Funding for this program was provided in part by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Additional funding for COVID related news and information provided by Arkansas Community Foundation.

Arkansans ask is underwritten by the Arkansas State Employees Association incorporated, an organization of state employees working towards the betterment of state government.

Good evening everyone.

Thank you very much for joining us and welcome to Arkansans.

Ask COVID-19 this is a town hall broadcast and it belongs to you.

On March 11th last year, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19, a pandemic, a global medical crisis.

On that very day, Arkansas recorded its first confirmed case of COVID-19 was in Jefferson County.

Now, after many weeks of intensive treatment that patient recovered.

But now, 19 months later.

8000 of our fellow Arkansans have died of COVID, a half million.

Others have been diagnosed with the virus and many will never completely recover.

Arkansas's vaccination rate has steadily increased in the past few months.

More than 3 million doses have been received by public health authorities.

Here public and private health providers here, but now there are boosters available and vaccine authorizations for kids age 5 to 11.

Well, the.

It appears imminent.

Still thousands of Arkansans 10s of thousands of Arkansans.

Are declining immunization, some of them fearing the vaccine itself, others denying it for reasons?

Practical, philosophical, political, religious and we will address those matters in the coming hour as best we are able.

We are joined tonight by Doctor Robert Hopkins, junior director of General Internal Medicine at UAMS.

He's a former chair of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee.

Doctor Kelly Farris, CEO of the Lee County Cooperative Clinic at Marianna.

And Greg reep.

Former state representative.

Former Mayor of Warren.

We asked for your comments and your questions prior to this broadcast and you obliged.

These are your questions.

These are questions from Arkansans.

They are essentially verbatim the questions and deliberately so we have edited only for clarity.

Whether, in your estimation, the questions are over the top or precisely on target.

They are nonetheless your questions, and we will continue to take them throughout the program by email.

There you can send questions atpi affairs at my arkansaspbs.org by Facebook message or on Twitter with hashtag AR ask.

Thank you to our panel for coming in you we we are in a peculiar situation.

I think unprecedented in our lifetimes.

We're dealing here with a situation, a story if you will.

That is medical, it's cultural, it's social, it's ideological, it's philosophical.

It is political.

But for one of our guests, Greg Reap.

It is intensely.

Personal.

Share it with us if you would know.

Well, thank you for having me.

First of all, I appreciate being here.

No thank you for being here.

Well, thanks.

Thanks for saying that I lost my wife to COVID-19 Beverly.

She was a longtime school teacher in the morning public school system and taught and some other places in Arkansas and she had some health issues.

But she was up in and going and back in early 2020.

She decided in her retirement that she wanted to plan kind of our.

Trip of a lifetime if you will, and she planned for our entire family, my myself, my son, my daughter-in-law and we went to Europe.

This was just starting to, you know, kind of make the news at this.

This COVID virus was out there but we we took precautions after we talked to you know, medical professionals in our area and they said just keep your hands washed good and you know just be careful.

And and then we try to do all they had a wonderful trip.

Had a great trip.

Really, a trip of lifetime and then we got back and in about a weeks time or less she started.

Having symptoms and and because of our other health conditions, we pretty quickly went to the to the doctor and they determined that she did have it and immediately moved her from Warren, our local hospital to Saint Vincent's.

What what did Beverly feel?

What were her symptoms?

What did she?

Well, she she could tell she was having some trouble breathing.

For one thing she had had heart surgery.

She had diabetes and I think that was the main thing.

She is just feeling very poorly.

And we were pretty sensitive to all that because of her condition, so that's why we've so quickly went to the our local hospital and they did a marvelous job of figuring things out in a hurry and got her up to Saint Vincent's.

She was there.

I believe it was about 32 days or something like it in intensive care.

Most of it in a coma.

Just a couple of days she was there and.

It's it was so difficult, not only the fear of of you know, not knowing what was going to happen with this disease and everybody still wasn't really sure a lot about.

But we could not see her.

We could not go in and and see her even when she was, you know, awakened.

But then she was for most of that time she was in a coma and we could not do anything except try to talk to a doctor by telephone.

About once a day.

By phone by phone, yes by phone and she was in total isolation total isolation.

Don't know any other word to use, but just personal torture.

Only family, not because of the hospital or the doctors or anything like that.

Just the fact that we could not even be there with her and just didn't know what was going to happen.

And it just it deteriorated.

It was kind of like riding a roller coaster.

They think she might be getting a little bit better, but then it it just kept going downhill and then finally we had to remove her from the life support.

Was it was there a part of you, Greg grief that says no, this is not happening.

This is not COVID.

This is not my wife.

This is this is bad pneumonia.

This is a bad cold, it's something else.

I don't think I ever questioned the you know the diagnosis of the doctors once they told me she definitely had it, but I just kept thinking well she'll get over this.

You know it'll it just it can't be something that will will cause her to pass away.

But you know of course as time went on we begin to to understand that it was the chances were not good.

