November 13, 2025 • 40 mins
Centered on Health 11-13-25 - Flu and Covid Vaccines with Dr. Jeff Tuvlin and Dr. Lindsey Snow.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's now time for Centered on Health with Baptists Help
on US Radio. Wait for each wyjs Now, here's doctor
Jeff Tubbler.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good evening, everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Centered
on Health with Baptist Health here on News Radio eight
forty whas. I'm your host, doctor Jeff Tublin, and we're
joined from our studio producer mister Jim Fenn, who's on
call waiting to take your calls to talk to us tonight,
and tonight is part of our series with doctor Lindsey Snow,
(00:32):
who is our guest again tonight and she's my co
host once a month for our series on the Doctor
is In and Chief Complaint, and tonight that chief complaint
is about vaccines and respiratory illnesses. So tonight we are
talking about something that affects every household. This season, we're
talking about vaccines and illness prevention. What should we know
(00:53):
right now about the flu and flu shots and COVID
boosters and how does vaccines fit into keeping us protect? So,
of course joining us tonight is doctor Lindsay Snow, a
primary care physician with the Baptist's Health System, a favorite
one of our guests and my co hosts for this
series once a month of the Doctor is in and
chief complaint our phone number five oh two five seven
(01:14):
one eight four eight four if you want to call
in and ask a question. Welcome to the show, Lindsey.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Thanks so much for having me, Doctor Tevlin, it's a
pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, you know, this is an installment number two of
our ongoing series Together, and tonight we're focusing on the
vaccines and certain types of illnesses. But I wanted to
just take a quick moment and let everybody know that
on Tuesday of this week, we celebrated Veterans Day and
our own doctor Lindsay Snow, is a veteran with the
United States Air Force, and we thank you so much
(01:46):
for your service, Doctor Snow.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Thank you. It's very kind of you.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, we are happy to have you. And as always,
you and I tackle a very ambitious agenda. So we're
going to try and get to as much of this
as we can. But I want to start off just
a little bit broadly, a little bit general in terms
of what we're really talking about tonight. You know, our
bodies are amazing, how they work. We do kind of
talk about that in some way in every episode, but
(02:11):
none more important than the way our body stays healthy
living in this world that we're surrounded with. So what
is the immune system and what does that mean for
our health?
Speaker 1 (02:23):
So, I, you know, it's funny that you mentioned the military.
I sometimes like, when I'm describing what the immune system
is to kids, I'll describe the immune system as like
the body's own personal army or police force. Its job
is to keep the bodies safe from external pathogens. And
(02:45):
so when we say pathogen, we mean bacteria, viruses, fungus,
anything that shouldn't be in there.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
And we're So that's the immune system. And tonight we're
talking about vaccine. So what is a vaccine. It's not
the treatment for a disease, So what what is a
vaccine and what does it do?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
So when you think about vaccines, they are incredibly cool.
So if we want to do you know, you know,
I'm a big history nerd, and these dates are rough approximations.
So in the seventeen hundred was a British doctor who
noticed that the people who took care of cows, the dairymaids,
(03:35):
didn't get smallpox. And smallpox is one of the most lethal, transmissible,
awful viruses that humanity has ever encountered, and preventing small
like if people at the time had any way that
they could prevent smallpox, you know, they tried all sorts
of things. But he noticed that the dairy maids weren't
(03:57):
getting smallpox. So he did some asking and he found
that the dairy maids would get cowpox, which is related
to smallpox, but not as lethal, doesn't cause scarring or
any of the long term effects that smallpox would. So
and this was definitely before the age of informed consent.
(04:17):
See a little cowpox blister and it sounds totally gross too.
He took a cowpox blister from a dairy maid and
made a little cut in a little boy's arm and
squirted some of that juice into it, and the little
(04:39):
boy developed cowpox, but he did not develop smallpox when
a kind of round of smallpox came through their village.
And so that's where the first that was the first vaccine.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Wow, that's a great story. So I know we're going
to talk about this kind of as a theme throughout probably,
but give us a gen idea is why does a
vaccine for one person matter like an individual person they're
they're then getting a vaccine other than for themselves. Why
(05:11):
is it so important?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Sure, So a vaccine works as sort of like a
wonted sign for your immune system. So if you imagine
the immune system as the defense system of the body,
a vaccine is sort of like, hey, if you see
this guy, take him out. He's not welcome here. So
it prevents that person from becoming a disease. And so
(05:35):
if we think about things from a diseases perspective, they
want to be spread, right, Microbes, viruses, bacteria, fungus. From
their perspective, they want to infect as many people as possible.
So vaccines are bad news for them because you know,
their face is already out there, right, So how can
(05:55):
one person getting a vaccine help? Well, not only does
it protect the person getting vaccinated, but you know, in
this time, we also need to think about our communities.
We don't know what all the people around us are
going through, and we don't know who they are coming
in contact with. Right, we don't know who has a
(06:17):
newborn baby at home, or a pregnant family member or friend.
