IMPORTANT REMINDER:
Another vaccine clinic will be held Thursday, December 16th, at the San Saba Civic Center from 8:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. No appointment necessary; it’s a “drive-through” vaccination clinic. The clinic will offer initial vaccinations for those who have not received a COVID vaccination in the past, as well as booster vaccines for those who have had any of the three available vaccines. Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be available.
A booster is recommended for those 55 years of age or older or who have a medical problem that may put them at greater risk of contracting or dying from COVID. These problems would include diabetes, heart disease, obesity, use of immune modifying medicine and others. For those who received initial doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, a booster is recommended to be given six months after the second dose of the vaccine. For those who received the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine, a booster is recommended two months after receiving that vaccine. Either of the mRNA vaccines, Pfizer or Moderna, can be given as the booster for the Janssen vaccine. The mRNA vaccines have been shown to give a significant boost to the strength of the immunity that is obtained from the Janssen vaccine.
Message from Marsha Hardy:
These numbers provided by Marsha Hardy represent totals since the beginning of the pandemic, as well as current COVID-19 cases in San Saba County:
• Total Diagnosed Cases: 678
• Total Probable Cases: 328
• Recovered: 967
• Deaths: 29
• Current Cases as of 12/13/2021: 10
Message from Dr. Craig Whiting:
Multiple companies are currently working on treatments for people who have contracted COVID infections, as well as new ways to help prevent infection with COVID and its related viruses. While vaccines trigger your own body’s immune response to create protective antibodies, these new treatments fall generally into two categories:
1) Medicines that interfere with the virus’ ability to invade or reproduce in your body; or,
2) Medicines that introduce artificial antibodies into your body to ward off the virus.
The first type, medicines that interfere with the virus, would be effective for people who already have a COVID infection and they would be started promptly after the infection is identified. This type of medicine would be most effective if started within a few days of contracting the infection, much like the drug Tamiflu® in treating a case of influenza.
The pharmaceutical company, Merck, has developed such a medicine (generic name is molnupiravir) which is said to reduce risk of serious infection by 30-50%. A downside seems to be that a person will need to take 40 pills over a course of five (5) days. Pfizer has a similar medication (named Paxlovid) in development which combines a new medication with an existing antiviral medicine (ritonavir, long used to treat HIV) which is said to be almost 90% effective in preventing serious illness. It also needs to be started early and involves taking 30 pills over five (5) days.
The second type of medicine mentioned above, artificial antibodies, has been used for many months to treat those already infected. And now, AstraZenica has developed a product, Evusheld, which has been cleared by the FDA for emergency use to provide antibody protection to people who are unable to produce their own antibodies either due to illness or treatments which they are receiving. It could also be effective for people who cannot receive any of the COVID vaccines, due to an allergy to a vaccine component, for example. It appears that this product can produce effective protection against COVID for several months after receiving an injection.
Multiple other products are being researched and developed with the hope that we may soon have an arsenal of weapons against COVID, as well as against many similar viruses.