And if I'm not mistaken, I may be awful.

I think she was the 32nd person in Arkansas to pass away from the from the virus.

So somewhere in that range anyway, it was.

It was a bad time.

It was hard on our our family.

Hard on our community, which she knew so many people had taught so many kids and.

She had told kids of students that she had had.

I think she's about in her third generation of students that she had told Anne.

You know, I think pretty well thought of as an educator and.

It was the hardest thing I've ever been through in my life.

I don't want to cut too close to the bone, but maybe it would serve a larger public purpose if I were to ask you at what point the doctors came to you and said.

Mr Reep, we don't well sure it it was probably.

Within about two weeks of when she passed away, which I believe was April the 18th.

And they told me this this just not going well and we don't.

We don't see you know.

And we just kept kept the faith.

You know that it's got to get better.

My local physician was keeping up with her very carefully daily.

He was getting on the phone calls with me with the with the physicians at Saint Vincent's.

Who did, uh, you know, everything they could do an but that last couple weeks when I began to have to come to the realization that it was just.

Not likely to.

To get any better.

Was very difficult.

Another case, she was a beloved mother and sister and also an educator.

This past August she succumbed to COVID-19 as the town of Marianna still mourns her as the town of Warren.

Mourns Beverly Reep on the Sun now, who tried to convince his mother to get the vaccine that was not available.

When Beverly Reep contracted COVID.

So let's go there.

My mother, Sheila Reda she was a wonderful lady, loved by everybody and she loved people.

You know God put people on this earth to do certain things and hers was to inspire children to do more in life and and that's what she did.

And you know, I just love her life legacy sweet sweet lady never rattled, never angry, just a sweet soul you know and heaven game I just believe that if we're too brash we run more people away and they won't be vaccinated then those who would so.

So I just believe in Paul's philosophy.

It is is to persuade, tried to persuade people.

That they need to do it for their families.

They need to do it for themselves.

I was on her about getting vaccinated and you know, because she was a school teacher.

She was one of the first ones who could have got it.

But she told me she wanted to wait and and see how it did.

Other people.

Here we go.

Miss all of us.

Yeah.

Oh my goodness.

See 2021.

Tom is gone.

Your wings are ready.

But my heart was not.

You lost your life partner Greg right before a vaccine was available and any number of other Arkansans have lost loved ones.

After a vaccine B has become available or in its earliest days anyway, you're.

Your message to them.

Get back into those who are considering vaccine, absolutely.

Of course I had the.

Virus myself, as did my son and and after we got home even my brother who was living there with us at the time he he called it too.

None of us got terribly sick, but as soon as we could get vaccinated, we got vaccinated at the urging of.

My personal physician.

I talked to him about it but it was no question we were going to get vaccinated.

If at all possible.

Doctor Reeder you I've doctor Ferris?

You knew Miss Reeder.

Oh absolutely.

She was a wonderful woman.

Like Mr Reeves said, his wife was a school teacher and the children loved her.

Just just like they loved Miss Sheila reader, you know these days, teachers.

When they get home from school, they want to relax and lead the children at school, but she was one of those teachers who after school she still worked with the children.

She had dance groups with with the young ladies all year round and so she didn't just leave the kids at at school.

She brought him home with her and so she is greatly missed.

Well there are other Miss readers out there absolutely and you deal with them, yes.

And so, although it it it, it hurts when you have someone in a small town like warning like Mariana when you lose someone who was so influential in the community, you would hope it wouldn't be in vain.

You would hope that that story would would help others, but there are so many people who are still like misread, are waiting to see how other people do with the vaccine and you know you want to be empathetic.

But we are almost a year we are what 1010 months into the vaccination and I think we we are safe to say.

If there were going to be some severe side effects, we would have started seeing them by now.

Yeah in fact and we're going to get to some questions about people who believe that who assert that they have.

Sustained or know people who have suffered some adverse side effects from the vaccine.

Dr Let's go to you right now.

Does any of this.

This is has the ring of familiarity, to put it mildly, far too much, far too much familiarity.

You know, we've seen far too many beloved members of our families of our communities that have been sickened that we've lost to this virus.

You know, we've seen pregnant women lose their babies, lose their lives.

I've seen families destroyed, you know, you probably all heard the statistics this week that close to you know.

I don't know 25% of families have had somebody that was caring for a child.

That last one of those adult caregivers.

You know it, it's horrible.

It's horrible.

Why doesn't this?

The story of Miss Reader?

Why doesn't it resonate?

And let's just use Maryanna or Lee County large?

Why isn't it resonating more?

Or is it beginning to do things?

You know it's hard to say you have so many and I and.

I have workers there.

I'm the CEO at the clinic there and we have staff who still aren't vaccinated.

These are health care professionals that understand, so it's just.

We I don't know, I don't know.

I don't think we know.

I don't think there is one answer.

We like to say once people are educated or once people have someone close to them lose their lives then that would be that trigger.

But unfortunately it's not.

You know my experience is it's.

