Hello and welcome to PB's n W Elvers.

Community update on coronavirus.

It's presented presented by Capital Blue Cross a brougt with help from our communiy partner Lehigh Valley Healh Network.

We are coming to you live m the PPE Public Media Centen Bethlehem, I'm Brittany Sweeney.

Our guests today include an infectious disease doctor keeping a close eye on vaccines.

We'll also speak with a won ose kindness has helpe hundreds of senior citizens book a vaccination appointments.

Our guests will be with usn just a few minutes.

If you have a question, yon give us a call.

The phone numbers four eigt four eight two one zero zeo zero eight.

We'll answer some of your questions live.

Plus four daily coronavirus updates.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

Now you can do that at our website coronavirus Lehigh Valley Drug.

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

Now let's take a look at today's top headlines evens more and more vaccines are delivered, new cases of Covid-19 are ticking upwarn Pennsylvania.

The state today reported 47 new coronavirus cases, thet in six weeks.

New surges are being seen n Northampton County and the Pokeno State data shows tht the seven day moving averaf cases is up 27% since last week.

Pennsylvania's total numbef cases since the start of te pandemic is just shy of 1 million, with nearly 25,000 deaths.

Another drive through vacce clinic is set for the regi.

But this one is in a new st on Saturday.

Lehigh Valley Health Netwok plans to vaccinate 3000 pee at Northampton Community College.

It's the first mass clinico be held in Northampton Cou.

First dos of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine will be administered by appointment only.

Those appointments are alry full.

Elvia Chan is holding anotr of its drive thru clinics y at Dorney Park, where 4000n first doses are being given out.

Dr Anthony Fauci isn't reao say that the nation has tud the corner on the coronavis pandemic, Fauci says.

We're at the corner and whr we turn it remains to be s. At a White House briefing today, he said the main challenge is a high level f new daily cases an averagef 55,000.

On the plus side, he pointo a growing level of vaccinas and a significant drop in people 65 and older going o the hospital with Covid-19.

It is time now to meet our guests for the day, Dr Josh Yose.

VEAC is a specialist in infectious diseases and internal medicine at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Also here is Jen Clements.

She's a professor of social work whose experience in helping her mother get a vaccination appointments inspired her to assist oth.

Thank you both so much for joining us today.

Professor will be with youn just a few minutes.

We're going to start with r VEAC today.

Doctor, than you so much fr being here.

Thank you for having me, Bernie.

Absolutely.

Early in the week, it lookd like another drugmaker AstraZeneca was headed for emergency Youth Use Authorization for Covid-19 vaccines.

Since then, we've learned t the company may have used outdated data and that coud erode confidence in maybe l vaccines at this point.

So what are some of the concerns here?

Let's break down.

So AstraZeneca certainly it doing itself any favors wih the communication or the results for this vaccine.

Thus far.

So so what happened this wk was unfortunately another a series of steps that have n affecting the development f this vaccine from the very beginning, despite the fact that I do believe that adee attention is being made toe design of the studies and e operations of the studies.

And I think the science so, they have not done a very d job communicating what's happening to both regulatos and to the public if we gok to the fall, we had the fst issue where there was a see reaction.

One participant in the UK d there was a little bit of a delay in reporting to US regulators at the FDA and t certainly raised some quess and concerns at that time.

Now the study was pause briefly, but it resumed afr was determined the vaccines very unlikely because those symptoms so so they went a.

But later in the fall, they released outcomes data from some of their earlier trias overseas.

Unfortunately, although the efficacy and effectivenessf the vaccine was a little bt lower, they did report grop of individuals that had ney a 90% efficacy and protectn and unfortunately as well n this group, it was a mista.

So so this group of individuals, a few thousand participants actually in e, got a half dose and thus a higher response rate.

So that really raises the question both about the sce but also about what's goinn in the operation of the studies.

So fast forward to just a w weeks ago where worldwide, particularly in Europe, the is a lot of concerns being raised about reports of bld clots that are occurring ar vaccine recipients in this case, specifically those wo received the aspirin, Xeni, the vaccine.

And although it's not likey that these clots were relad to the vaccination, these e very common events that do occur and it's really not r that they were happening iy increased amount.

Andeople who received the vaccine, it certainly raise valid concerns that neededo be addressed and really ned to be looked into and righn the heels of that, on Mond, they released interim study results from really what we were all waiting for, the American study, a large sty of 30 thousand individualst were randomized.

