opportunity to check whether the vaccine works in a more timely way.”
She said the two vaccines in the country that are the furthest along are still enrolling in their patients, having a goal of 30,000 to 45,000 participants, and then there has to be a period of time to see if the vaccine works.
“It will likely be well after the first of the year, maybe in the spring, before we have a vaccine that’s available,” Dillaha said, noting that the Arkansas Department of Health is preparing as if a vaccine were to be ready by this fall.
“But that’s just, to my way of thinking, not possible,” she said.
“The pharmaceutical companies that are developing these vaccines,” Dillaha continued, “have published their protocols, which is a highly unusual step. Usually, protocols are kept private until the trial is finished, and then it’s published with all of the results of the trials, but they have gone ahead and published them because they want to be more transparent.
“There’s lots of talk that the vaccines won’t be safe, they are rushing them, and all these things that you hear on social media, so they want to assure the public that they are not cutting corners in regard to safety and efficacy.”
She said once a vaccine is approved, ADH will be able to administer it.
“To make the vaccine available for administration as soon as it’s approved, the U.S. government and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have been funding the manufacturers to go ahead and make millions of doses in advance, even though the vaccine has not yet been approved, because it takes time to scale up and make the product,” Dillaha said.
“They want to have it ready for a large number of people as soon as it is approved. They are taking a huge risk in making these vaccine doses in advance, but that is the way to make it available as soon as it’s approved.”