Page 15 - Boca Club News - March '25

Boca Club News, Page 15
Medical Matters:

Vaccines

By Richard Nagler, M.D., a member However, Polio has not been eradicated which is why vaccine which would be effective against all strains and
of Broken Sound Club and retired it is strongly recommended that all children are vaccinated mutations of the virus and provide long lasting immunity.
physician. After graduating from with four separate Salk vaccine injections starting at two It is estimated that this may be achieved in 2 years.
the University of Pennsylvania and months and then up until entering elementary school. The Covid 19 pandemic has already been reported in
New York University’s School of The Spanish flu pandemic in 1917-1918 was the over 100 million cases in the United States with more
Medicine, Dr. Nagler served his deadliest in human history. It infected 500 million people than 1 million deaths. Although the number of new
internship and residency at Baltimore (one third of the world’s population) with 50 million infections has significantly diminished, Covid infections
City Hospital and Johns Hopkins. He deaths. In the USA there were 675,000 deaths, many of continue to occur all over the country with the number
followed that with a Fellowship in whom were in the 20-to-40-year age group. It was caused of cases increasing again. Vaccines were developed in a
Gastroenterology at Yale University School of Medicine, by an avian flu virus known as H1N1. There was no remarkably short period of time especially for seniors and
and was then Chief of Gastroenterology at Fitzsimons effective treatment and no vaccine. The pandemic ran its the most vulnerable, and they have had a profound impact
General Army Hospital in Denver. He returned to the Yale course and abated after two years due to the development on reducing serious complications, hospitalizations and
Medical School for one year as an Assistant Professor of of herd immunity as survivors developed antibodies which deaths. The 2 vaccines authorized by the CDC and NIH
Medicine before opening his own successful private practice offered protection against the virus. are very different from previous antiviral vaccines which
in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. During that However, it never entirely disappeared, morphing into are basically made from attenuated killed viruses. They
time, he also served for ten years as Chief of Medicine at various strains that today are represented by seasonal flu. use mRNA (messenger RNA), a major achievement in
Huntington Hospital in Huntington, N.Y. Over the past 10 years, depending on the year there have immunology which teaches our cells to make a protein
In this century, through extensive research and been in the USA 45 million flu illnesses, 140,000-810,000 that triggers an immune response with antibodies and T
advanced technology effective medical care has advanced hospitalizations and 12,000-61,000 deaths annually. While cells against the spike protein on the surface of the corona
to a remarkable degree. Much of it has been due to there is no cure there are antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu virus which is responsible for its ability to penetrate our
prevention of disease and it is the development of safe which if taken early in the course of the disease can body’s cells and cause infection.
and effective vaccines that is mainly responsible. lessen the severity and duration of it. A flu vaccine was The risk of the vaccine causing viral infection is zero
To understand how important vaccines are a review first developed and introduced in 1945-1946. It is made as there is no virus in it. However, after several months the
of several pandemics that have afflicted humanity is from killed or inactivated viruses as a trivalent vaccine antibody levels achieved by these vaccines begin to ebb
noteworthy. In the 20th Century smallpox caused by a containing three strains of the A and 1 of the B. There is so that after 6 months booster shots are strongly advised.
virus killed 300 million people worldwide before being also a quadrivalent vaccine available which includes a Because the Covid virus mutates frequently updated
eradicated after the development of a vaccine in 1979 by fourth strain of the B virus. Because of a weaker immune bivalent booster shots have been developed that produce
Edward Jenner. It was made from a live virus (cow pox) response to the vaccine by seniors they are advised to get more antibodies against these new variants. There are side
which is like smallpox but does not cause disease and a dose four times higher than the standard amount. The effects including pain and redness at the injection site, low
produces completely protective antibodies against it. risk of getting the flu from the vaccine is zero. The vaccine grade fever, fatigue, chills, headaches, muscle aches and
Polio is a viral disease that afflicts mostly children. It has proven to be effective in preventing the flu in 40-60% joint pain subsiding after several days. In very rare cases
is spread from person to person mainly from contaminated of people each year depending on whether the circulating anaphylactic reactions which can be life-threatening have
food or water Although only 2% (500,000) of those strains of the virus that year are included in it. been observed in people who have had such reactions in
afflicted either died or were permanently paralyzed when But immunity weakens after a year and new mutated the past.
the virus attacked the central nervous system, it was strains appear so it must be revised and administered There is no doubt that the miracle of vaccines has saved
particularly devastating for those who were resigned to annually. For those for whom it fails to prevent the illness millions upon millions of lives worldwide and prevented
life in an iron lung. In 1953 Jonas Salk introduced an most of them will get a milder disease with far fewer pain and suffering from diseases that would have afflicted
injectable vaccine containing a formaldehyde inactivated complications, especially pneumonia. millions more. Unfortunately, there are many antivaxxers
virus approved by the FDA in 1955 that proved to be 99% Unfortunately, each year an average of only 48% of in this country who doubt and object to tried and proven
effective in preventing polio. Americans get vaccinated which is why there are so many effective and safe vaccines such as polio, measles,
This was followed by the introduction of the equally hospitalizations and deaths. For example, in the 2018- pertussis (whooping cough), chicken pox, mumps and both
effective Sabin oral vaccine in 1960 but which has since 2019 epidemic in the USA 35 million people got the flu, hepatitis A and B. Often they have been accused of being
been mostly abandoned. However, in 1955 200,000 490,000 were hospitalized and there were 34,200 deaths. stupid, but I think otherwise. It is that they are ignorant
children in the west and Midwest were given the Salk Interestingly, fears of the flu occurring simultaneously due to believing in misinformation abetted by a distrust
vaccine and 40,000 developed polio. Ten died and 200 with Covid 19 which would complicate making a correct of the federal government, drug companies, science in
developed paralysis. The cause was a defective process of diagnosis has proven to be unfounded because the general and the medical establishment. Religious beliefs,
inactivation of the virus in the vaccine and as a result all incidence of the flu has been remarkably low. infringement on human rights and especially refusal to
polio vaccinations were suspended temporarily. This was The reason is probably the result of all the mitigation accept the debunked link of vaccines to autism are often
a major factor in the public’s fear and distrust of vaccines efforts against Covid 19 with wearing masks, social blamed.
and led to strict federal regulation of all vaccines which distancing and good hygiene. These antivaxxers have formed organizations such
as a result now enjoy an unmatched record of safety as On a positive note, there is active intense research going as “Stand for Freedom” encouraged by politicians like
compared to any other medical product. on using the new technology to develop a universal flu Robert Kennedy Jr. rejecting the government’s telling
them how to care for their bodies and keeping its hands off
their children. I doubt that most of these antivaxxers have
Going Away? their doubts and convince them of the vital importance of
any relationship with a trusted doctor who could dispel
vaccinations.
The remarkable achievement of developing these

mRNA vaccines gives us the opportunity of using this
same technology to quickly develop them to immunize

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