Hello.

Hello and welcome to PBS39 and WLVT communty update on coronavirus.

It's brought you with help from our community partner Lehigh Valley Health Network We're coming you live from the PBL Public Media Center in Bethlehem.

I'm Brittany Sweeney, our yesterday include an LVHN doctor who's studying vaccines and their effectiveness.

Also here is the leader of Citronella Ambulance Corps to discuss the role of first responders.

We'll meet them in just a few minutes.

In the meantime, you can call in with a question.

You can give us a call.

The phone numbers 4 8 4 8 2 1 0 0 0 8.

Our guest will answer some of those questions live.

Plus, our daily coronavirus updates.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

You can do that on our website coronavirus Lehigh Valley .org.

You can get helpful information there in both English and Spanish.

Let's take a look.

Today's top headlines now.

The state reported fewer than 4000 coronavirus cage cases each of the last two days.

The lowest numbers in three weeks.

They're also 138 more deaths Sunday and Monday.

Around 3900 Pennsylvanians are hospitalized with Covid-19 down from the peak of more than 6000 state totals, amounting nearly 808 thousand cases and 20,600 64 deaths.

Cases across the United States have dropped considerably also, but are still at high levels.

New cases are averaging about 170,000 a day after peaking at about 250 thousand.

Dr Anthony Fauci says the improvements appear to be the results of a natural plateau after the holiday surge and not the effect of the vaccines in Allentown.

The health Bureau open a vaccination clinic today at the Allentown Fairgrounds.

Appointments for the next two weeks filled up within just a few hours availability.

The goal is to vaccinate 500 people per day.

Appointments are required.

You can register for an appointment on Thursdays at Allentown PA clinics .com.

But because of limited supply in high demand, the schedule fills quickly.

OK, it's time now to meet our guests for the day.

Dr Joseph Yo's Veeck is an infectious disease doctor and chief investigator for LVHN Pfizer vaccine study.

A number of LVHN staffers participated in the Pfizer vaccine trial and are part of a two year investigation on the vaccine's effectiveness.

Bob made if is chief executive officer for Citronella Ambulance Corps, an organization whose first responders provide vital EMS and medical transport services right here in the Lehigh Valley.

Thank you both so much for joining us today.

Mr Made, if we're going to come back to you in just a few minutes, I'd like to start today with Dr Yo's.

Thank you so much for being here, Doctor.

The arrival vaccines brought much hope that this would be the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

I'm sure you shared in the promise of that.

What's your perspective now, given the limited supply and such high demand of those vaccines?

Thank you, Bernie, for having me today.

And I think with that question, what we're really looking at here is the difference between having a vaccine that's effective and our ability to actually vaccinate people are so many different factors that are involved.

But one of the things you just said really allows remain optimistic about our situation because the demand for vaccination is so high and it's now at Lehigh Valley Health Network in our region.

There are so many individuals who want to get vaccinated and trying to schedule appointments and are really ready to go.

And that's very, very encouraging.

Because we're going to need many members of our public to be immunized in order to really start to get ourselves looking towards better days ahead.

And getting back a little bit closer to normal, I think everybody's frustrated with the pace at which we've received vaccine at which the pace that the pace of state has received vaccine and been able to get it vaccinating individuals.

But we are encouraged by the fact that we're still seeing 12 to 18 million doses being produced every week.

When you look at Pfizer and Moderna and those filtering down to assume.

So my hope is that in the upcoming weeks we will see improvements with vaccine availability and really be able to get moving here.

We're poised to immunize thousands people a day.

We just need the vaccine in order to get going.

Sure.

And let's talk about the studies that are going on.

The Pfizer vaccine was the first to gain approval.

Of course, LVHN playing a role in that study.

What role is that?

Talk to us a litte bit about that if you could.

And the role you specifically play, correct?

Well, it LVHN we have been a clinical site for the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine trial.

We went lies shortly after the study started back in August and early September.