Every two individuals would receive the vaccine and one would receive placebo.

And what they found was an efficacy rate of about 79%, protecting them from symptomatic Covid-19.

This was great to see.

This was done with standard dosing with one dose of vae before Gap and then the sed dose of vaccine and saw tht there were 79% effective in preventing symptomatic Cov9 and 100% like our other the authorized vaccines and presenting preventing hospitalizations and death.

So this was really good nes and still hold on.

Once again we have an issu.

So the data safety Monitorg Board, an independent grouf scientists that oversee sty data and monitors the operations of of trials and looks for safety concerns s well as effectiveness concs called out AstraZeneca publicly, which is rather unusual, saying that they e data that looked a little e favorable when there was se newer information availle.

They were in the process reviewing that had a slighy lower efficacy.

So that certainly raised se concerns.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Infectious Diseases, whichs the branch of the NIH overn by Tony Fauci, also raised similar concerns about that issue.

And that's really where wee right now.

So Unfortune we really coue looking at a vaccine that's performing well and does ar to be safe.

None of those concerns we'e seeing in this clinical trl of 32,000 individuals.

But the communication reall left a lot to be desired.

And I can definitely see wy there could be some trust issues and confidence issu, particularly with this vace at this time.

Now, Doctor, this same vac, the AstraZeneca vaccines, they're being used in the .

Millions have even been administered at this point.

So what does tha tell us at the review process here ine United States if it's alrey being used overseas?

Well, certainly there's a h level of scrutiny.

And I think any time we haa level of scrutiny that's bg applied to any new producte it a drug or a vcine, I thk at shows that the process s working.

AstraZeneca and any other company who's developing a vaccine or even a medicatio treat Covid-19 should be subject to a very high levf scrutiny and they should ha really high bar they have o meet as far as effectivenes and safety in order to get their drug authorize.

And that's really what's gg on here with the FDA.

And I do feel confident tht that's going to occur becae what the FDA is going to ds they're not going to take AstraZeneca a word for it.

They're going to take their data and the FDA is going o an analysis and they're gog determine the effectivenes and the efficacy and the sy of the vaccine as based one raw data, not on the report that comes from the compan.

So I think it's important o note that we need to wait l the final analysis is available.

I think especially we leard early this week that we neo really set aside this intem analysis, not only given se of the concerns that were , but it's an interim analys.

It's not the final data.

So I think right now we rey just need to wait for the l information, the complete package of data that's get submitted to the FDA and tn the analysis that will occt time, which will probably happen at this point somete in the next month or so.

Doctor, I want to get backo vaccines and talking more generally about them, but o have a caller question.

This caller is saying thaty had covid-19 a few mons too and they're wondering if ty should still get the vacci, both doses of the vaccine r having Covid-19 just a coue of months ago.

Absolutely.

Although reinspection with sars-cov-2 to the virus tht causes Covid-19 is very uncommon follong a disease when people have Covid-19,t can happen and the immunitd the antibody levels that ae generated from the natural disease and recovering is a little bit less than what e seeing from vaccination.

So we absolutely recommendt people do get vaccine after they recover if they did receive any of the treatmes for Covid-19, specificallye monoclonal antibody treatm, they do need to wait 90 das until after that medication before they can receive thr vaccine in order to assuret the vaccine is going to wo.

But yes, they should be vaccinated afterwards.

They're going to be much me likely to be protected froa reinfection in the long tem from receiving a Covid-19 vaccine than they are from their natural immunity.

Thank you for answering th.

Now we are waiting for ress from AstraZeneca to see ift vaccine is going to get emergency use approval.

But in the meantime, we hae three other vaccines that e being administered right nn this country, in our area.

Soan you bring us up to speed?

How are things going with vaccination rollout here ie Lehigh Valley?

Are we seeing any more bum?

We did see earlier bumps ie road, but have things kindf smoothed and leveled out fr that process.

It really has say, listen,e would always like the suppo be better.

There's no doubt about anyy providing vaccines.

We want more vaccine and we want faster.

We're never going to be satisfied.

However, I do need to point that it has been a lot smoother, a lot more consit over the last few weeks.

Furthermore, the state h assured us that the allocas are going to continue for t least the next four weeks,t least in the amount that we receiving now.

So that is good news and ts really reassuring.

We're in the process of geg all of those out.

