About a year since the first outbreak of the coronavirus, vaccines countering the virus have finally begun rolling out. However, there has been a lot of confusion and concern about the efficacy of the vaccine and the method in which it is available to the public.
Sampan had the opportunity to interview Dr. Helen Boucher, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Tufts Medical Center (TMC) to address some of these concerns. Dr. Boucher has been at the frontlines in managing responses to the COVID-19 epidemic at TMC. Dr. Deeb Salem, Physician in Chief of the Department of Medicine at TMC says of Dr. Boucher, “she probably knows more about COVID-19 than anybody I’ve ever met.”
In Massachusetts, the vaccine distribution plan begins with healthcare workers and caretakers. The second phase started February 1, opening to individuals 75 and older and high-risk patients. Dr. Boucher said, “we’re starting what they’re calling a ‘pilot’ of high-risk patients … we will enter phase 2, persons aged 75 and over being eligible for vaccination.” The full list of phases and eligibility can be found on the mass.gov website.
“For Massachusetts, these are the rules, and we think that if our caregivers go down, then who is gonna take care of the people doing this? But then again, it’s the governor’s choice, and we’re very careful,” Dr. Salem said.
To combat misinformation, Tufts Medical Center has taken a proactive stance in maintaining communications with the local Chinatown Community. Dr. Boucher said, “we’ve been meeting with the Chinatown community with Councilor Flynn regularly throughout the whole epidemic.” Additionally, they have also released a list of 20 Q&As about the vaccine, which can be found on Sampan’s website in both English and Chinese.
One of the most important questions addressed is the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. Every year, the flu vaccine is only 50-60% effective, depending on the year. “So we have two vaccines that were studied, and over 44,000 and over 30-some odd thousand each. One is 95% effective, and one is 94.5% effective in preventing COVID disease,” said Dr. Boucher. “That’s much higher than we expected.”
The COVID-19 vaccine is immunogenic. This means that they are dead viruses injected into your body to mount an immune response. “So that you’ll be able to fight off the virus if you encounter it. And that does cause some side effects. So that causes a sore arm, and it causes things for some folks, fatigue, malaise, and a low fever that can last 1-3 days. So you might feel crummy for 1-3 days. And it’s a little more than a flu shot,” said Dr. Boucher. “As we get more data from millions vaccinated now, we’re even more reassured that these side effects are mild and manageable.”
“The thing that makes us fairly comfortable about this is that it’s not a live vaccine. For example, smallpox was a live vaccine,” Dr. Salem adds. And smallpox has been eradicated. “If I thought that something was dangerous [about the COVID-19 vaccine], I would not be the first to get it,” he said.
According to Dr. Boucher, the vaccine roll-out’s biggest challenge is the supply. It’s still unclear how much supply there actually is, making planning the timeline of phases very difficult. The currently available vaccines require two doses per individual, making it even more challenging to track and calculate the supply. Dr. Boucher said, “The supply is not totally clear, and we still just have the two MRNA vaccines. We’re hopeful that we’ll have another vaccine in the next, maybe month or so. The J&J (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine is likely the next one to come, and that one is only a one-dose vaccine, and it doesn’t require those fancy freezers for storage. So that could really be a game changer, in terms of getting to the community more easily.”