We've had the opportunity to enroll a 75 participants, many of whom are health care workers both through Lehigh Valley Health Network and other local entities, as well as some members of our community who would have been at risk for acquiring Covid-19 due to their work or other activities.

As we think back, you know that the trials really needed individuals who would be exposed.

Through their work or through other means for Covid-19 in order to test if the vaccine works.

So that's really who we were focussing on at the time.

I actually think we would've been able to enroll more 75 individuals.

But if you think back to September August Covid-19 case numbers in our area were actually quite low and a lot of the slots were being shifted to other states where things were much more active.

But it's going to be a long study and we continue to follow our participants and it's really been wonderful to be involved in the process.

Sure.

How did LVHN get involved with this study?

I think early on in the epidemic with everything we were seeing in the case numbers and the fact that although we had some strides made in treatments and the way we managed Covid-19, we really didn't have that home-run treatment that was making a huge difference in making this a manageable infection for those who were were severely, severely ill. And as the vaccines were developing an early results looked rather promising.

We decided amongst our research team and the network Office of Research Innovation here at LVHN that we needed to be part of this.

We have extensive Experis and clinical trials focussing on viral infectious diseases, namely HIV and hepatitis C primarily.

But we also have experience doing vaccine trials, looking at influenza, pneumococcal disease as well as some of early some of the early work that was done years and years ago with HIV vaccine, which unfortunately at the time were not successful.

So we reached out to our partners in an industry who were conducting the clinical trials and stated our case and we said we thought would be would be a excellent site to operate the studies.

And with Pfizer it just worked out what they needed was what we could offer and on we go.

Sure.

Of the 75 or so staffers from LVHN involved in that study, is a two year study.

So those four one study started it was randomized so patients were randomized one to one to receive the active vaccine or a placebo or just the sailing injection.

And that's really how we generated the information we have for the effectiveness.

We looked at how many individuals develop Covid-19 if they received the vaccine versus how many developed Covid-19 if they received placebo.

And although we don't want anybody to Dublin Covid-19, thankfully the people who received vaccine perform much better.

And most of the infections 168 I'm sorry 62 were in the placebo arm and only eight infections occurred in the vaccine arm and that's where the 95% effectiveness come from.

So that's a reduction of the number symptomatic cases of of Covid-19.

So once the vaccine was authorized for emergency use, it became evident that we were not going to be able to take individuals at risk or Covid-19 and not offer them vaccination.

Now that we knew we had a vaccine that was to be safe and effective.

So between the FDA and Pfizer, they worked out a scenario that would allow us to roll over individuals who received placebo to receive the active vaccine.

And actually this week that's exactly what we're doing.

Three weeks ago those individuals started receiving their first doses and this week they'll all receive their second doses of Pfizer vaccine.

We have some other individuals who were not frontline health care workers who were going to receive their first vaccine.

This week.

So that's a lot of the work that we have right now and we're hoping some of the winter weather doesn't impede that at all.

Sure.

And as you move forward with this study, over the course of the two years, do they just fill out some paperwork, keep you updated on how they're feeling, that kind of thing, or are they finished once they get that vaccine?

Oh, no.

We're going to continue to monitor our participants for the two year period, two years after they received their second dose and we're watching them for a few things.

So we're gathering any information about health conditions that occur or any side effects, potential long term side effects.

That's one of the ways we'll discover that.

But also they'll be coming back in periodically, particularly if they did receive the vaccine in the first group to have blood drawn or antibody levels.

And then we're looking for a few different types of antibodies, antibodies that will hopefully correlate to how well the vaccine works, but also antibodies that might show if they had a Covid-19 infection and didn't realize it because they didn't have symptoms because right now the vaccine to be shown to prevent Covid-19 illnesses with symptoms, we still don't have an answer to say that they can prevent asymptomatic.

So Covid-19 disease episodes without symptoms.

Sure.

Dr UGI.

Can you put this in perspective for us?

This study on the global scale of things, what's the impact of this?

I think what we what I think back to some of the discussions we had early on, we looked at the commitment and the amount of work in and really how we were going to have to move our entire research team over to our offices and 17th Street to make this happen.