It's really a combination of multiple different factors.

I've had, you know, lots of my own patients.

In fact, most of my own patients, when we've had a conversation about the vaccine they've gotten vaccinated, but I still have some that won't carry out the conversation.

I didn't say you know, I'm not going to talk about that.

You know, you know, we may have treated your heart disease.

We may have gotten you to surgery when you had gangrene, but we're not going to talk about the vaccine.

Some questions from our viewers, but first, back to Gregory for a second.

Did this echo?

Did this resonate reverberate in Warren?

To the extent that some of those who were reluctant are now?

Because of Beverly reep.

I think so, and local physicians have told me that course most of them knew her also.

Rather, they were her doctor or not.

They knew her and they have.

They have told me that they think it.

It had an impact.

And of course our county I think has ended up being one of the higher vaccinated counties on a percentage basis.

I like to think it did.

I hope it did.

You know, I can't tell you for sure, but according to our local doctors they they feel like it did have an impact.

Question number one, then we're going to go to questions from and again to our television audience.

We have edited these questions only for clarity.

First question, we are not getting the vaccine.

Miss Jefferson tells us via Facebook.

We will continue to go out in public without a mask.

We have been doing that since this started.

We've been just fine.

If this is as bad as.

Being said, everyone at our church should be dead.

Doctor, well I'm I'm pleased that Miss Nicole is alive.

I'm pleased that members of her church are alive and healthy, but it is as bad as we've talked about.

I have seen these people in the hospital.

I've seen these people in the intensive care unit.

You know we can all say I haven't seen it myself, so it must not be true.

You know, that's that is not a safe way to approach life.

You know I haven't seen somebody get run over by a train, but I'm still not going to stand in the middle of the train track.

You know it is, you know we don't understand the whims of why a virus is going to attack one person more than another, but we do know that this virus is affecting thousands.

Millions across our country and has killed millions of people and and in fact churches have have been vectors.

Have they not of significant absolutely?

And for that very reason, a lot of pastors, churches at churches among other water term congregate settings, but that's one, you know, one reason pastors have.

Decided to go virtual more so now, even even with the churches and it's so unfortunate the case, I can't remember where but outside of Conway, maybe Greenbrier, whether the people so unfortunately had the church camp.

And so many people were infected, but it's nothing, nothing to play with.

It is real and I and two.

I'm so happy that that church has not had a case, but we've had several.

We've had several.

I think Heber Springs or Cleburne County, and it was was another one question or comment from a Miss Howard via Facebook.

I AM 70 years old.

My 71 year old husband and I had COVID wasn't fun but better.

It was then taking a shot that can attack your heart and brain which I have heard.

She says of many people to which that happened.

Dr Well COVID-19 attacks the heart.

It attacks the long it attacks the brain that attacks the kidneys.

I've.

Saw patient in the hospital not too long ago, who was a very functional active member of her community.

Saw her about two weeks before she ended up in the hospital with COVID-19 and it destroyed her brain.

She ended up essentially being unable to function without total assistance when she left the hospital.

Yes, there have been a few cases of adverse events associated with the vaccine, but those few cases are far, far less common than the adverse effects that have happened with COVID-19 infection.

And if we are to be honest and to think about these numbers.

And really, talk about risk.

The risk of COVID-19 is hundreds to thousands of times greater than any possible risk of even a minor side effects from the vaccine.

Greg reap.

You have shared down to the heart, soul and the bone, and we want to thank you very much for doing that, and we're going to excuse you from the broadcast at this point and bring on someone else.

You keep your seat for just a moment anyway.

Healthcare or demanding stressful job under normal circumstances.

Any kind of circumstances.

But the pandemic has been a nightmare for friends and family clinicians.

Anyone in the medical community.

For example, a nurse in Northwest Arkansas who's been encouraging her patients or trying to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Hey Richard.

So you want to get your shot today sharp.

PennDOT about it really, but I think I really need it.

Do you got a lot of lung problems?

Is there a reason why you have it?

There's a lot of people getting sick from it and.

But just feeling bad in general, yeah, just well, I mean the risk of a side effect from it is a lot lower than a risk of getting COVID and ending up in the hospital with you 'cause you have asthma.

Yeah, you can think somebody go ahead and do it well.

Go ahead and do it.

Yeah alright.

Which arm do you want your left or your right right?

Alright, just relax my travel set up there.

I've had COVID twice the last time he was a couple weeks ago worse than the first time I had it.

I'm just her basically today I'm a school teacher and so I just feel like it's my civil duty to get vaccinated.

And we're joined now by Doctor Jane Spikes, who's Dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine at ASU Jonesboro.

Doctor thank you for coming in.

Thank you.

This conversation that we've been having so far.

No surprises in this and to what's been related.

I suppose, I suspect.

No, not at all.

As a matter of fact, and I want to point back to the to the segment you just showed.

That's what's got to happen is the conversation between the provider and the patient.

