COVID-19 Miniseries Episode 57: Transcending the Valley of Death - COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Update

This episode was recorded on December 18, 2020.

To claim credit visit: https://ce.mayo.edu/covid19podcast

Guest: Gregory A. Poland, M.D. (@drgregpoland)

Host: Amit K. Ghosh, M.D., M.B.A. (@AmitGhosh006)

It is projected that by March of 2021 1:700 Americans will have died of COVID-19. The historic pace of COVID-19 vaccine development was made possible by the countless sacrifices of many individuals across healthcare, research, health and human services, the Department of Defense, and other key sectors. This interprofessional collaboration required many to set life aside and work tirelessly to bring an effective vaccine to market, quickly. While mRNA vaccines have been in development since the 1990s, the COVID-19 vaccine efficacy rate of 95-100% across studied ages, race and ethnicities, and comorbidities is unprecedented. The questions left to answer are, how long will the efficacy last? In larger population studies, what is the safety/allergy/hypersensitivity profile? What impact does the vaccine have on asymptomatic carrier spread? Who shouldn’t get the vaccine? Dr. Greg Poland breaks down everything you need to know about the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

Additional Resources:

• Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Page https://www.mayo.edu/research/labs/vaccine-research-group/overview
• Vaccine education spectrum disorder: the importance of incorporating psychological and cognitive models into vaccine education
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X11011881
• AskMayoExpert COVID-19 Resources: https://askmayoexpert.mayoclinic.org/navigator/COVID-19

Connect with the Mayo Clinic’s School of Continuous Professional Development online at https://ce.mayo.edu/ or on Twitter @MayoMedEd.