A webinar on COVID-19 vaccines makes a measurable difference

Nearly 200 viewers say they’re more likely to seek the vaccine following a discussion by medical experts

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

Daniel Schludi via Unsplash

LOUISVILLE — Before spending an hour putting on a thought-provoking webinar with a panel of physicians who specialize in treating infectious diseases, the Rev. Liz Walker, pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church in Boston and a former television journalist, took a quick poll Tuesday of the 194 viewers. How many planned to roll up their sleeve to receive the COVID-19 vaccine? Seventy-four percent said yes, and 26% said no thanks.

By the end of the webinar, those poll numbers had improved: 89% said they planned to obtain the vaccine. Only 11% remained unconvinced.

“That’s the best news I have seen in a long time,” Walker said.

Tuesday’s webinar, sponsored by the Cory Johnson Program for Post-Traumatic Healing at Roxbury Presbyterian Church, continued a series that included a November interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s pre-eminent expert  on infectious diseases.

the Rev. Liz Walker

In addition to Walker and the Rev. Dr. Gloria White-Hammond, a physician and the co-pastor of Bethel AME Church in Boston, the panel included:

• Dr. Barney Graham, deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
• Dr. Sabrina Assoumou, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine who practices at Boston Medical Center
• Dr. Simone Wildes, an infectious disease specialist at South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth, Massachusetts.

Asked how safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines could be developed so quickly, Graham said vaccinology is being transformed in part because technology used to work on other vaccines — including the so far unsuccessful HIV vaccine — was put to use to develop coronavirus vaccines. New manufacturing technology “allows us to make things more quickly,” he said. The basis for the current vaccines began at least 10 years ago, he said, when scientists were developing a vaccine against a respiratory virus that infects babies and the elderly.

Dr. Barney Graham

“The reason it usually takes decades is that everything is done in sequence,” Graham said. “We have compressed a lot of timelines. Usually companies have 5-10 years to get it just right, including the scale-up of manufacturing.”

That work has been going on since January, he said, “not knowing if vaccines will work.”

He said his daughter, an African American architect living in Los Angeles, enrolled in a clinical trial “because she trusted her daddy and I trusted the vaccine enough.” Vaccine development, manufacture and distribution are being done “in an accelerated way so we won’t have so much hospitalization and death.”

It’s up to physicians and scientists “to come out and share information [about the vaccines], communicate it properly and answer questions,” Assoumou said. “In my family, we have had multiple Zoom calls. Now family members who weren’t going to take the vaccine are scheduled to get it on Thursday.”

Dr. Simone Wildes

“The one thing that drives me is the number of cases of death, especially in the African American community, and all the misinformation that’s out there,” Wildes said. “If we spend extra time explaining [to patients], it can make a difference and turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes.’ Even five minutes can make a difference. And we have to stay on top of the data, which is constantly changing.”

“No question is too dumb or too weird,” White-Hammond said. “Go to people who are credible, who you trust, so you can get the information you need.”

Graham said that African Americans “helped make this vaccine and helped test this vaccine.” About 10% of people in the Moderna vaccine trials were African Americans, he said. Near the end of the trials, no more white people were enrolled in order to get as many people of color involved in the trials as possible.

“We were not willing to let it be finished,” he said, “without good representation of minority populations.”

Dr. Sabrina Assoumou

Asked what they thought of the idea of cutting the vaccine’s dose in half in order to get it to more people faster, Assoumou had a succinct response.

“We do studies for a reason,” she said. “We want to make sure when we are rolling out the vaccine we are following procedures shown to be effective … If we change that, we don’t know if it will work as well.”

“I think the [Food and Drug Administration] will hold its ground [on the full dosage], I hope,” Graham said, “and we will use vaccines as tested and put our efforts into manufacture and distribution.”

The physicians were asked what keeps them up at night.

“It’s all the individuals, especially of my own color, who have not been interested in getting the vaccine, and the devastating impact this virus has had on my community,” Wildes said. She said she’s constantly asking herself, “How can I share the safety and efficacy of this vaccine?”

“It’s my duty to make sure I am out there conveying the information,” Assoumou said. “I have taken the vaccine, and I can’t wait until we have the data so that I can vaccinate my children.”

Graham said the death rates that could occur in the coming year if enough people refuse the vaccine keep him up at night. “What makes me sleep better is I get to see people vaccinated on the news. People send me pictures from all over of themselves being vaccinated. I have a collection of vaccination pictures that allows me to sleep better.”

The Rev. Dr. Gloria White-Hammond

“I want to make sure I am exploring new opportunities to get the message out, because we need everyone to get this vaccine,” White-Hammond said. “I am feeling encouraged, and the main reason is I decided several months ago I would not let George Floyd’s or Breonna Taylor’s last breath be in vain. I want to make sure there is equity in healthcare.”

“And I am encouraged to have all these people on the call,” White-Hammond added. “I am good to go. I am determined.”