I would love to think that what we're doing here tonight would all of a sudden instigate individuals to now they have clarity and the light bulb goes off and vaccines start to put me pouring out of clinics, but we've been trying this for awhile.

This is, you know, these types of scenarios here.

Putting out that information through this type of media, whether it be Facebook or even social media.

We've been doing that for a while.

The true the true test.

And the true positive outcome that I've seen personally in my own patients is the conversation like you just saw with that young lady and her patient, or you you go, you talked to them over and over again.

And you say this is important.

You're important to me.

You're important to me is my patient.

I want you to do well, I want you to be well and that's why I want you to take this vaccine.

Want you to have the same protection that I want for my staff that's exactly my own family, my own family that's vaccinated.

That's exactly right, yes, but as the doctor noted, as I suspect this has happened to some practitioners and craghead, or of your experience.

Once a provider, a physician, and or, whoever attempts to talk to some patients about kovid the vaccine or the prospect of the illness itself, the patient shuts it off.

In absolute denial, how do you overcome?

Well, it just depends.

And this goes back to the relationship and some of it goes back to who did you trust before COVID?

Who did you trust before the pandemic?

And so for my patients, and I'm sure that's true for most physicians.

You had a relationship with these patients before this pandemic ever happened, and so you leverage that relationship, you leverage that.

Trust, I've got individuals.

I promise you, I do some work for the Jonesboro Police Department and I've got a pretty obstinate group there that I've worked with through in terms of police officers and then.

But working on them month after month after month.

Just a week ago, I get a text.

Send me a screenshot of his vaccination card, and so it's it's that chipping away.

It's that it's that trust, and that conversation that you have to have.

I I wish it was as easy as putting out information and saying, look, here are the facts.

Go get your vaccine.

I think we're past that ongoing communication that's exactly answering questions.

Yes, repeating messages coming at it from a different angle, dispelling myths, things that they've seen.

This is what I saw on Facebook.

Is what I saw on on Twitter.

What do you think about this?

And having that conversation not in a in an obtuse conversation?

Not that there's it's adversarial, it's educational, and I've found that to be successful now does it take time and effort?

It takes a lot of time and effort entirely by coincidence.

Story in one of the national media yesterday that police officers, in particular our branch, are in far more danger of death from COVID than they are from an ounce of lead.

Yeah, but there is significant resistance and police organizations across the country, not just Arkansas and, and I'll tell you, I mean, I'll be the first to tell you they're a great group of men and women.

Love them to death.

I love serving with them.

I love serving them.

But yeah, I remember when we first started this and the vaccines came out.

And I was in a meeting with with a bunch of officers and I said, OK, who hasn't got their vaccine yet?

And they all looked at me.

In fact, that's majority hadn't.

Now overtime we're changing that, and it may be that I go in every couple of weeks or so, and I say, OK, who still haven't got the shot yet?

But those are the conversations, and I think that's a lot of the challenges I think when people are talking in a group.

And they stand up and they're making a stand on something.

I think that's a really difficult situation.

Yeah, much better to have a one on one or one on two or one on five conversation about what are your concerns.

You know what are you worried about?

What have you heard?

So we can talk through?

What are the facts absolutely and what are the benefits of moving forward with the vaccination and what are the risks of not going for you right?

Dispelling those myths are so important because I just told a group of people a couple of weeks ago.

I can leave here right now, know nothing about the weather, but I can create a website and pro portrayed myself as a weather expert.

Put out a storm advice and the storm is coming or anything.

You know anything and someone will share it as factual.

You can go do that so you have to pay attention to where are you getting your information.

You trust your people in your neighborhood, and if they are sharing that information, you tend to believe it.

But you just have to be careful about where, where you're getting it and and what we knew about COVID-19.

Two years ago or 18 months ago is not what we know today, so even that has changed absolutely and that message in itself that's right, is as critical as anything else we could say.

It's not that our that our messages have changed, it's our knowledge is exactly right as our knowledge has changed, we have to change our messaging to reflect what we know now.

A question from a Mr. King via Facebook if.

If the government was not exempting their self assumed government employees some from the shot or if Centers for Disease control did not exempt.

Their self, their employees from the shot.

I may become more of a believer, but I read the but read the ingredients on those sterilized swabs that they put up your nose.

Most of those masks are made in China.

Well.

CDC does have a mandate for all of their employees to get vaccinated now.

All federal employees now have a mandate to get vaccinated.

I work with people at the CDC.

I'm on a call with people from the CDC every week have been since December and I cannot speak of a more dedicated group of people that are trying to help us number one.

Get good messaging out about the vaccines, but number two do everything we can to assess and prove as best we can.

The safety of these vaccines.

And investigate every signal we've seen about potential challenges.

So I want to see this young man and everyone else vaccinated because it is safe and effective.

You know.

Yes, swabs are made in China.

Masks are made in China.

I would be willing to bet that that at least half of the clothing on every individual in this room in the studio, and probably in the home of that individual, I think, came from Southeast Asia.