Maybe someone's pregnant and they haven't told anybody, Right, That's
when pregnancies are very vulnerable. Maybe they have a family
member or a loved one who has cancer or is
immuno compromise that they take care of, maybe they have
a child. You know, there's so many people in our
community who we care about and we love and the
(06:39):
best way for them to be protected from these infectious
diseases is for the people who can be vaccinated to
prevent those microbes from having an additional way to get
to them. Basically, it's sort of like if you think about,
you know, like you're hopping on a rock. If we
(07:00):
remove some of the rocks, the vaccine can't get across
the other the microbe can't get across the other side.
And so that's what vaccination is, essentially, is trying to
remove people in that chain of transmission.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
And we're and we're going to focus a lot on
the actual you know, viruses and illnesses in a little bit,
but just it can be confusing. Why are some vaccines
you get them when you're a kid and that's it,
And some vaccines, like the flu, we have to get
it every year. Why is it so variable like that?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
So a lot of it depends on what the vaccine
is and what part of the pathogen or microbe is
being used, and if it's a sneaky, wily virus. So
viruses like flu and covid are in my mind, I
always like kind of personalized things, So I imagine them
(07:52):
as like like wiley coyote from Looney Tunes. You know,
there's all they've got these disguises. They're always changing things up,
they're trying to trick you, whereas things like measles or
mumps or polio, they don't change. So some virus some vaccines,
(08:18):
because a virus or a bacteria doesn't change. You only
need maybe one or you know, a booster every ten years.
But for pathogens that are tricky, that's why we have
to get an annual or you have to get you know,
more frequent vaccination.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And what's the difference between getting something annually like you describe,
because the virus might change from year to year versus
getting a booster shot or is that now are they similar?
Are they the same thing? What's the difference?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
So for and so this comes to where we get
into live versus inactive vaccines. So a live vaccine is
we're using a lot of martial terminology here, sort of
like the Bazuka of vaccines, right, So it's very potent.
It can often confer lifelong immunity, and it's the original
(09:16):
method of vaccination.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
You take a weakened form of pathogen and your immune
system forms a very long lasting, strong response to it. Right.
So that's measles Mom's rubella, vericella. Whereas an inactive vaccine
uses either a killed virus, so they take a lie virus,
they cook it or do something to it so it's dead,
(09:40):
but it still retains its molecular components or part of it,
or maybe something that it secretes. And so these vaccines
can't make you sick, and they stimulate the immune system,
but the response isn't as vigorous. And we do know
that immunity can change. You know a lot of people
have gotten tighter's checked for things that they thought they
(10:02):
were immune to, and maybe their immunity has gone down
for a lot of different reasons. So that's why sometimes
people have to get revaccinated or need a booster.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Fantastic. Well, we are talking tonight on our Doctor is
in Chief Complaint series with my co host, doctor Lindsay Snow.
We're talking about flu covid viruses, vaccinations. We are going
to be right back after this. I want to let
you know you're listening to Senate on Help with Baptist
Help here on news radio eight forty whas. Our phone
number five oh two, five seven one, eight four eighty four.
(10:37):
If you have a question and want to call in,
we'll be right back. Welcome back to send it on
Help with Baptus' Help here on news radio eight forty whas.
(10:59):
I'm your host, doctor Jeff Toblin, and we have our
co host tonight for our ongoing series of The Doctor
Is In and Chief Complaint with doctor Lindsey Snow. Our
phone number five oh two, five seven one, eight four
eight four, our producers on call to take your calls
and ask your questions. We're talking tonight about flu, COVID,
rsvb RSV, all sorts of viruses, and vaccinations. Doctor Snow,
(11:21):
welcome back.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
So you did a great job kind of laying the
groundwork of what the world of vaccinations is all about.
But I want to talk about the illnesses that make
us sick. So I want to start with the flu.
I mean, we all know we hear the flu, but
what is the flu, So.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
The flu refers to influenza, right, yes, and but influenza
isn't just the only virus that's out there, but it's
probably for the longest time has been one of the
major players kind of in upper respiratory virus. So I
(12:10):
always think of it as kind of like the big sister.
When is flu season.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Flu season wintertime usually when it gets cold, right, it
starts around this time of year, around October November when
it gets cold and lets that virus live and puts
us all in crowded spaces.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yeah, the so from the again, thinking from a viral perspective,
winter is a great time to be a virus if
you're transmitted by the respiratory system, so people coughing, sneezing,
because in cold air that doesn't have high humidity, respiratory
droplets actually can stay suspended for longer. So if somebody
(12:56):
coughs and then you walk through it, you can be
exposed to it. It Also, the virus can live longer
on surfaces, so that's where washing your hands, covering your
cough and if you have a cough, if you can
wear a mask when you're around others, can be a
way to reduce that transmission.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
And so when is the ideal time to get the
flu shot.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
So typically we think about flu season as October to
February or March, but that's not always the case. But
ideally we recommend starting in October to try and get
your flu shot by the end of October if possible.
