Hi Leonard,
Please keep the explanations simple and target the answers specific to the patient's concern. For instance, I was speaking with a patient who was concerned about the COVID-19 vaccine side affects. The patient works at a local supermarket. He stated, one of his customers at the local supermarket told him that she developed heart disease after receiving the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. I stated, well...our country-USA have been developing vaccines for many years/decades and never had a vaccine been created that causes heart disease; so with this vaccine, the pharmaceutical industry is not...all of a sudden...going to fall off a cliff and create a vaccine that causes heart disease. Furthermore, heart disease is gradual. That patient had to have been on medication to treat heart disease or has a condition that can cause heart disease. Thereafter, patient and I began to laugh, because he realized that he been vaccinated many times over the years and he never developed heart disease.
Leonard, just know... you may have to be a little creative with your responses. However, your patient will understand. I believe COVID has helped to create more anxiety in our patients.
I hope that I have been helpful.
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Henry Bryant
Pembroke Pines FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-19-2020 20:25
From: Leonard Sowah
Subject: Covid-19 vaccine hope for an end to the pandemic
Over the past 10 months most providers and their patients have gone through a lot of uncertainty. Many providers have lamented about the fact that Covid-19 pushed them to the limit. More often than not getting questions from patients that they did not have any good answers to. In the past 2 weeks at least in the US many are seeing some light at the end of a long tunnel of uncertainty and anxieties. This new era of the Covid-19 pandemic experience brings up another issues. What do we do about doubts related to the new vaccine?
On this note I believe it would be useful for us to really consider how we feel about these new vaccines. I have heard some concerns about safety of the mRNA vaccine platform. I would like to know what others think about the fact that there is a vaccine, and it has taken less than a year from test tube to bedside. What would you tell your patients and family members of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine of any other Covid-19 vaccine for that matter?
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Leonard Sowah
Baltimore MD
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