Almost all cell phones are, you know, session from a Miss Ebron if I'm pronouncing it quickly via Facebook.

If a person is vaccinated and can still get contract and spread COVID-19, how is that helping the next person Doctor?

Oh, that yeah, that's a great question.

So first of all, one of the things that's been missed in this whole conversation is the reduction in hospitalization and death that comes along with the vaccine.

And that's true with most vaccines.

What you want is there was kind of this false sense that.

Won't get, I won't get sick at all if I get the vaccine, well, that wasn't necessarily true.

Now we had great results initially when the when the data came out, but the biggest thing was we want to reduce the burden of disease.

We don't want you to be in the hospital.

We don't want to be in the ICU on a ventilator.

We don't want you to die if you're at home with a little bit of a cold and a runny nose.

Yes, maybe you're off of work that day, but that's far different than being hospitalized.

The vaccines are doing that and doing that very well.

All of them, all the ones across the board that are approved here in EU S where they be Moderna, Pfizer or Johnson and Johnson.

Are successful in reducing hospitalizations and deaths, which is what we want them to do in terms of the spread of the virus.

If I've been vaccinated, brand new data has just come out within the last two weeks, and I know that I'm not the only one aware of this through The Lancet that says, even if you're vaccinated, the likelihood that you will spread the virus to someone else and actually infect them, there's now question if that even happens and if it does, it's extremely low because I'm fully vaccinated.

If I were to catch COVID, my antibodies will surround that virus, and so any of the virus that I shared.

Actually may be surrounded by those antibodies, therefore reducing the chance of me actually successfully spreading and infecting someone else.

And that's that's just recent data that came out.

So I mean just more and more data continues to come out about the positive aspects of these vaccines and how they're truly are life saving.

Even if you have the possibility of spreading that virus to someone else, the amount that I can spread is far less than somebody is unvaccinated.

So far greater risk reduction.

Far greater likelihood of healthy life with the vaccine than taking a chance on the virus itself, even in the amount of time to, in terms of the amount of time that spread, it's a much shorter amount of time that I would spread it versus someone who's unvaccinated that can spread it up to 15 or 20 days.

Follow up question from another Arkansan, many people are following.

Quote real side from the from the viewer, many people are following real science which says the vaccine is dangerous, but that science is being suppressed suppressed many people.

People's doctors have told them not to get the shot or to wait.

Well, you know in every group there are going to be differences of opinion and that applies to healthcare professionals to physicians to nurses too.

Scientists and I have looked at a tremendous amount of data on this vaccine, some of it fully published, some of it in what we call preprint versions, some of it in the not standard and approved literature.

I can tell you that I have not seen any anything that looks like a true study of this vaccine that has shown harms.

It's been suppressed.

We we have seen studies that have shown a low risk of mild heart inflammation.

In young men with certain vaccines.

That is openly been published.

We've seen studies that have shown a very low risk of some blood clotting with one of the vaccines in some women.

We've seen some studies that have shown a risk in older men with one of the vaccines for a syndrome called Guillain Barre syndrome.

None of those things have been suppressed, but they are again far less likely to happen than any of those complications from COVID, and that's on terms of thousands times higher risk with COVID infection, perhaps from suspicious websites.

Doctor that you mentioned.

Bad news travels fast.

So in in this sense you get so much information on social media that those accurate studies aren't being shared but one one thing that is very important when you're vaccinated you you get this information to to.

Sign up for V safe.

It is very important that once you're vaccinated that you follow through with that and and send in that information on what your symptoms are.

So when studies are conducted, they have accurate information.

And so that we can measure your symptoms.

Yeah, dark spots there are, and we have all seen them on.

Cable news programs on Internet sites.

There are individuals with MD after the name or DO after their name.

Or PhD after their name and they seem credible.

Right, take it from there here.

Here's the problem.

This is an extremely complicated subject.

When we talk about the coronavirus or COVID-19 or really even the human body and the Physiology of the human body and how it works now it doesn't work and then we throw in pharmacology in terms of the vaccines, new medications.

It's very complicated.

It's overwhelming.

I would I'd be lying to you if I told you that I knew everything about COVID-19 have no idea.

I lean on research Deans and d'sean infectious disease specialists and we share information back and forth.

Because we don't know everything and we're still learning a lot about this.

Even with the amount of knowledge that we had going into this pandemic, we are still learning.

We're still learning a lot.

I can't imagine someone in the general public with without having this background.

Being able to really digest this information.

So where do you go?

Generally speaking, I could quit ask that question a lot.

I go to major groups, the infectious Disease Society of America.

I go to the CDC, I go to well respected clinicians and physicians in the field.

Are you going to always have an outlier?

Yes, and generally speaking, on the outlier side, it's going to be a.

What do you have to gain?

Are you trying to get or you try is this?

Are you trying to sell some vitamin concoction?

Are you trying to gain something out of it?

Do you need more followers on Twitter or you trying to get votes?

What is the angle?