The body needs around two weeks to really build up
(13:43):
those antibodies, which is kind of how the vaccine will
be most effective. But I had a patient recently who
was seeing me, you know, four days before they were
leaving on a trip overseas, and I was like, you know,
I think we should still get your flu and COVID
shot because giving your body a head start is better
than nothing at all.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
And is there a time in the flu season where
it's too late to get it, Like, if you don't
get it by a certain time, don't bother.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Personally, My practice is, you know, if you can't get
a flu shot, you should still get it because you again,
you don't know who you're going to be exposed to
or what the people around you may have going on. So,
since vaccines are all about community protection and caring for
our most vulnerable community members, you know, I'm a vaccine
(14:38):
all the way.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
So let me ask you a question, because we had
a caller come in but ironically enough, they have a
virus and was not wanting to be actually heard on
the radio, but they did ask that they were told
to go ahead and get their flu shot. And there
was a concern that if you get the flu shot
at the beginning of the season, that it might wear
off by the end and the flu season is still
(15:03):
going on. Is that a thing? Is that true? Is
getting it right at the beginning kind of a risk
for it wearing off over the season.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
So the best data we have is that the flu
vaccine lasts four to five months, So that's why if
you get it in October, you should be covered, you know,
through February.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
March, so during that during that real peak season.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, and most of the time flu shots aren't even
available until it would make sense to get them.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
That makes sense as well. So not everybody has to
get a flu shot? Who who is it recommended to
get one?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So when you say not everybody's recommended to get one,
what do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Is that true? Are there no? Is there an age
where it starts or an age beyond which you shouldn't
get it? What are what are the recommendations?
Speaker 1 (15:55):
So for infants we recommend after six months. We recommend
basically six months and up, as long as you've never
had a allergic reaction to the flu shot or any
of its components, or if your doctor has told you
you should not get vaccinated for one reason or another.
Maybe you're on this cancer regimen or a certain immunosuppressant medication.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
And you just said an allergic if you're allergic to
it or are the components? Can you expand on that
a little bit? Can people be allergic to the flu shot?
Speaker 1 (16:31):
You can, because you know, our bodies can decide to
hate anything at any point. So because there are you know,
preservatives and things in the flu shot, your body can
have a reaction to that. The flu shot formulation changes
slightly year to year, so just you can do fine
one year and not do fine the next.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
And is that the reason that? So I think we
all know or either have experienced or have heard some
who says that I got the flu shot and then
two days later I got the flu? Like, what is
going on in that situation? Are they really getting the flu?
Is it that the flu shot didn't work. Is it
a reaction that your body? Like, what's happening when someone
(17:15):
individually has that experience where they get the flu shot
but then they feel like they get the flup.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
So the flu shot is a inactivated virus, So because
it's inactive, it can't make you sick. If you feel
bad after a vaccine, that's your immune system doing its job.
The symptoms of illness, you know, fever, things like that,
are always that the body is trying to protect itself
(17:43):
and kill an invader. So those are symptoms of the
immune system activating. So sometimes people feel bad after a
vaccine and think that they've gotten sick from the vaccine.
Sometimes someone was already exposed to it before vaccination and
they developed symptoms afterwards. You know, are our human brains
are pretty funny in that we want to assign blame
(18:04):
for something, and a needle is a pretty you know,
our bodies are like, oh, we got a vaccine, So
anything bad that happened after that vaccine is because of
the vaccine and it's association. But again, correlation doesn't necessarily
mean causation. I saw a funny joke online that was
like everybody who's been in a car accident ate breakfast.
(18:24):
Therefore breakfast causes car accidents. No, that's not true.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
So yeah, that's a good way to think about the
difference between like a correlation and a causation. Yeah. Absolutely.
And I had a question for you that you answered
beautifully about why one person makes a difference. But what
would you say to somebody? It sounds like the way
you described it appropriately that everybody should have a flu shot.
So for somebody who says, you know, I am healthy,
(18:51):
I don't think if I got the flu. Even if
I got the flu, I probably won't get very sick.
What's your response to that in your practice if somebody
were to say that to you.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
So usually we kind of dig into okay, help me
understand this. And just because someone is healthy doesn't necessarily
mean that they are not at risk. So, for example,
the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five flu season
resulted in two hundred and eighty pediatric deaths, and of
(19:24):
those one half were healthy, they had no chronic health conditions,
and eighty nine percent were not fully vaccinated. So that
is a otherwise healthy child. So one hundred and forty
healthy children more kids that are in my son's elementary
school dead in a year from a vaccine preventable illness,
(19:47):
whereas in twenty twenty to twenty twenty one, the first
year of the pandemic, there was one pediatric flu death
in America.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
And what do you attribute what do you attribute that to?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
So that was when you know, the world was on lockdown.
Everybody was asking. Obviously a lot of that isn't sustainable
long term, but I think it provides a stark contrast
where you know, masking, stay at a home if you're sick.
All these things they can work. They can literally save lives.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
And just briefly I heard about like that there's a
high dose vaccine. Is that different than the regular vaccine?
Like what is it? And who is that right for?
Speaker 1 (20:32):
So the high dose vaccine is for folks who are
sixty five and older. So as people age, the immune
system also ages, and you know, isn't able to be
as robust as it once was. So the high dose
vaccine has a higher dose of the flu the inactive vaccine,
(20:52):
so that way it can give a little extra juge
to the immune system for people whose immune systems may
not be as robust as they were when they were.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Younger here, fantastic. Well, coming up, we're gonna tackle some
other viruses, RSV, COVID, shingles. We got a lot to
try and cover. We're going to take a short break here.