Myself and members of our research team, we were all kind of they looked at each other and said there's really nothing more important than making sure this happens and getting this right.

I think over the last year we've seen that for whatever reason, many individuals are not going to fully perform that and do the things they need to do to prevent the spread and really lower the spread of Covid-19.

We're going to need help through vaccination.

And really the way it looks right now that this could be some of the most impactful research that we ever did, it could both leave a mark not only on our participants and the folks locally who receive vaccine as a result of that, but this literally could change our future and the way the world goes forward.

Sure, sure.

And once this ends, does it OK that's done or done or is this kind of a jumping off point for more research?

Well, it's really going to be a jumping off point for more research as the year goes on.

You know, one of the things we've got to keep in mind is that this virus is a little bit of a moving target.

I think by now most people have heard of a few new strains that have been reported and maybe not originated originally discovered overseas and you know, the question now is will the vaccine remain effective as the virus continues to mutate?

So these will not be the last new strains.

There will be more.

The good news is some early research performed over the last weeks does suggest that the vaccines will remain effective against the new strains that are circulating.

It with the strain originating in South Africa, there may be a slight decline with coverage, but the levels of antibody are still far above what we think we should need to control the infection.

But we're going to have to keep an eye on that.

And with this Emmaus and a platform using this type of vaccine, the great news here is that as these new strains emerge and that MRN code changes slightly, the vaccine could be very easily modified to cover those new strains.

You know, they basically plug in the new code and we could be off and running with a new version of the vaccine very quickly.

So it's hard to say if we'll need to do that in the future.

It's one of the things we're watching for.

But the designers, the vaccine and the scientists involved are really looking at that closely.

And we do have the ability to bring people back in if boosters are a slightly different version of the vaccine would be needed at a later date.

Sure.

Some definitely some promising information.

I do have some viewer questions for you.

I have a lane from Princeton.

She's asking can New Jersey residents apply for a vaccine in Pennsylvania?

Absolutely.

I'm not aware of any location in our area restricting by where you reside.

I can tell you certainly through LVHN, we have immunized individuals out of state and we care for many people living in the state of New Jersey and I can certainly do so.

Sure.

Our next question is from Rebecca and she asks, I would like to know if the Pfizer vaccine is better than the Moderna one and does it matter what age group would be suitable for one or the other depending on the side effects, it might give them?

That's a great question.

That's one that comes up very often.

So the bottom line is we don't have any studies that compare the vaccines head to head in the same population.

So right now the question is unanswerable.

But what I can tell you is based on what we have seen in each of their separate clinical trials, there's not a whole lot this distinguishes them.

I actually myself, because of the vaccine that was available that day, even though we did work on the Pfizer vaccine and kind of wanted to receive that I ended up receiving Moderna and I had my second dose yesterday.

And I can tell you I'm just as confident with the Moderna vaccine as I am the Pfizer vaccine based on the results that we've seen.

And if we look based on age, both vaccines performed very well in individuals both above and below 65.

I would not say based on what we know, that one is better or worse in that range.

These vaccines really do look on are with each other right now.

Sure.

Sure.

I have one more question for you today.

This is a caller.

This is Robert from Allentown and he's asking about shingles.

My wife got the shingles vaccine, developed Bell's palsy.

Should she be wary of getting the Covid vaccine?

I don't think so at this point.

We don't have any information that tells us there's an increased rate or Bell's palsy and people who receive the Covid-19 vaccine.

One important thing to note is that Bell's palsy is a very common condition case that occur almost every day in our country.

There have been cases Bell's palsy identified in the participants in both studies.

I remember we had 44,000 people in the Pfizer study.

Over 30,000 individuals Moderna study.

So yes, when you're following people even just for a four month period, you're going to see cases of Bell's palsy.

When you have that many people.

So right now what I would say is we don't see any evidence that there's an increased risk of Bell's palsy, only that people who are we're going to get it may get it.

The other thing is that sometimes after any vaccine, when your immune system is stressed or stimulated, Bell's palsy can occur.

