Virtual Townhall on Vaccinations – Recap

Last Wednesday, Seniors Speak Out and Medicare Today held a virtual town hall focusing on the importance of being vaccinated against COVID-19. For this townhall I was joined by Janet McUlsky from the COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project. The entire virtual townhall can be viewed here.

I started off by giving an update on my own experience with getting vaccinated. I stated that I had received my second Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine six days earlier and, like my first vaccination, the only side effect that myself and my wife had was a slightly sore arm at the injection site for a day. I mentioned how I felt relieved and hopeful after both of my shots. I finally felt like I was finally doing something, taking some action rather than being at the mercy of the virus. I did describe the convoluted scheduling process. There is no nationwide app that would offer one place to schedule your shots. This means it will take time and effort in most cases to schedule.

I then introduced Janet McUlsky, from the COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project. I mentioned I have known of Janet for over 20 years and worked closely with her for the last 12 years. She has spent most of her career working with advocacy organizations to ensure their constituents have access to prescription drugs.

Janet began her presentation with slides about the COVID-19 Vaccine Education and Equity Project. She discussed how they started in late August and now have over 150 partners who have joined the Project. She then discussed the core objectives of the vaccine project which are to:

• Provide education.
• Raise awareness.
• Promote the impact.
• Lead a conversation.

Janet then talked about the many resources available on the project’s website, https://covidvaccineproject.org. They offered a series of one pagers discussing different aspects of the virus, most also in Spanish, and infographics that offer information in concise and easy to understand formats. The information discussed things like how to talk to your families about the vaccine and the process the vaccine went through to get approved. I encourage you to go take a look at this great website.

Janet then reviewed a webinar that was completed earlier that day with the CNBC D.C. affiliate. This webinar brought together renowned experts to discuss building vaccine confidence in diverse communities. You can see this special webinar here.

Janet ended her presentation by discussing the Count Me In project which will be the statements and photos of individuals and organizations stating why they want to get vaccinated. I have already sent my statement and photo to the Project. This project will be released later this month and she encouraged everyone to participate when that project is kicked off.

The town hall was then opened up for questions and I took participant privilege and jumped in for the first question. I referenced Janet’s statement that no one that received the Pfizer vaccine in the clinical trials died from the virus. She verified that it was true I stressed the need for that to be emphasized in the news. I stated that there should be two-inch headlines or breaking news headline runners on my internet news feed declaring, “Get vaccinated and you won’t die from COVID!”

The next question dealt with whether we have to pay for getting vaccinated. Janet stated that no one will pay out-of-pocket for the vaccine. Your insurance company or the government will pay the full price.

The next question asked if there was a difference between the two vaccines and should we be concerned with which one we receive? Janet commented that the health professionals she’s talked with have all said, take which ever one you can get the quickest. They are both based on the same mRNA science.

I then asked if there was a supply problem that might keep people from getting their second shot? Janet said that she had not heard of problems with people getting their second shot. Many states are scheduling the second shot at the time people get their first shot. She mentioned that other pharma manufacturers who have not developed a vaccine are stepping up to help manufacture both vaccines.

Someone had a question about her father. She stated that her father was allergic to penicillin and his doctor recommended that he not get vaccinated. She asked if there was a place to get a second opinion. Janet said that she would call the manufacturers’ 800 help lines. There would be doctors standing by who could give her more detailed information. Janet said that the CDC was another place to go to get answers to her questions.

Another listener asked if this vaccination would become a yearly requirement and, if so, will the access migrate to the primary care provider? Janet said that it was possible but that the mRNA technology is easier to modify and we might have a booster that covers any variants that come along.

I asked Janet if it was OK to get together with other vaccinated people in a closed environment without wearing our masks? She said that Doctor Fauci, the guy we all seem to listen to, said that if everyone had been vaccinated it was OK to meet together inside without masks.

Debbie Witchey from the Healthcare Leadership Council stated that it seemed that people were having problems getting appointments. She asked Janet if she had any tips for people trying to get appointments. Janet said her solution was to sign up everywhere. The state handles the appointments but there could be multiple sites giving the vaccinations. It was certainly the situation in my case. Janet thought that there would be more opportunities as the logistics get ironed out.

I then asked Janet about how we are going to get the vaccine to minority communities. She mentioned that the people in the Project have been thinking about this. They wanted to go into the churches in minority communities and in the rural areas that also have been adversely affected. The Project will be going to the historically African-American sororities and fraternities to encourage their involvement. She said that it would be a challenge, but she knew that our country would be up to it. Everyone should have the opportunity to get this life saving vaccine.

I hope that you get the opportunity to review the town hall and the webinar mentioned above. We will continue to bring you informative blogs and townhalls.

Best, Thair