You're listening to Senate on Health with Baptist Health here
on news radio eight forty wahs. We're talking with doctor
Lindsay Snow, my co host for the Doctor Is in
(21:19):
Chief Complaint series. Our phone number five oh two, five
seven one, eight four eighty four. We'll be right back.
Welcome back to Senate on Health with Baptist Health here
(21:41):
on news radio eight forty whas. I'm your host, doctor
Jeff Toblin, and if you're just joining us, we're talking
tonight with doctor Lindsay Snow about respiratory illnesses, viruses, vaccinations.
It's part of our Doctor Is in Chief Complaint once
a month's series that doctor Snow and I are doing together.
We've talked about vaccinations, we've talked about the flu, and
(22:02):
we're going to move on and talk a little bit
about some other things that we need to be aware
of this this season. So jumping into to COVID, I know,
doctor so we heard so much about COVID for so long,
and then we didn't talk about it so much for
the last little bit. And so where are we with COVID?
(22:24):
What is the season for COVID and what should we
be thinking about this season?
Speaker 1 (22:29):
So COVID season is similar to flu and upper respiratory
season for you know, all the reasons that we talked about.
I always think about COVID as like the upstart little sister,
like influence has been around the longest, she's you know,
had her moment, and now little miss Rona is ready
(22:50):
for her time to shine and she's out there competing
with the flu right now.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
So who is recommended at this point? I know, you know,
we heard a lot about who gets what back in
the twenty twenty one and right in the heart of
the pandemic, But in twenty twenty five, going into twenty
twenty six, who should get the COVID vaccination?
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So similar to the flu, the recommendations are for people
who are older, pregnant people and children, and people who
are at increased risk of complication, and which I would
argue is anybody. You know, we focus a lot, I
think on death rates from viruses, which sometimes can be
(23:42):
very abstract, but you know, there are other things. So,
speaking of COVID, you know, four percent of children and
ten percent of adults who are unvaccinated who get COVID
will develop long COVID, which can look like chronic headaches, dizziness,
(24:04):
rapid heart rate, brain fog, upset, stomach fatigue, muscle aches, weakness,
body pain. And the thing that really stinks about long
COVID is we don't really have a treatment for it.
Like a study of people who have had long COVID
symptimes for twelve to eighteen months showed that at least
(24:29):
forty percent of them were unable to do one or
two major areas of their life, so that's taking care
of their home, cooking, cleaning, driving to work. Working as
a primary care doctor, I have a fair amount of
patients who will tell me I was a normal person
until I got COVID, and ever since then, my life
has been destroyed because now you know, they can't exercise,
(24:54):
they can't work, they can't do the things that they
used to do. And the vaccination for COVID reduces the
risk of developing long COVID. So whereas ten percent of
people who get COVID who are unvaccinated or under vaccinated
will develop long COVID. Only three point five percent of
people who are vaccinated will develop long COVID, so that
(25:15):
cuts the risk down significantly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Yeah, And is it still at this point kind of
like the flu shot where we're recommending them once a
year or is it less often than that?
Speaker 1 (25:28):
So for most people it's once a year, for people
who are over sixty five or high risk, it's every
six months.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Oh okay. And then from a practical standpoint, you know,
because we're all busy and we all get on in
our mind. Okay, I'm going to take care of this
and I'm going to go get my vaccinations. Like can
they be given together? Can you get them together? Or
do you have to come back multiple times to get
these vaccines?
Speaker 1 (25:50):
I would absolutely, I personally do both mine together because
I feel a figure. If you know, I'm going to
feel a little crummy because my immune system is doing
its job, I might as well just feel crummy one
time instead of sometimes.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
So you don't have to come back and do these
things like on different schedules. You can do them together.
Absolutely wonderful. So I know this is our our co
hosting show, and I know it feels doesn't. It probably
doesn't feel that way to you right now because I've
been asking you all the questions. But I'm gonna let
you talk to me a little bit about another topic
(26:24):
that I think people need to know about, which is shingles.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Yeah, so you know, tell me why you're a little
jazzed about shingles vaccination.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Well for me, Well, so, first of all, for me personally,
it's a very big deal in the conditions that I treat.
So I treat, as you know, I'm a gastroentrologist. I
treat a lot of patients that are on medications that
suppress the immune system, and one of the risks of
being on some of the treatments is a reactivation of shingles.
(26:56):
And so I think it's a good thing to talk about.
But to talk about that, we really need to kind
of understand what we're talking about. So, the Varicella zoster virus,
which is V is a virus that can cause two
different types of diseases. So the primary infection that most
of us are familiar with we call varicella, and that's
(27:17):
the other name that we know about that biased chicken pox.