And that's one of the situations where we can see that happen from the Q illness, psychological stressors, many different things that can impact the immune response.

And it's not unusual to see Bell's palsy pop up and that situation.

But having recently had it just a few weeks ago, I would have no concern with moving forward and getting the Covid-19 vaccine when it's available.

Absolutely.

Dr Yearsa Joseph Yo's Veeck from LVHN, thank you so much for joining us with some great information today.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

We continue this community update on coronavirus PBS39.

You can hear the rebroadcast on the radio tonight at 9:30 on WLVT News.

91 three FM Let's bring in our next guest Bob Made if a leads 200 professionally trained employees and volunteers with Citroen Ambulance Corps in the Allentown area, they too are on the front lines of the Covid-19 battle.

Mr Madoff, I'm hoping you can start by telling us about how the pandemic has changed your organization.

And thank you for joining us today.

Thank you for having me on.

It's a pleasure to talk and spread the word about it to our communities on how this has changed the emerging medical services.

You know, it's almost a year that we really saw the uptick in the Lehigh Valley and it has changed our business considerably in the springtime.

We saw a very, very sharp decrease in the amount of emergency calls that we've responded to in our communities as well as a significant drop in our non-emergency calls where we take people to doctor's appointments and etc.

That really dropped off significant we in the springtime, during the springtime.

You know, the numbers peak for us about 15 to 20 Covid transports per day and they were kind of spread through the community initially.

It started in homes and residences and then that spread to the long term care and that really was an impact through the spring as we moved into the summer and the numbers dropped off a bit, we able to replenish our personal protective equipment and our supplies through that.

But the fall has been a very different response with Covid the emergency numbers of calls that we respond to did not drop off and neither did the nonemergency transportation where we were still taking people to and from long term care facilities to doctors offices and therefore the increase in exposure.

And one of the things that really has changed in our business is decontamination where we're prior to Covid we would do a Navias call, go to the hospital, clean up, reload and go available for the next call.

Today we have to completely decontaminate our units as we don't know if any patient that we're transporting is exposed to the Covid disease or has Covid disease.

So it's a bit more time-consuming and that causes a little bit of stress in the EMS system because availability is not as quick as it used to be.

You know, early on we made a commitment to our employees.

We were successful in not having to lay anybody off.

We participated in the family's first coronavirus Response Act.

So any of our staff that was quarantined or lost time from work there, their paid time off is not deducted.

We use the bank that we got through the FFC i:_r._a.

So lutely, that's great to hear.

Of course I'm sure this is extremely stressful.

We'll talk about that emotional toll in just a few minutes.

But first responders like EMS personnel are in that first phase of vaccine distribution.

So nat-.

So now are three and a half million other Pennsylvanians have the Trona personnel gotten that vaccine?

And if they have.

Tell us how that's going.

It's got great.

We're very fortunate to have great health care partners with our networks.

And immediately in December when it became available to the licensed portion of our responders, our paramedics and EMT, we immediately saw people go to the Health Network and receive the vaccine very good coordination between both networks having our providers come in.

We've really seen a very high rate of participation here.

It's voluntary.

Here is Trona as it's under in an emergency use declaration.

We're not making it mandatory, but I think the experience of going through Covid for for 10 months, almost a year, our providers are anxious and have able to get the vaccine, whereas a lot of our providers are on their second round.

The ready.

Wonderful.

And can you talk to us about has anyone on your staff gotten the coronavirus?

Have you had to deal with that?

I'm sure it's if it happens a lot of places it's a scheduling nightmare and you folks are working very closely together.

So how do you handle that?

Again, it's almost a tale of two seasons Covid in the springtime.

We saw some of our positives come from outside exposures as we were still learning and working.

They were exposed to other family members or other associates that they got.

As we moved through August, we saw it uptick a little bit more and we had some minor outbreaks here which caused a great staffing stress in the organization because you lose people for a fairly decent time even if they're asymptomatic in the EMS profession here.

