Information was provided by Dr. Craig Whiting, Texas Department of State Health Services Local Health Authority, and Marsha Hardy, Emergency Management Coordinator for San Saba County, and Donna Webb, Editor - San Saba News & Star
Here are the latest numbers reported to Marsha Hardy on August 13th per the Department of State Health Services [DSHS] for San Saba County:
1. New Confirmed and Probable Cases entered on 8-12-21: 5
2. Confirmed Cases Reported since 7-29-21: 18
3. Confirmed Cases Reported since 7-13-21: 27
So, in the last 30 days, San Saba County has reported 27 cases of Active COVID, with 18 of them being reported in the last 15 days and 5 of them since 8-12-21.
Message by Dr. Craig Whiting -
No questions by community members were raised for Dr. Whiting this week. Thus, Dr. Whiting addressed the following questions/ concerns regarding vaccines and their characteristics:
• What is mRNA, and how do mRNA vaccines work?
Messenger RNA (mRNA) provides a recipe that your cells can use to make proteins. SARS-CoV-2 vaccines include instructions to make one portion of the virus (the spike protein) that is harmless by itself. After injection, the cells in your arm muscles pick up the mRNA, make the protein, and display it on the cell's surface. Your immune system sees the protein and learns how to make an immune response against it. If you are infected with SARS-CoV-2, your immune system recognizes the same spike protein and can quickly induce an immune response to fight the virus.
• What are the advantages over other vaccine strategies?
Safety: Unlike live-attenuated or viral-vectored vaccines, mRNA is non-infectious and poses no concern for DNA integration— mainly because it cannot enter the nucleus which contains DNA. Other strategies such as proteinbased or inactivated vaccines also require chemicals and cell cultures to produce. mRNA is made through a cell-independent process and does not require inactivation; thus, it poses no safety concerns due to contamination with toxic agents.
Efficacy: mRNA is rapidly degraded in the body, and cells don't readily take up foreign mRNA. Recent technology has modified the mRNA molecule to make it more stable and packaged the molecules in fats (called lipids), increasing cell delivery efficiency. These advances increase the amount of spike protein produced on your cells, thereby stimulating a more effective immune response.
Production: mRNA can be quickly designed and scaled up, if necessary. The manufacturing is sequence-independent, which makes it highly adaptable to different pathogens. The cost is also lower than other platforms and will continue to decrease as the technology expands.
Reference: credit https://www. vumc.org/
Message by Editor -
To help our community come to grips with this surge of the virus and to answer questions that you may have, you can submit your questions via email to: editor. sansabanews@centex.net, or online at the San Saba News & Star Facebook page. Questions can cover the virus and vaccine, as well as treatments that may be available.
Each week, Dr. Whiting will address a focal point of submitted questions covering the topic with pertinent information. As the Local Health Authority with Texas Department of Health Services for San Saba County, Dr. Whiting has access to resources to help find answers for the community’s concerns and inquiries.
Please limit your submissions to questions only. No opinions or criticisms will be addressed in these articles. San Saba News & Star encourages and appreciates your questions for this new series by Dr. Whiting.