And we're all pretty familiar with chicken pox. We all
know what that is and the ration and it goes
all over your body. But this Vericella zoster virus or
v ZV can cause a second type of disease, which
is zoster or shingles. And what happens is during the
(27:41):
vericella initial infection, the virus can actually go dormant or
hide in the nervous system of our body, and as
they specifically go to the sensory nerves, and so they
can sit there and they can be there for ever
and they could never cause an issue, or that virus
can reactivate and cause a condition called shingles.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I remember when me and my younger brother had chicken
pox before there was a viruslla vaccine for kids, and
he was so itchy and we were covering calamine lotion.
It was so miserable, and he was like, I hate
chicken pockets.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Yeah yeah, I mean it's not And I think what people.
So the vaccination for shingles is now a two shot series,
and there's one called shingrex which is the most common thing.
And you spoke earlier about the difference between a live
virus and a killed virus, and I think that it's
really important to know because the shingrex is not a
(28:47):
live virus, so you can get this and it is
very very important to get it, especially if you know.
We all see these commercials for all these medications for
rheumatard arthritis and for psoriasis, for Crohn's disease and altered
of clientis, and the number of people that are on
these medications is just growing and growing and growing. And
that's a good thing because these medications work amazing. But
(29:10):
one of the things that they do is they can
decrease your immune system and when you do that, you
are at risk for a reactivation of this the zv
or the veri Cela zaser virus, and you can get shingles.
And I don't know if anybody listening has ever had shingles,
but it is. It's extremely uncomfortable, it can be very painful,
and it can be very dangerous.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yeah. I had a patient come in. He was kind
of like a construction worker type guy, and I was
asking him, you know, okay, you do these vaccines. And
I was like, okay, do you want your shingles vaccine today?
And he was like yeah, And I was like, oh wow, okay,
I'm not that's enthusiastic.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
People aren't normally not excited, right.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Yeah, And I don't normally get folks like lining up
for a shingles vaccine. And he said that the meanest
lady at his work had shingles and was crying at
her desk, and if it could make someone as mean
as her cry, he didn't want any part of it.
And this was cracking up. Yeah, you know, and he's
exquisitely it's exquisitely painful. But what are some of the
(30:15):
other risks of getting shingles?
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So so, like you said, it's it's extremely painful. The
characteristic hallmark of a shingles outbreak is that, like we said,
these sort of go dormant in your nervous systems. So
whatever nerve track it is hiding in and it gets
reactivated from you see these reactivation along that it's actually
a very interesting phenomenon and it helps us make that
(30:40):
diagnosis very quickly because it goes along what we call
a dermatome, or along the line of where the nerves are.
And they can be these eruptions we talked about that
they can be very achy, very painful, but it doesn't
always just resolve there are conditions that go on called
post herpetic neuralgia, where patients have pain in that area
(31:01):
that go on far beyond the actual acute infection after
it's been treated. And depending on where the shingles present.
Most of the time it doesn't, but it can prevent
in places that can be very dangerous. It can prevent.
It can present in the eye, it can present in
the LUNs. So just like we talked about earlier with
you can be healthy and get through an illness, sometimes
(31:24):
things happen even to healthy people that cause them severe morbidity,
even if it's not mortality. So it's two doses, there's
six months within six months apart, we do red it
and it's it's extremely effective. So we're going to take
our final break right now and we're going to come
back and talk a little bit about one last virus
(31:45):
and some myths about what we're talking about. So you
are listening to Center It on Health with Baptists Health
here on news Radio eight forty whas my co host tonight,
doctor Lindsey Snow, we're talking about flue, COVID, shingles RSB.
If you missed any part of the show, download the
iHeart Radio app. It's free, it's easy to use, and
you can listen to the entire show. We'll be right back.
(32:19):
Welcome back to Senate on Help with Baptist Help. Here
on news radio eight forty WHGs. I'm your host, doctor
Jeff Tublin, and we're talking tonight with our co host,
doctor Lindsay Snow, about vaccines and respiratory illnesses. Remember to
download the iHeartRadio app to re listen to this or
any of our previous segments and have access to all
(32:39):
the other features the app to offer. Doctor Snow, welcome back.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
I am so happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
I'm trying to think of a We're happy quick. Well,
next month you can have we will have a pun available.
There is one I'm very curious about bringing up because,
for some reason, and maybe this is just me, I
feel like this just sort of came out of nowhere
and all of a sudden, we're talking about RSV. So
(33:09):
can you tell us a little bit about what RSV is?
And why are we just starting to hear about this?
