Dr. James Woodard recalled on Wednesday the measles epidemic from his youth.
People waited in long lines to receive their vaccination, he said, and there didn’t seem to be the emphasis given to politics that is seen today with vaccines — especially those for COVID-19.
Woodard spoke of how herd immunity for measles hovers around 95 percent because so many people are vaccinated. If we are to achieve herd immunity from COVID, more than 90 percent of people need to be vaccinated.
“If you want to put that in perspective with measles, which I actually had because I’m so old, they didn’t have a vaccine for that then, but with measles the herd immunity number for that’s 95 percent. That’s another reason we should get more people vaccinated — so we keep pushing that number up,” he said.
Not quite 40 percent of Mississippians are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, according to the Mississippi Department of Health.
Woodard, an internal medicine physician associated with Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle and the Allegro Clinic in Columbus, was one of several medical professionals who sat on a panel Wednesday at the Municipal Complex to discuss the pandemic. Others included Amy Bogue of Allegro Clinic; Dr. Andrea Morris, pediatrician; Dr. Torrance Green, hospitalist; Dr. Tammy McCoy, dean of nursing at the Mississippi University for Women; and Elois Smith, community health director for the Central Health Region at the Mississippi Department of Health.
The panel, which the city of Columbus hosted, followed a press conference led by Mayor Keith Gaskin.
Gaskin said while there is no mask mandate in the city in effect, even in the face of the emerging Delta variant that is driving cases higher in the state, he recommended citizens — especially those who are unvaccinated — wear them.
“I’m sure that we will be discussing and debating this over time as to what we should do, whether we should go back to the mandates that we had in prior to our first council meeting in July when we changed the mandate that was still in place for all city businesses to city property,” Gaskin said. “So we’ll be looking at that closely and we will keep the citizens aware.
“I think that there’s some clear data out there that can be helpful to individuals,” he added. “I know that with school starting again that there are a lot of parents that are concerned as Delta variant, that we’re hearing about in the media, seems to have been more aggressive towards younger individuals than the others have been.”
Gaskin acknowledged he is not a medical professional — the reason he wanted to gather medical professionals to talk about the pandemic from a front-line perspective. However, he did note that he and his family have received the vaccine.
“What I want to stress to people is I know there are a lot of different people out there for different reasons that are concerned about taking the vaccination,” he said. “So that’s why we wanted to have medical professionals here to give you their expert advice on a vaccine, what they are seeing in the local hospitals.
“I know when all this started over a year ago, it was my impression that it became too political over whether or not to be vaccinated or wear a mask,” he said. “I would like to see us do is try to use common sense when we’re visiting with people not to try and make anyone feel bad about their particular opinion or whether to wear a mask or to be vaccinated.”
Baptist’s 18-bed intensive care unit is nearly full, according to hospital officials, but not all of those cases are COVID.
During the discussion, panelists noted the minimum age to receive a COVID vaccine is 12. People who have had COVID can contract it again, as their immunity after recovery fades after a short period. Woodard recommended those exposed to COVID wait 90 days before receiving the vaccine.
Those who have received the vaccine can both contract and spread COVID, though cases for vaccinated people statistically have been milder thus far.
Bogue shared a story about a man who had just received the vaccine and advised folks to take advantage of the opportunity to get vaccinated.
“We had a Kenyan in town, and he was crying because he was so happy to get his Johnson and Johnson shot,” she said. “He was taking pictures, sending them to his family. He said, ‘Look what I get to have!’”
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