You know, Lehigh Valley, we share a lot of resources, we share a lot of our capital resources, our people.

And then so losing one paramedic here maybe worked part time at another agency.

It's a loss to both organizations and causes stress to the entire EMS system.

So it's been a challenge.

We're all supporting each other.

If some agency is a little short or very short, people are helping out with each other.

So sure.

Absolutely has the word of vaccines and people getting the vaccines, getting their first dose, their second dose, has that kind of eased some of the stress at all?

What are you hearing from your staff?

I think that the stress is going to fold early in the pandemic.

You know, with the newness of it, we often are exposed to infectious disease throughout our work in EMS..

But this was different.

It was much more prevalent in this community spreading priest.

It became a danger constantly.

And that stress, you know, certainly is hard when you're doing a 12 hour shift and you're responding to 8 to 10 calls during that time and not knowing what it was, the additional stress of what you're bringing, how and what you're exposing your family to.

And working through that and some of the procedure changes here where we allow folks to to change and do their laundry here.

So they weren't taking clothes or are decontaminate and the level of personal protective equipment the training did just really with very stressful.

So I think that opportunity for vaccination came open.

It was welcomed and folks really are looking forward to that additional layer of protection still realizing that it's evolving and we need to take all the precautions we have.

Sure.

And it's been a pretty intense situation for almost a year now.

How do you keep up morale?

Well, they are the most resilient group of people I've had the privilege of working with.

They're helping themselves.

You know, I've been involved in emergency work for for many years.

And for the most part, it's an event, a hurricane disaster or a large fire or something of that nature.

Which has a fairly definitive start.

And then and you know, once we got into this, the end has become very difficult to see and it's become so routine in their lives that level of stress really is just heart.

So what happens is they're taking care of each and we're doing as much outreach as we can with them.

But they're a resilient group.

There's talking amongst themselves.

They're helping each other.

And really trying to get through this together.

That's great to hear.

Definitely great to hear in the beginning of this pandemic access to PPE was a big problem.

Is still a problem now.

How are your stockpile?

Do you have enough to get by day to day?

You know, it's again, sounds like a broken record, but it's the tale of the spring in the fall now.

You know, initially we had some issues with N95 masks.

So we had a good supply here, but we had never used that many prior to Covid-19 now gloves.

We're just having a great struggle with being able to go through the supply chain and get the appropriate number of protective equipment, mainly gloves.

So we're working with the community resources, our vendors and as well as Lehigh County is helping to coordinate that supply chain.

And truly the other factor is the costs.

It's nearly tripled from what a box of glove costs in April to what they cost us today.

It's triple the cost.

So are the things about the pandemic that have changed your line of work and your business and the way you operate?

Are they changed forever now?

Yes.

As we move through this, we really recognize that these changes are going to be instituted and ongoing.

The increased decontamination, the protection of employees to make sure that they're readily trained and trying to be safe all the time.

It's also the increased cost of readiness where we understand now that in the prior environment we could run more calls.

Now we have to make sure that provider mental health is just as accountable as providers safety as well as patients.

Sure.

And so Tanya is a non-profit organization.

If folks want to get involved with helping in any way, how can they do so?

You think if they reach out to Detropia .org, there's many resources for them to be able to click through and get involved and volunteer or help us out in any way they can.

Wonderful.

I want to thank you.

Bob made it from Saturnian Ambulance Corps.

Best of luck to you as you move forward in this pandemic.

And thank you for all that you do.

Thank you.

Thanks for joining us.

We want to also thank Dr Joseph Yo's vac for joining today from Lehigh Valley Health Network.

We want to thank you for joining us for community update on coronavirus.

We'll be here at 4pm each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on PBS39 and on the radio 9/30, those same nights on WLVT News.

We'll be back Wednesday at 4:00 with a medical expert from LVHN.

If you have a question, you can leave it at our website, PBS39.

.Org.

On social media or you can give a call and leave it there.

The phone number is 4 8 4 8 2 1 0 0 0 8 4 PBS39 and WLVT News.

I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Stay safe.