The number of COVID-19 patients at The University of Kansas Health System is up one today. Nine people with the active virus are being treated, up from eight Friday. Of those patients, five are in the ICU, up from three Friday. Three of those patients are on ventilators, up from one Friday. 18 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, up from 15 Friday. That’s a total of 27 patients, up from 23 Friday. HaysMed has four total patients, up from three Friday, with two active COVID-19 inpatients, and two in the recovery phase.
On today’s Morning Media Update we updated COVID-19 vaccine and outpatient therapeutic trials. Vaccine experts Barbara Pahud (pa HUDE – rhymes with rude), MD., MPH, Research Director of Pediatrics Infectious Diseases at Children’s Mercy and Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the KU School of Medicine and Mario Castro, M.D., MPH, Vice Chair for Clinical and Translational Research at KUMC and health system pulmonology and critical care physician joined the panel. They described who is eligible to enroll and answered questions about vaccine trials for children.
The discussion began with breaking news on the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been in clinical trials by researchers at KU Medical Center. The company announced the two-dose vaccine provided 79% protection against sickness and 100% protection from hospitalization and deaths, including in older adults. After this final stage testing in the United States, the company plans to apply for emergency use authorization in a few weeks.
Dr. Castro, who supervised the trial at KU Med, was very excited about the preliminary results, calling it a “home run.” He says it’s important news for the world because the vaccine is relatively easy to make, less expensive, doesn’t need to be stored at super-freezing temperatures and has no serious side effects. He said some countries stopped giving the vaccine over fear of blood clots. But he says the data shows there were no increased cases of blood clots among trial participants compared to the group that got the placebo. He also had an update on the Active2 clinical trial, which is testing different ways of treating people with early COVID-19 symptoms. Those include a shot, an inhaled medication, and a pill as well as infusions with monoclonal antibodies. All are designed to prevent hospitalizations. If you’re an adult who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the last seven days or had symptoms in the last 10 days, call Christina at 913-588-3851 or email her at cpantalunan@kume.edu to enroll. Dr. Pahud believes mass production of the AstraZeneca vaccine “will make a dent in the world,” as it will be able to be transported and handled easier and can reach more remote parts of the globe, including refugee sites. She has no concerns about its safety and says the side effects are the same as with the other vaccines. She says there is no medical reason why some people experience severe side effects while others have little or none. She discussed clinical trials focusing on children as young as 12 with the Pfizer vaccine and explained why the number of trial participants is likely to be lower than for adult trials. She acknowledges there is still vaccine hesitancy among some Latino and African American communities and believes we must do a better job of reaching out to answer their concerns. She also says all the vaccines that need a second dose will be effective even if you have to wait as long as four months between doses.
Dana Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, reminds us vaccines don’t make us immune. Rather, they protect us from landing in the hospital or dying if we catch the virus. He says pictures and videos from Spring Break in Florida showing big crowds with no masks made him nervous as all of those people will be heading back across the country soon. He’s also noticed fewer people in the Metro area, especially the Plaza, wearing masks while walking around. He pointed out that’s dangerous because most of those people he sees are young and haven’t been vaccinated.
Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, has a similar report, and noticed hardly anyone wearing a mask inside a restaurant where he went for carry-out. Right now, he would feel comfortable with guests in his house if all had been vaccinated, but not in a restaurant, where people seem too close together and you don’t know whether the people next to you are vaccinated. He reminds us that even as vaccines are coming, the rules of infection prevention have kept us safe until now and will keep us safe every day going forward.
Tuesday, March 23 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. We check in with KDHE Secretary Dr. Norman on the progress with the vaccine rollout, where more Kansans can find it, how combining the last two phases is going, and we'll check on the virus infection rate across the state
ATTENTION: media procedure for calling in:
The meeting is available by Zoom, both video and by phone. To join the Zoom Meeting by video, click https://kumc-ois.zoom.us/j/7828978628
Telephone dial-in Participants: For those without Zoom, call 1-312-626-6799, meeting ID: 782 897 8628.
The feed is also available via TVU grid. The TVU source is UoK_Health and is being made available to all.
Feel free to send questions in advance to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.