SDDSNY Bulletin January February 2021

CALLING ALL SDDS HOSPITAL RESIDENT MEMBERS! On NewYear’s Eve, while many of us are counting down to a new year and celebrating a new beginning, many of us will be reflecting on 2020 and all the misery it has brought. This year dancing, sing- ing, drinking, hugging, and kissing your family and friends will be observed much differently. Here are some of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations on how to safely have a holiday party. 1 “Encourage guests to avoid singing or shouting, especially indoors.” “Keep music levels down so people don’t have to shout or speak loudly to be heard.” “Limit the number of attendees as much as possible to allow people from different households to remain at least 6 feet apart at all times. Guests should avoid direct contact, including handshakes and hugs, with others not from their household.” “Use of alcohol or drugs may alter judgment and make it more difficult to practice COVID-19 safety measures.” Following these guidelines will surely ruin any party. Our tradi- tional NewYear’s celebrationwill be unceremoniously cancelled, joining most in-person 2020 festivities. This year, I will be singing “Auld Lang Syne” with my immediate family, under my breath, remem- bering all the good people that are no longer with us due to this ter- rible coronavirus. My celebration will focus on the new lifesaving vaccines that will hopefully allow humanity to resume living in a socially healthy way. “To boldly go where no man has gone before,” intones actor Wil- liam Shatner on the television series “Star Trek” as the starship Enterprise zips past your screen at warp speed. According the U.S. Department of Health &Human Services web site, 2 OperationWarp Speed (OWS) is funded by about $10 billion through Congress. OWS was developed to “produce and deliver 300 million doses of safe and effective vaccines with the initial doses available by January 2021,” and then “accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vac- cines, therapeutics, and diagnostics (collectively known as counter- measures).” The government has invested “in and coordinating countermeasure development… such as a vaccine to be delivered to patients more rapidly while adher- ing to standards for safety and efficacy.” By “selecting the most promising countermeasure candi- dates and providing coordinated government support,” develop- ment of a vaccine has been fast- tracked. Certain steps, for instance, producing the vaccine in huge quantities prior to knowing the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, was done to speed its delivery to the public. However, if the mass- produced vaccines concluded to be ineffective, then only monetary loss would occur. The government has also aligned with five pharmaceutical compa- nies that have completed or will soon be completing the final phase of clinical trials. The COVID-19 vaccines developed by these compa- nies–AstraZeneca, Janssen (Phar- maceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson), Moderna, Novavax, and Pfizer–should be enough to vaccinate everyone in the U.S. Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines will be the first mRNA-based vaccines to ever be approved for use; other mRNA vaccines never made it past phase 3 trials.The wholemechanics of mRNA-based vaccines is focused on safety. Here is how it works: the mRNA injected into the muscle of the arm, tells cells tomanufacture a “spike protein,” which are the same ones incorporated on the surface of a SARS-CoV-2 virus. This spike protein is innocuous and does not cause an infection. The mRNA is then destroyed by the body’s defenses while the newly made protein becomes incorporated in the muscle cells. The immune sys- tem then becomes acquainted with these unwanted new proteins and mounts an immune response by producing antibodies, in effect training the body to fight the actual virus. The completed phase 3 studies are all showing these vaccines are safe and effective. According to Pfizer, 3 “The only Grade 3 (severe) solicited adverse events greater than or equal to 2% in frequency after the first or second dosewas fatigue at 3.8%and headache at 2.0%following dose 2.” A news story about Moderna’s vac- cine reported 4 “side effects, includ- ing fatigue, chills, headache, muscle pain, and pain at the site of injection. All side effects were consideredmild or moderate.” Yet, with all this won- derful news we still have many people who will be afraid of taking the vaccine. Some concerns range from the understandable, such as putting faith in a vaccine that was rushed into production and may not have been tested adequately, to The SDDS Bulletin invites YOU to submit a case report illustrating a thought-provoking case for con- sideration as SDDS Best Case of the Month. All submissions must: • Be under 1,000 words • Include two to four photos (resolution of 300 ppi or greater) • Be accompanied by a signed photo release allowing use of your patients' photos for publica- tion The SDDS publication team will choose a winning submission every month. The winning article will be published in the SDDS Bulletin , along with the author's photo and bio. The author will also receive a $100 award.Therewill onlybeone awardgivenper case, even if there aremultiple co-authors. Email submissions to editor@sddsny.org . Let’s Advocate to Vaccinate by Stuart L. Segelnick D.D.S., M.S., SDDS Bulletin Editor Have a Healthy and Normal New Year 2021! 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