There's usually an angle and that's that spot is probably more important than anything else.

If you receive somebody asserting something that there's a link to something being sold.

You know whether it's a certificate or a product or a medication.

Buyer beware yeah yeah.

Question from a viewer why statement and a question?

We don't get the shot because we don't want to expose family others to the germs from the vaccine.

The vaccine has fetal cells in it.

This won't be the last time this comes up tonight.

The vaccine, she says, has fetal cells in it from aborted babies and cells from monkeys.

It also has germs.

So doctor.

My favorite topics.

There are no fetal cells in any of our COVID-19 vaccines were they developed with fetal cells.

The Johnson and Johnson vaccine, which is a viral vector vaccine that virus was grown in a tissue culture.

That 2030 years ago.

May have come from a fetal cell line.

May Matt?

Can we say definitively one way or the other the the answer big question?

The the IT probably was, it may, but I can't say for certain, but it probably was the messenger RNA vaccines have nothing that's ever had any contact with fetal cell lines.

There are no germs in any of these vaccines.

In fact, they have to be sterile and not have germs in them for you to be able to use any product that you're going to inject into a human body.

And there are no toxins or preservatives in any of these vaccines either.

It's because they're single dose usage.

Computer chips maybe another computer chips and fetal fetal cell lines have been used for four decades in the development of vaccines and eat and other medications, so it's nothing.

Ibuprofen Prilosec all were developed using fetal cell absolutely, but it is Doctor Ferris.

This is a profound religious, spiritual, philosophical, ethical question.

For hundreds of thousands of kids, how do you address them?

What would you say to them?

I let them know.

Give them that information.

Did you realize that ibuprofen?

Do you happen to have diabetes?

Do you have Gerd?

You know any of these things.

The medications were developed using fetal cells, so once they know that and and that it no, no children were aborted.

For this reason that the fetal cells were from decades ago that it tends to ease that.

Little bit in people that believe that.

Books by certainly when you talk about them and earn the Pfizer vaccines.

It's really not even a conversation.

The fetal cells were not used.

They're not in those vaccines, it's just.

It's just not even part of the conversation.

There is a misconception.

People think that if you get the vaccine, you're getting the virus, and that's not true either that we don't inject.

If I are there such things as live virus or attenuated virus vaccines, they are.

That is not with the COVID vaccine, though it's actually.

It's a whole different scenario, so you don't.

You don't get COVID by getting the vaccine.

That means you can't spread COVID from getting the vaccine.

Is that so?

I hope that clears, but that's a common question.

I've actually I've gotten that a lot as well via Facebook.

Mr Steve Taylor comments and comments.

I do not wear a mask.

I will not take a shot and I do love my family.

People who take the shot have a higher viral load than those who do not and are therefore super spreaders.

Take two doses of Ivorra mekton a week and you won't get COVID quote.

That's a fact.

Let me be clear first of all, and I think this is important.

I have no doubt in my mind that he loves his family.

Regardless of what they wear, some massacre takes the vaccine and I and I hate that these topics have gotten so politicized to the point where we're questioning whether we even love our own family members.

Whether you're taking the vaccine or not, 'cause we've gone too far, I think I think there's just we've gotten so divisive that that we've gotten to that point.

And and I saw some of that early last year.

That's that's another conversation.

But at any rate, the and and I'll pass this off to Bob in a second in terms of the other making conversation 'cause he's far more.

Versed in that than I am, but we know that the vaccines work.

We know they're safe, and they're effective.

They've been 3.2 billion doses given across the globe.

We know they're safe and effective.

We know that they reduce the incidence of hospitalization and death amongst those that have it.

We're going to see one, hopefully here in November, approved for ages 5 to 11.

I'll do the same thing that I'm sure everybody else does.

I'll look at the data and then I'll decide if my 10 year old gets it.

I suspect my 10 year old, just like everyone else in my family, that's gotten it, will get that dose as well.

I didn't.

And you know there is no truth to the statement that you get a higher viral load if you've been vaccinated than if you haven't been vaccinated and ivory mekton is a very interesting product.

It's a chemical that was isolated 20 years ago.

It was shown in a test tube experiment to potentially reduce the amount that COVID virus can replicate in a test tube in a tissue culture.

Now I don't know whether the fetal cell lines in that tissue culture.

But in that setting.

It showed some inhibition, but the levels in that tissue were much higher than the levels of ivomec in that you should get into a human body without causing toxicity and to date the few small studies there have been conflicting data in a number of small studies, and I've remixed and there is currently a study that's being supported by our National Institutes of Health to evaluate our mekton for COVID-19, but the current evidence is that it does not help in prevention or treatment of COVID, and it should not be used outside the setting of a controlled clinical trial.

We can make sure you don't get toxicity from the drug.

In trying to do something with cover, time permitting, we'll come back to that.

A Mr Branch via Facebook says I, for one, am questioning why the experts and politicians in America completely ignore natural immunity.

Let's talk about that.