So when we get vaccine, wee giving out 100% of the doss every week.

every week.That's what we'.

And second doses do contino come in.

So we're making sure we'ree to keep people on time vaccinated to receive their second dose.

Certainly the network is ug a number of novel ways to t vaccine out to the masses.

We have our mass vaccinati, which we've done O'Dorney r which vaccinated 4000 peop.

Every time we have one of e events.

We did another one recentla raceway which vaccinated 30 individuals.

And as you mentioned earli, we have a new site openingp for a mass clinic at Northamptonommunity Colleg.

We also have our mobile vae units which are doing a grt job going out to see individuals and facilitiesd individuals who can't get t to be vaccinated, but also helping us reach some pocks of individuals in the area might note able to easily t to our vaccine sites.

And this is one way we're looking to help in the reg.

Dr Fauci is Vaki.

You are the chief investigr for LVA Chens, Phizer Vacce Study, a two year study one vaccines effectiveness.

Can you bring us up to spe?

What have you learned recey as you're studying the Pfir vaccine yet so the trial is moving along and as we revw the last time when I was o, it's going to be a two year study and we continue to he follow up with all oour participants.

What's occurred over the ce of the time since I saw yos just about all of our participants did a lot to transition over from placeo active vaccine.

So we don't have much of a placebo or any more.

And I believe that's goingo be the case that we'll see nationwide once that data s gets released.

What was interesting is tht we're now at the six month point.

So everyone always has the question how long is the vaccine going to last?

How long is this protection going to last?

And we're conducting thosex month visits now and it'lle wonderful to see that datan it gets released over the t probably over the next monr so.

What's also great is we'reo starting to see some real d data with the use of this vaccine in populations.

And I think some of the mot interesting stats really ce from nursing homes where we seen a very significant drn cases from nursing home residents nationwide, but o nursing home staff.

Soespite the fact that thee have been some uptake concs among nursing home staff, e seeing over 80% reductionsn Covid-19 cases in that gro, almost 90% reductions in oe review that was recently pd by the Kaiser Family Foundn and nursing home residents.

So these vaccines do seem e doing their job in real lis well as data showing massie reductions in Covid related hospitalizations and deathn a group of 1.2 million individuals in Israel, the large city that were vaccinated.

So there's really a lot of great news so far.

Our MRSA vaccines, which we have now the most experiene with do seem to be performg very well in real life.

Dr Use VEAC.

Thank you so much for bring us up to speed on that stu.

There's another question ts out there right now.

We like we said, we have te vaccines that are being usd right now here in the Lehih Valley and across the coun.

So why a need for more Gama Why a need for a fourth vaccine?

Why add that to the mix?

Why not just rely on the te we have right n?

So speed here is important.

And I think the pace at whh we're vaccinating individus really is going to make a difference and what the net few months will will look .

We are starting to see lare numbers of individuals ovee age of 65.

So we have over 70% of Americans over 65 who reced one dose of vaccine.

That's a huge number for fr the highest one, the highet risk groups for severe covid-19.

So I think it's important t we continue this pace and e add additional tools as necessary.

However, we look at the Bin administration's projectio, we should have enough vacce to vaccinate every adult in America who wants to be vaccinated at some point dg the month of May through se additional contracting and purchases they have made.

So as long as that occurs,I think the question remainss think the question remainse AstraZeneca vaccine supplye in the US or will that be better served overseas?

Certainly there are some advantages to moving this elsewhere where we only hao worry about refrigerated transportation and certaint comes at a much lower cost.

But I think we need to reay make sure as before we're utilizing every tool we hat our disposal to make certan that we're getting people vaccinated.

We're preventing as much disease as we can.

But more importantly, are preventing hospitalizationd preventing deaths.

And that's where every vace we have avaable now has ben delivering.

All right, Doctor, before e let you go today, we have e more viewer question.

Who's asking the live Bucks County?

They live outside the area.

Can they come to Lehigh Vay to get vaccinated?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

So the best path to vaccinn and signing up is going toe my LDH Big.

You could go to the websitd sign up for an account.

And if you don't have intet access or you're not that computer savvy, you know, e may be some individuals wil hear from later who might e able to provide some assistance.

But you couldlso call our vaccine languages one eight three three LDH and a C th.

So we certainly have a wayo schedule by phone, if you d like as well.

And there is my Segway.

Dr Joseph VEAC from LV and thank you so much for joing us today.