Speaker 1 (33:18):
So RSV isn't news to me because in family medicine
you have to do pediatrics rotations, unlike interire medicine which
is no shade at all, And so we used to
think that RSV just affected kids. So every fall to
winter to early spring, the pediatric hospitals and ers and
(33:40):
pediatrician offices and family medicine offices and medped offices overflow
with sick, boogery coughing kids who have RSB, and it
actually causes fifty eight thousand or more hospitalizations a year
for kids. And the reason RSB is dangerous for kids,
especially babies, is because it can cause the respiratory muscles
(34:05):
that help them breathe. It just makes them do so
much work that they can actually go into respiratory failure
and have to be intubating, and if they can't get
medical care, they can die. So we used to think
it was just kids and babies, but surprise, surprise, RSB
can affect adults and it can cause it's caused over
(34:25):
one hundred thousand hospitalizations a year and six to ten
thousand deaths a year. And the thing that really stinks
about RSB is, unlike covid or flu, where we have
anti virals, there's no anti viral for RSB, so.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Mething like what if you've got it? There's no treatment, no.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Aside from you know, supporting the respiratory system, right like that. Okay,
So they developed this RSB vaccine because the research showed
that it was a significant cause of hospitalization and death
among older adults.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Is there a difference between the symptoms of RSV and
flu and all this or is it just somebody sick
and when you work them up you might diagnose it
as this particular virus.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
So in my experience, you know, in family medicine, primary
care clinic, and I also moonlighten urgent care. RSV last
year particularly would just cause this horrible lingering cough and
people would be sick with like the typical head cold
symptoms for maybe a week, but they would cough for
a month. And there was nothing we could do to
(35:39):
get rid of this cough because it's caused by a
virus and we don't have an anti viral for it.
So that last year in people you know who weren't
hospitalized the horrible lingering cough, you know, they would come
into the doctor's office two or three times, they would
be in urgent care every week. It was.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
It was pretty miserable, So correct me if I'm wrong.
But unlike the flu, who you gave us a very
lifelong span of people who should be getting that vaccine.
Who is the RSV vaccination appropriate for?
Speaker 1 (36:15):
So right now, we recommend that people who will deliver
during RSB season get it between thirty two and thirty
six weeks of pregnancy. So if your due date, you
know is guestimating, you know, maybe August or September to
March or April. And then if you have your baby
(36:35):
and baby didn't get the RSV vaccine while they were
in utero, getting the vaccine before their first RSB season,
and then they may need another dose if the baby
or the young child has certain you know, immunal compromise conditions,
or is undergoing cancer treatment, or has heart disease or
(36:56):
lung disease. And then adults age six dean over.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
And we have just under about two minutes or a
minute and a half left, And I just want to
ask you. We hear a lot that you know, there's
a lot of things we've talked about a lot of
vaccines on this list. Does getting too many vaccines do
something to overwhelm the immune system or people who might
(37:23):
be concerned about that, what would you say to them?
Speaker 1 (37:28):
That's a completely valid concern. You know, we all sometimes
I think for people who are on different sides of
something like vaccines, it can feel frustrating. But to me,
I always remember that at our core, everyone really is
just trying to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.
So by remembering that people's motivation is about love and
(37:49):
safety helps me. And you know something I always say
as a parent, You know, my daughter, my second child's
first food was probably cat food. So if your baby
has ever picked something up off the floor and eaten it,
they've been exposed to more antigens than in their vaccines. Additionally,
(38:12):
the vaccine schedule that's recommended, there's two important things. It
gives kids the vaccines when their immune system is ready
and able to learn right, it's able to take that
wanted poster. And it will protect the kid when they
are most vulnerable to that particular pathogen. So the reason
(38:32):
babies get a ton of vaccines in their first year
of life is because historically babies have been the most
vulnerable to these illnesses, you know, the childhood. If you
ever go into an old cemetery, the number of tiny
gravestones of people who never made it past one or two.
There's a ton of them and then after about the
(38:55):
nineteen fifties that changed.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Wells us that beautifully said though about the reasons to
think about the vaccines and getting them. So that was
really well said. Well, thank you, doctor Snow. This was
our second episode together of Chief Complaint. That's going to
do it for tonight's episode of Center on Help with
Baptis Health. We are your co hosts for this series,
doctor Jeff Tavlin and doctor Lindsay Snow. I want to
(39:20):
thank our producer mister Jim Fannon. Of course the listener
join us every week for another segment. We will talk
to you next Thursday. I hope you have a great weekend.
(39:42):
This program is for informational purposes only and should not
be relied upon as medical advice. The content of this
program is not intended to be a substitute for professional
medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This show is not designed
to replace the physician's medical assessment and medical judgment. Always
seek the advice of your physician with any questions or
concerns you may have related to your personal health or
(40:05):
regarding specific medical conditions. To find a Baptist health provider,
please visit baptistealth dot com,
It's now time for Centered on Health with Baptists Help
on US Radio. Wait for each wyjs Now, here's doctor
Jeff Tubbler.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good evening, everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Centered
on Health with Baptist Health here on News Radio eight
forty whas. I'm your host, doctor Jeff Tublin, and we're
joined from our studio producer mister Jim Fenn, who's on
call waiting to take your calls to talk to us tonight,
and tonight is part of our series with doctor Lindsey Snow,
(00:32):
who is our guest again tonight and she's my co
host once a month for our series on the Doctor
is In and Chief Complaint, and tonight that chief complaint
is about vaccines and respiratory illnesses. So tonight we are
talking about something that affects every household. This season, we're
talking about vaccines and illness prevention. What should we know
(00:53):
right now about the flu and flu shots and COVID
boosters and how does vaccines fit into keeping us protect? So,
of course joining us tonight is doctor Lindsay Snow, a
primary care physician with the Baptist's Health System, a favorite
one of our guests and my co hosts for this
series once a month of the Doctor is in and
chief complaint our phone number five oh two five seven
(01:14):
one eight four eight four if you want to call
in and ask a question. Welcome to the show, Lindsey.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Thanks so much for having me, Doctor Tevlin, it's a
pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, you know, this is an installment number two of
our ongoing series Together, and tonight we're focusing on the
vaccines and certain types of illnesses. But I wanted to
just take a quick moment and let everybody know that
on Tuesday of this week, we celebrated Veterans Day and
our own doctor Lindsay Snow, is a veteran with the
United States Air Force, and we thank you so much
(01:46):
for your service, Doctor Snow.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Thank you. It's very kind of you.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Well, we are happy to have you. And as always,
you and I tackle a very ambitious agenda. So we're
going to try and get to as much of this
as we can. But I want to start off just
a little bit broadly, a little bit general in terms
of what we're really talking about tonight. You know, our
bodies are amazing, how they work. We do kind of
talk about that in some way in every episode, but
(02:11):
none more important than the way our body stays healthy
living in this world that we're surrounded with. So what
is the immune system and what does that mean for
our health?
