Calling vaccines the greatest public health achievement in 50 years, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, M.D., M.P.H., said during a visit Monday, Sept. 28, to Baylor College of Medicine that he trusts the process to develop a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine and, along with his family, will be among the first in line to get it – when it’s ready.
But until then, Adams said to follow the three Ws to prevent transmission of COVID 19 – Wash your hands, Wear a mask and Watch your distance from others. There’s another thing we can all do as we head into fall and winter: get a vaccine that is available – the flu vaccine.
Adams and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Eric Hargan visited Baylor to learn about the key role that Baylor is playing in the national response to the pandemic. They met with Dr. Paul Klotman, Dr. Ashok Balasubramanyam, Dr. Mary Dickinson, Dr. Jim McDeavitt and Dr. Joseph Petrosino before a press availability with local and national media.
They discussed the Phase 3 clinical trial for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine candidate, of which Baylor is one of the trial sites. Key in advancing this vaccine is the recruitment of a large and diverse group of participants to the trial. In addition, the contingent discussed COVID-19 treatment like remdesiver and convalescent plasma, more efficient testing efforts, and public health initiatives, such as Baylor’s outreach to K-12 schools to educate parents, students and teachers on getting back to school safely and to offer COVID-19 curriculum.
All of this should give us reasons to be optimistic about the state of the pandemic, Adams said. However, he said we should be appropriately concerned about influenza so as not to tax the healthcare system during the concurrent pandemic and flu season. He and Hargan praised the efforts of employers who provide vaccines for their workforce. Read more about vaccines at Baylor.
See images below of Surgeon General Adams’ and Deputy Secretary Hargan’s visit to Baylor.
-By Dana Benson; photos by Agapito Sanchez; video by Nik Kerbers
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