You're very welcome.

Thank you.

And we continue this commuy update on coronavirus on P. 39.

You can hear the rebroadcan the radio tonight at nine n 91 three WHO Lev Parnas.

Now let's bring in our next guest.

Jen Klemens is arofessor of social work and gerontologt Shippensburg Universit.

To date she has found vaccination appointments fr over 500 people, all for fe and with no strings attach.

Jen, thanks so much for jog us today.

This is such a wonderful tg you're doing.

Oh, thank you so much.

It's been a really fun jou.

Honestly, at this point I'm getting a lot of joy out oe process for sure.

Well, that's good to hear t connecting people with vaccines, especially the elderly who may have troube with the internet connecti.

Maybe they don't know a phe number to call.

So you decided to do sometg after trying to get an appointment for your own mother.

Can you take a step back ad take us through that experience?

Let's start there today.

Yeah, sure.

My mom, she lives in Flori.

e's 77 years old.

When the vaccine became available, we were immediay excited and thrilled becaue knew she would be eligible.

And so we spent easily two months online looking at ey system under the sun and se kind of equated it to feelg like she was in The Hunger Games down in Florida.

She was just upset and teal and stressed out and talkig about increasing her blood pressure medication.

And at one point she mentid to me that there were peope down in Florida that you cd pay $200, $100 and they wod get your vaccine for you.

And I felt sick to my stom.

I felt enraged, as you knos you mentioned, I'm a profer of social work and I thougt this is the most vulnerable population that we have.

There should be absolutely barrier to them getting the vaccine.

And so in some ways our sys aren't workin.

And so what does that look like?

And so fore, I kind of turn that anger into how can I x this?

Like what are the solutions involved in getting this br for her and for anyone who wanted help Gamma So it std with her and then it spreat to friends, grandparents, friends, parents, other fos who were in Janai who met e medical conditions in Pennsylvania.

I help people in Maryland.

I help people in West Virg.

So I started to kind of understand the systems invd and then I got connected.

A neighbor mentioned to mee says there's this doctor, r Christine Meier, She's outn Chester County, Montgomery County area, and sheoes ths Covid Matchmaker website.

So there's a whole group of people like me we call ourselves finders and who e out there kind of finding vaccines, although I thinke kind of taken it to an exte level at this point.

So at this point I'm probaa little sleep deprived, buts been really meaningful.

So I am helping folks who t have access to the interne, don't have access to compu.

We're on phone lines tryino get help and support and sI can easily kind of go intoe systems.

systems.I'm pretty tech sad provide that help.

Hopefully in a faster way.

And then folks who are loog for weeks and weeks, I'm ae to find something within a matter of a couple of daysd every day it's getting betr and faster.

Sure.

Now you said that you've hd people in surrounding stats well.

I just want to point out tt you're located right now in Carlisle.

So how do people find you?

How do people find the finr Gamma That's a really good question.

So it's kind of like a snol kind of experience, right?

So a friend of a friend sa, oh, Ieard that you fnd vaccines for my friend's parents.

Can you help my dad Gamma d so it started just a littlt like that.

And then it really just exploded.

So then after that I starto get, you know, emails at my Shippensburg email.

I started to get Facebook messages, my LinkedIn acco, which I probably haven't ud in years.

I was starting to get messs from folks on there, too.

And so people started to hr that I was somebody who cod help and I'll help anyone.

It really doesn't matter.

And so I just I get a litte bit of information just enh not super identifying information, certainly not Social Security numbers or insurance cards, but I get enough information to kindf make the appointment and tn when they get into the phay or the hospital or the mass fax, they're able to provie additional information the.

But I get enough so I'm not invading their privacy.

But to be able to book the appointment.

And so that's kind of the process for me.

So but you learn when thins are released, you learn tht this place releases at sixm and this place releases at midnight and this place releases at 11am And so I d of have alerts and time sep and pre loaded websites ana pretty extensive system ats point.

And I've gotten my family involved and my husband's helped on a number of occasions.

On one that I knew we're gg to be really hard and we ho get in really quickly.

My daughter has gotten invd in some of the searching ad But we've kind of turned it into a little bit of a gam.

I joked at one point that I like to play video games ao I haven't been online and played games in months bece I've been doing this inste.

And so it's become a bit oa passion, but certainly tremendous way more meaninl when I call folks and tellm that I managed to find an appointment.

People cry.