Speaker 1 (02:23):
So, I, you know, it's funny that you mentioned the military.
I sometimes like, when I'm describing what the immune system
is to kids, I'll describe the immune system as like
the body's own personal army or police force. Its job
is to keep the bodies safe from external pathogens. And
(02:45):
so when we say pathogen, we mean bacteria, viruses, fungus,
anything that shouldn't be in there.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
And we're So that's the immune system. And tonight we're
talking about vaccine. So what is a vaccine. It's not
the treatment for a disease, So what what is a
vaccine and what does it do?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
So when you think about vaccines, they are incredibly cool.
So if we want to do you know, you know,
I'm a big history nerd, and these dates are rough approximations.
So in the seventeen hundred was a British doctor who
noticed that the people who took care of cows, the dairymaids,
(03:35):
didn't get smallpox. And smallpox is one of the most lethal, transmissible,
awful viruses that humanity has ever encountered, and preventing small
like if people at the time had any way that
they could prevent smallpox, you know, they tried all sorts
of things. But he noticed that the dairy maids weren't
(03:57):
getting smallpox. So he did some asking and he found
that the dairy maids would get cowpox, which is related
to smallpox, but not as lethal, doesn't cause scarring or
any of the long term effects that smallpox would. So
and this was definitely before the age of informed consent.
(04:17):
See a little cowpox blister and it sounds totally gross too.
He took a cowpox blister from a dairy maid and
made a little cut in a little boy's arm and
squirted some of that juice into it, and the little
(04:39):
boy developed cowpox, but he did not develop smallpox when
a kind of round of smallpox came through their village.
And so that's where the first that was the first vaccine.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Wow, that's a great story. So I know we're going
to talk about this kind of as a theme throughout probably,
but give us a gen idea is why does a
vaccine for one person matter like an individual person they're
they're then getting a vaccine other than for themselves. Why
(05:11):
is it so important?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Sure, So a vaccine works as sort of like a
wonted sign for your immune system. So if you imagine
the immune system as the defense system of the body,
a vaccine is sort of like, hey, if you see
this guy, take him out. He's not welcome here. So
it prevents that person from becoming a disease. And so
(05:35):
if we think about things from a diseases perspective, they
want to be spread, right, Microbes, viruses, bacteria, fungus. From
their perspective, they want to infect as many people as possible.
So vaccines are bad news for them because you know,
their face is already out there, right, So how can
(05:55):
one person getting a vaccine help? Well, not only does
it protect the person getting vaccinated, but you know, in
this time, we also need to think about our communities.
We don't know what all the people around us are
going through, and we don't know who they are coming
in contact with. Right, we don't know who has a
(06:17):
newborn baby at home, or a pregnant family member or friend.
Maybe someone's pregnant and they haven't told anybody, Right, That's
when pregnancies are very vulnerable. Maybe they have a family
member or a loved one who has cancer or is
immuno compromise that they take care of, maybe they have
a child. You know, there's so many people in our
community who we care about and we love and the
(06:39):
best way for them to be protected from these infectious
diseases is for the people who can be vaccinated to
prevent those microbes from having an additional way to get
to them. Basically, it's sort of like if you think about,
you know, like you're hopping on a rock. If we
(07:00):
remove some of the rocks, the vaccine can't get across
the other the microbe can't get across the other side.
And so that's what vaccination is, essentially, is trying to
remove people in that chain of transmission.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
And we're and we're going to focus a lot on
the actual you know, viruses and illnesses in a little bit,
but just it can be confusing. Why are some vaccines
you get them when you're a kid and that's it,
And some vaccines, like the flu, we have to get
it every year. Why is it so variable like that?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
So a lot of it depends on what the vaccine
is and what part of the pathogen or microbe is
being used, and if it's a sneaky, wily virus. So
viruses like flu and covid are in my mind, I
always like kind of personalized things, So I imagine them
(07:52):
as like like wiley coyote from Looney Tunes. You know,
there's all they've got these disguises. They're always changing things up,
they're trying to trick you, whereas things like measles or
mumps or polio, they don't change. So some virus some vaccines,
(08:18):
because a virus or a bacteria doesn't change. You only
need maybe one or you know, a booster every ten years.