Yeah, I think that's a great let's, let's talk about natural immunity.

What does it take to get natural immunity?

It takes you getting a COVID-19 infection.

Getting a COVID-19 infection is like taking a set of dice and rolling it on the floor.

You're rolling those dice for the chance that you will have a asymptomatic or mild case as opposed to having severe COVID-19 needing to have a breathing tube put down needing to be put on a heart, lung, machine, or die.

OK, if you survive COVID-19.

About 40 to 60% of people that survive COVID-19 will develop some level of antibodies.

Antibodies alone do not predict whether you have protection against COVID infection.

Antibodies that are what we called neutralizing antibodies.

A specific subgroup of those antibodies do tell us that you have protection from infection that occurs in a small proportion of people who get COVID-19 infection.

The problem is we can't tell who they are.

There's no way to predict that, so and so you're rolling your dice on your life for uncertain benefit, far less secure than using a vaccine that we know is safe and effective.

Those antibodies, just like antibodies from the vaccine, they Wayne.

They go down overtime.

So those individuals that got COVID this time last year, the antibodies are dropping and we're seeing that in other countries as well.

We're looking at those studies over there and seeing those antibody drops as well.

So in terms of their protection and continues to go down, so that's not something you could depend upon if you even have it, which we can't prove that you do or not, because right now we're not to the level of testing for that, so it's not being ignored.

No question, it's not being ignored.

We just don't know yet exactly right we we.

Unfortunately, do not know for certain how long you will have natural immunity.

After having COVID-19.

We just cannot say for certain, so it's not being ignored.

And that's a point that I think we we probably ought to emphasize is that I think it's important for those of us that are talking about this topic to recognize and to state very openly where we don't know.

Because not knowing doesn't mean we're hiding doesn't mean we're trying to cover something up.

We have to acknowledge where there are gaps in our knowledge.

We've learned a tremendous amount in this last two years about coronaviruses and about COVID-19, but there are still gaps from Mr. Robert ***** a question and a rather pointed comment.

What are the chunks in the vaccine?

You cannot put chunks in your veins and expect delivery law.

Some chunks you can see with a microscope.

All of you that are pushing it will pay.

So I think what he's referring to by chunks are the tiny tiny pieces of RNA.

RNA being a genetic material that is in the outside part of your cell in the cytoplasm of your cell, that tells our our immune cells to make a protein that looks like the spikes on the surface of the coronavirus so that our immune system can then develop antibodies and protect us from future infection.

There are no chunks.

Or pieces in that vaccine that are big enough that you can see with a microscope.

Even though you might be able to see them with electron microscope, but I don't think you can even see them then from Miss Beck via Facebook.

I have a friend quote.

I have a friend who was fully Vaxxed and has had two strokes.

Another friend has inflammation of the heart and other permanent disability from ringing in the ears, all because of the VAX doctors.

But what we know there are side effects to the vaccine, but in terms of the risk of those side effects versus the benefit, it's extremely low now in terms of the vaccine actually causing strokes.

Causing heart attacks I have not.

I'm not familiar with any data this that is specific to that in terms of a significant risk of stroke or heart attack.

From that.

Have I heard about the ringing of the ears I have.

It's a very small percentage of individuals that have had that.

It's about a .004% chance.

It's my understanding just based on some data that I've looked at recently on that, but it does go away within about four to six weeks as my understanding as well are there side effects to the vaccine.

There absolutely are, and I don't want people to think that there aren't they.

These things are just, you know, you get an injection and you're good to go.

The most common side effects are pain at the injection site, some fatigue, maybe a little bit of muscle aches, low grade fever, upset stomach, typically within 1224, thirty six hours afterwards.

Those are very common.

Are there rare side effects?

Absolutely there are, and we track those and we post those and that's not anything that's being hidden.

It's freely available if you're going to the right sources for your information, and you know to this person who knows people that have had.

These alleged or I would say, alleged these side effects.

I hope that that person or their health care provider reported those to the CDC so that they can be thoroughly investigated and evaluated for whether there truly is a linkage to the vaccine.

Don't want to go to Doctor Ferris here just for a second, because I know communities of color and dark as elsewhere across the country have been absolutely ravaged by COVID-19 there of late.

We have seen an uptick in the vaccination rate, particularly in African American.

Latino communities longstanding suspicion of quote.

White medicine in communities of color are we?

Are we getting beyond that now?

I think we are with that education that people sympathizing, empathizing with them as our family members are vaccinated and are able.

You are able to see someone who has been vaccinated and what it has not done to them.

People are tired, people are are just literally tired of this pandemic and so that is forcing them almost forcing them to say I'm going to do whatever I have to do to to not only protect myself and my children, but to help get us out of this mess that we are in of 20 years from now.

We'll look back on this and and our children, our grandchildren.

They'll be willing and we'll be looking at it like we look at smallpox.

Now, you know, no one will, will have, hopefully, no, no, you know you are, I believe, an African American woman.