People are so grateful peo, although I tell them not to have sent flowers or chocos different things to my hou, which is super sweet and totally unnecessary.

But it just kind of goes to show like how much people l that sense of lief.

that sense of lief.When myt appointment from my mom, te sense of relief that I hadt we would be able to get tie back with her was just kinf just undescribable.

And so it just gave me so h pe and in a year of not a t of hope and so I was like,, like we're you know, we hao trust process and the sciee is there and the medical sf are ready to help us.

And they've put in the timd energy.

We just have to get folks t to these appointments.

And it's just if it's hardr them to find the match, I'm somebody who can help with that.

And it's just incredible, incredible what you were d. But this is not your full e job.

You now have a job on top f this.

So where do you find the te to do this I am a little sleep deprivd right now, but I do kind of find the time like if I'm searching, I know it's goio be an early morning.

I make the adjustment and I don't stay up late at night too.

So like I'll wake up early.

But I'm a really I've alwas been rlly good with my tim.

So it's definitely been a l that I've had inherently without my whole career.

But I'll just kind of I'llo online, I'm searching, I'll grade some papers, I'll doa little more searching.

I have some downtime.

I'll meet with some studen.

I'll do a little searching after tha I'll teach a cla.

I'll search in between.

And so there are a lot of pockets in my day where I n kind of like steal a littlt of time, but I don't really have much downtime right n. So like all of my downtime really is being spent in finding matches for folks d really making surthese appointmen happen.

But I'm OK for that becausI think this is short term r. So like we're in the crushf this and we need to get shs and arms as fast as possib.

That's my mantra.

And so if we can kind of tk about this as a short term process to get this out to folks, to help folks feel s anxious, to help folks get those vaccine appointmentsy need so desperately, I'm willing to sacrifice that e because I know I'm going tt some real valuable time wiy loved ones coming up here .

Yeah, a lot of good karma coming your way.

Janai also want to just pot out real quick that on at t one occasion you've actualy helped someone that you dot even know and you've takenm to not only have you made e appointment, but you've tan them to the appointment as well.

That's incredible.

Yeah, it was one particular occasion where I was like a really hard vaccine appoint to find.

And I had emailed I textede son, the adult son.

I said, hey, I've got yourd an appointment.

Here's what it is.

And it's a great tnk you so much.

And then within a day, hise got Covid and so he couldne around his father because s father has COPD and health conditions and things like that.

So I was like, well, we'llt him there.

We're just going to get in there because this is an appointment that for him is quite honestly, as his sont it, going to save life.

And so that was so, so important.

And so now, yeah, we're re.

I've tapped in.

Lots of people have offerew that they've been vaccinat, though, like I can help pee drive.

And so I hope that we kindf build a bigger cmunity of support, a bigger communitf people willing to kind of p in and help.

We've been so isolated from each other.

And I think now because ofe vaccine in the potential tt it brings is that we can ry reach back out now, check n with folks and figure out w we can help each other.

It is and i has to be it'st a one person event.

It has to be a whole commuy experience.

And that's what I think has been something that I've actually really seen happet of this gen.

I could sit here all and ln to how you're helping all e people.

I just think it's so wondel what we do have just a lite bit of time left here.

How people connect with yof they are searching for an appointment Gamma Sure.

If you're struggling, I tel people don't get too frustrated.

You can certainly reach ouo me.

My Shippensburg University email is open.

So my email address at Shippensburg is J a c l m .

My name's Clemens Adam Schf EZchip.

You people have found me on social media.

I'll certainly respond to y request at all, but I'm rey happy to reach out and help people if I as of lik literally5 minutes before r discussion today, I matched everybody that I had in my list.

So I'm ready for the next p of folks to reach out to m. So I'm available under wonderful Janai you are dog such a wonderful thing.

Keep at it.

You are doing just great ts for the community and we so appreciate.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for joing Gen Clements a finder if yu will.

We appreciate you joining s today.

We want to thank our guestr being with us and of coursu for joining us for Communiy Update.

Coronavirus will be here am each Monday, Wednesday and Friday on PBS.

39 and on the radio at nin0 those same nights on our n. We'll be back Friday at 4:0 with a local business that shifts into high gear thise of year.

Just born the makers of pe.

If you have a question, yon always give us a call.

The phone number four eight four eight t one zero zero zero eight for PBS39 NW Lev Parnas.

I'm Brittany Sweeney.