Doctor: The COVID-19 numbers are unrelenting. Get the vaccine.

Gina DiPietro 0:06

The covid 19 pandemic has caused more devastation than any disease in recent American history. Frontline medical staff have a close up view of the sadness and they too have opinions about the vaccine. Welcome to Novant Health healthy headlines. I'm Gina Teatro. The safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine is well documented, yet some Americans aren't interested in receiving it. In this episode, Dr. David pierce a Novant Health hospitalist talks to Cliff Burton's about the damage he's seen from the virus, the uncertainty for those who have contracted COVID-19 and why you should strongly consider getting vaccinated. Thank you for listening.

Cliff Mehrtens 0:47

You treated a lot of COVID 19 patients I've heard, tell me what you've seen close up, we hear the stories about people being alone, you're the only person they see you're the conduit between them their family, sometimes, obviously, it's hard on them, but how hard is it on you as the as the caregiver?

Dr. David Pearce 1:06

It, it is

it's heart wrenching. And I think it divides me as a person.

The way I've seen it,

just carve, you know, an entire half of a family away from the from the face of the earth.

You know, I treat of treated

folks that have

gone to the ICU and died and I've treated other folks who I was able to discharge home just in time to make it to their spouses funeral. Wow.

Cliff Mehrtens 2:50

What's been the biggest reason and if you had a lot of conversations with people about the vaccine, obviously, we knew it was coming, but what seems to be their biggest

Is this sort of like the people who think a flu vaccine, you're actually getting injected with some flu, and it's gonna make you even though that's wrong?

In back to the vaccine, do you get a lot of questions from family members and friends? Today? I want to talk about the vaccine or question you about it.

Dr. David Pearce 1:47

And I've held father's ends as they weep at the news that their young adult children have died from the same disease, lamenting that it should have been them. And not, not knowing not knowing what to say, you know, people ask why this is happening. And I hear a lot of folks to say I thought I did everything right, I still got the I still got this virus and I think the vaccine could, could definitely take that out of the equation. You know, I really, I believe that that it will, it will protect and shield, the majority of people from this kind of devastation.

Cliff Mehrtens 3:00

fear of it or step toward not getting it.

Dr. David Pearce 3:06

I think people are concerned that the vaccine is going to make them sicker than the illness May. I think that's what people are scared of.

You know, that's difficult to say, because I don't spend as much time I guess, speaking to folks about the vaccine, as I do in the trenches with this with the illness in particular, you know, to know exactly what people's hesitation is, but I know that, as a physician, my experience has been with with other vaccines and like the flu, that people do they feel or they fear the effects of the vaccine, you know, body aches, or and then of course, there are there's a whole school of thought out out there that that vaccines cause very untoward effects isn't the bottom line that a vaccine protects you against that illness. And really, that's

Cliff Mehrtens 4:06

the goal. I mean, that happened with measles that happened with polio, that's gonna happen with this one. You know, people are worried about others and But really, the bottom line is, it protects one person from one disease. When it first started, there was a big surge, I remember there was a lot of a lot of attention given to to caregivers, people on the frontline like yourself, what you guys were going through, but you've been doing this a long time now.

Dr. David Pearce 4:36

I remember the first time that I had to gown up and go into a room with a patient that I knew was positive with COVID and I was terrified

Unknown Speaker 4:45

for fear of

Dr. David Pearce 4:48

Well, I think for fear of contracting the illness myself, right. And, you know, I think we everyone has done done the very best they can with with PE and, you know, our administration has done a great job of obtaining PPD for us and making that, you know, a real possibility or a real safety net, I think. But the exposure is still there. Yeah, people are, people are dying, people are sick. And the numbers are unrelenting. And everyone's I think everyone's feeling really overwhelmed right now.

Cliff Mehrtens 5:31

What else sticks out in your mind when you when you lay your head down? You think in those quiet moments? What, what jumps out at you about this disease that someone on the outside might not realize?

Dr. David Pearce 5:42

We have no idea the what the aftershocks are going to be with this disease. For the for the people who survive it. never seen anything like this. I mean, you can try to draw some comparisons with the original SARS virus from the early 2000s. And, and in some respects, I think we've seen a little bit of the same trends. But I have deep concerns that they're they're going to be some long lasting, chronic illnesses in the individuals who seem to suffer most from this disease. And I, you know, I've taken care of, of other physicians who have been otherwise healthy and we are both face to face at a loss. When the question comes up, as it does point, am I going to get over this? And the answer is I'm not sure. I don't know.

Cliff Mehrtens 6:44

For a lot of us who's to say a 25 year old, what what's gonna happen 20 years from now, are you long, it's gonna be hard, your heart gonna be affected?

Dr. David Pearce 6:53

You can't. And if you look at the if you look at the numbers from the SARS, the original SARS virus, they do have some data. And there's there was at least one paper where they followed folks 15 years out to see, you know, and in particular, the individuals with acute respiratory distress syndrome develop the most severe form of lung injury. With the SARS virus, about four to 6% of those individuals at 15 years out still were having problems, but remember that disease never made it out of China. And and same with Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, which is also a Coronavirus in the I think 2000 10s range that or a time period that that also was a similar outbreak and but we haven't seen worldwide numbers like this ever, you know, not not not since I think the the flu pandemic of 1918 in terms of overall severity. And we really d...