Or is there any reluctance on your part to take the vaccine yourself, your children, your family or others?

As soon as I heard that the vaccine would be available, I said I will be the first and not only.

Was I the first one in my Health Center to take it?

I videoed myself taking it.

I video my reaction every several hours afterwards.

I very open about being in the bed for two days.

I will not tell anyone that there is no side effects.

I.

Personally.

Stayed in the bed and was in tears for two days, but I kept saying I would much rather be in the bed for two days then in the hospital bed for two months are or BRR die.

God forbid but I have a 10 year old son who does not want to leave the house.

Not because he's afraid of the of kovit necessarily but he's smart enough to know that I am not protected the way I could be and he wants to be vaccinated.

And I will allow him to be vaccinated.

Question of the email.

Is there any end insight to the push for continued back?

Are we turning the corner on this?

I think this is what the viewer is asking.

Are we turned?

Our infection rates seem to be diminishing so our infection rates are coming down now.

But remember we saw this same pattern in the spring.

Infection rates coming down and so we started backing off on some of our public health measures.

People were doing more gatherings.

You know people.

Started to do more sporting events and that led to the beginning of the upsurge in the Delta virus, and so I'm concerned that if we get back to business as usual.

That we put ourselves at risk for two things, either influenza going wild in our communities or the next variant coming out and causing another surge of COVID-19, or even worse both.

Question from Miss Price via Facebook.

How hard is it to understand that getting the vaccine is helping everyone around them, that it is the right thing to do.

As long as people continue to not get vaccinated, the virus will keep mutating and it may mutate to something far worse.

Doctor, correct yeah, as a matter of fact, if you want her to take my spot, she could come take my spot now and I just left.

No, that's exactly that's spot on and and and she's what she said was exactly right.

That word is the delta variant come from if you.

If you scale back and look where the delta variant came from, it came during a period where we had globally a high infection rate across the globe.

When you go back, OK, well first discovered in December of 2020.

What did it look like in December of 2020 across the globe and across our country?

Some of our highest infection rates we had.

That's where variants come from.

They come from spread where they can jump from person to person and they can change their genetic material in a little bit.

And that's where the variance come from, and so he's exactly right.

So as long as you have basically unfettered spread throughout, that's where your variance can can happen.

Are we watching other variants?

Absolutely, we're watching variants all over the world right now, none of them right now seem to be taken off, but you don't know.

We don't.

We don't know what the what, the fall and winter are going to look like because we know people are traveling more.

We can expect.

The holiday travel will pick up more than it did last year.

What is that going to do in terms of viral spread?

It's kind of a wait and see from a MIS Ramirez, and doctors will begin with you.

I hope that all three of you Miss Ramirez says.

I hope you're taking note of these comments.

These questions that have been phoned in, and that you are not offering us, just more propaganda.

Absolutely not, and I'm so glad we're doing this and and we continue to have a town halls and and events where people can come in it live.

Ask questions.

At the beginning of this segment.

We were told that the.

Grammar nothing was changed.

Spelling may have been changed, but your questions were not changed, so we're answering the questions the way you wanted them to be asked, and that's what that's what is so important about people tuning into shows like this and us going out into our communities is giving people the chance to ask those questions.

You do not have to wait on an answer.

Miss Rivera, thank you for asking that you know.

I mean again, I think all of us have spoken to many, many people over the course of this last twenty months and.

Doctor Speights and I had you know our health care providers.

We're seeing patients and our offices were teaching the next generation of healthcare professionals.

We try to help communicate this information to them so that we can continue to spread.

What is reliable scientific information to help protect the lives and health of our Kansas.

Just a few seconds later, how did we get here?

We adopted that's that's how do it.

Well, I got my vehicle in Jonesboro and I drove what do you mean in terms of how did we get here as a population so?

Albion this is just my personal opinion.

What first caught my attention was when we first identified the virus we first identified and I have colleagues.

Obviously I worked for NYT.

It's a New York based institution so they were just ravaged by the initial wave that came over.

Come through New York and I mean they were living with it every day and it was just.

It's just horrific and I was hearing all the stories and I'm just thinking myself.

It's going to come this way.

It's going to.

It's going to make its way here.

And then there was that we started getting information out and then there was discussion about masks and then there was immediate discussion and it almost looked like that you started separating people who were and weren't wearing masks and it started to divide our country.

And that's what I say.

And it just I'll be honest, it went downhill from there.

In my opinion.

Just this is my personal opinion is then you had to pick and all of a sudden now things became very personal, almost like to the level that I hold my religious beliefs.

That if I go too far in One Direction now, the sudden I'm not in my core group.

The people that I normally am with and hang out with and so I need to stay in my core group.

And so if I if I take this vaccine, if I believe this.

If I follow that then I'm not there I have to end up there because ladies gentlemen we are doctors all we are simply out of time.

We thank you for yours.

We thank you for watching.

Take the jam goodnight.

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Additional funding for COVID related news and information provided by Arkansas Community Foundation.

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