Philadelphia Medicine Fall 2020 - 4

p h i l a m e d s o c .org

I

Letter from the president

want to introduce readers to
the new Editor of Philadelphia
Medicine, newspaper veteran
Andy Andrews, formerly Business Editor
and Special Sections Editor of the Reading
Eagle newspaper in Reading, Pa. A Temple
University graduate, Andrews brings extensive
work as editor for business-to-consumer health
publications in the Reading Eagle, including
Health & Wellness and 50 Plus.

Natalia
Ortiz-Torrent, MD,
FAPA, FAPM
President
We Welcome
Your Comments!
They should be sent
to our email address at
editor@philamedsoc.org.
If you would like your
comments considered for
publication, please
include your name,
town, and phone number.

In Andy's cover story
this issue, in order for the
proposed COVID-19 vaccine
to work, it will be up to the
providers - the influencers
- to convince the public to
receive the immunization.
T h a t's t h e m e s s a g e
provided by the Food and
Drug Administration, the
American Medical Association
and, ultimately, the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention.
"Health care providers
are the lynchpin, critically,
in the successful COVID-19 vaccination
program," said Dr. Amanda Cohn, acting
chief medical officer at the National Center
for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases,
or NCIRD, and executive secretary for the
Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices, or ACIP, for CDC.
It is uncharted territory for these
organizations. It looks really challenging if
you operate or work in a clinic.

EDITORIAL BOARD
Corina Graziani, MD
Andy Andrews, Editor
Susan Robbins, MD, MPH, FAAP
Paul D. Siegel, MD

The influencers will be key. For the older
generation, that will involve trusted news
organizations and family doctors, according
to the CDC. For the younger generation,
reared on social media, it will mean stronger
influencers and that has to come from reliable
sources.
To gain that confidence, the FDA insists
on manufacturing quality and tests, tests
and more tests.
When will we see the vaccine?

4

Philadelphia Medicine : Fall 2020

Most experts think it will be December
or later.
Dr. Caroline Johnson, acting deputy health
commissioner, Philadelphia Department
of Public Health, believes we will probably
see some vaccines in December with small
amounts for the highest priority groups.
There will not be a public release of vaccine,
for the more general public,
until 2021.
Dr. Peter Marks, director
of the Center for Biologics
Evaluation and Research
at the Food and Drug
Administration, believes that
it's more likely we will see
something in the NovemberDecember timeframe.
He said that barring some
safety concerns that we don't
know about, "I would be
hoping that we start to see
something - I don't know
for sure - but I would think
the probability increases to a
reasonable likelihood that we
will have something before the end of the year.
It's speculation and a bit of wishful thinking,
but I think it is informed speculation."
Quite a few companies are working on a
proposed vaccine, with Pfizer and Moderna
almost neck-and-neck with a release date
coming on the horizon.
Dr. George A. Poporad, Infectious Disease
Associates PC, Southampton, Pa., is a 38-year
veteran of infectious disease work. Poporad
spoke to Philadelphia Medicine about his
experience with pandemics over the years
and has lived through Legionnaires back in
the '70s, HIV in the early '80s, Methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus, multiple flu
epidemics, flesh-eating bacteria, Ebola, "but
with none of them have I been afraid for my
own health," he said, like COVID-19.
Poporad mentioned that the sheer scope
and the contagiousness of COVID-19 will
continue to be on the minds of health-care
administrators for quite some time.
https://philamedsoc.org/
Philadelphia Medicine Fall 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Philadelphia Medicine Fall 2020