But for pathogens that are tricky, that's why we have
to get an annual or you have to get you know,
more frequent vaccination.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
And what's the difference between getting something annually like you describe,
because the virus might change from year to year versus
getting a booster shot or is that now are they similar?
Are they the same thing? What's the difference?
Speaker 1 (08:52):
So for and so this comes to where we get
into live versus inactive vaccines. So a live vaccine is
we're using a lot of martial terminology here, sort of
like the Bazuka of vaccines, right, So it's very potent.
It can often confer lifelong immunity, and it's the original
(09:16):
method of vaccination.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
You take a weakened form of pathogen and your immune
system forms a very long lasting, strong response to it. Right.
So that's measles Mom's rubella, vericella. Whereas an inactive vaccine
uses either a killed virus, so they take a lie virus,
they cook it or do something to it so it's dead,
(09:40):
but it still retains its molecular components or part of it,
or maybe something that it secretes. And so these vaccines
can't make you sick, and they stimulate the immune system,
but the response isn't as vigorous. And we do know
that immunity can change. You know a lot of people
have gotten tighter's checked for things that they thought they
(10:02):
were immune to, and maybe their immunity has gone down
for a lot of different reasons. So that's why sometimes
people have to get revaccinated or need a booster.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Fantastic. Well, we are talking tonight on our Doctor is
in Chief Complaint series with my co host, doctor Lindsay Snow.
We're talking about flu covid viruses, vaccinations. We are going
to be right back after this. I want to let
you know you're listening to Senate on Help with Baptist
Help here on news radio eight forty whas. Our phone
number five oh two, five seven one, eight four eighty four.
(10:37):
If you have a question and want to call in,
we'll be right back. Welcome back to send it on
Help with Baptus' Help here on news radio eight forty whas.
(10:59):
I'm your host, doctor Jeff Toblin, and we have our
co host tonight for our ongoing series of The Doctor
Is In and Chief Complaint with doctor Lindsey Snow. Our
phone number five oh two, five seven one, eight four
eight four, our producers on call to take your calls
and ask your questions. We're talking tonight about flu, COVID,
rsvb RSV, all sorts of viruses, and vaccinations. Doctor Snow,
(11:21):
welcome back.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
So you did a great job kind of laying the
groundwork of what the world of vaccinations is all about.
But I want to talk about the illnesses that make
us sick. So I want to start with the flu.
I mean, we all know we hear the flu, but
what is the flu, So.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
The flu refers to influenza, right, yes, and but influenza
isn't just the only virus that's out there, but it's
probably for the longest time has been one of the
major players kind of in upper respiratory virus. So I
(12:10):
always think of it as kind of like the big sister.
When is flu season.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Flu season wintertime usually when it gets cold, right, it
starts around this time of year, around October November when
it gets cold and lets that virus live and puts
us all in crowded spaces.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yeah, the so from the again, thinking from a viral perspective,
winter is a great time to be a virus if
you're transmitted by the respiratory system, so people coughing, sneezing,
because in cold air that doesn't have high humidity, respiratory
droplets actually can stay suspended for longer. So if somebody
(12:56):
coughs and then you walk through it, you can be
exposed to it. It Also, the virus can live longer
on surfaces, so that's where washing your hands, covering your
cough and if you have a cough, if you can
wear a mask when you're around others, can be a
way to reduce that transmission.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
And so when is the ideal time to get the
flu shot.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
So typically we think about flu season as October to
February or March, but that's not always the case. But
ideally we recommend starting in October to try and get
your flu shot by the end of October if possible.
The body needs around two weeks to really build up
(13:43):
those antibodies, which is kind of how the vaccine will
be most effective. But I had a patient recently who
was seeing me, you know, four days before they were
leaving on a trip overseas, and I was like, you know,
I think we should still get your flu and COVID
shot because giving your body a head start is better
than nothing at all.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
And is there a time in the flu season where
it's too late to get it, Like, if you don't
get it by a certain time, don't bother.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Personally, My practice is, you know, if you can't get
a flu shot, you should still get it because you again,
you don't know who you're going to be exposed to
or what the people around you may have going on. So,
since vaccines are all about community protection and caring for
our most vulnerable community members, you know, I'm a vaccine
(14:38):
all the way.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
So let me ask you a question, because we had
a caller come in but ironically enough, they have a
virus and was not wanting to be actually heard on
the radio, but they did ask that they were told
to go ahead and get their flu shot. And there
was a concern that if you get the flu shot
at the beginning of the season, that it might wear
off by the end and the flu season is still
(15:03):
going on. Is that a thing? Is that true? Is
getting it right at the beginning kind of a risk
for it wearing off over the season.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
So the best data we have is that the flu
vaccine lasts four to five months, So that's why if
you get it in October, you should be covered, you know,
through February.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
March, so during that during that real peak season.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, and most of the time flu shots aren't even
available until it would make sense to get them.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
That makes sense as well. So not everybody has to
get a flu shot? Who who is it recommended to
get one?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So when you say not everybody's recommended to get one,
what do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Is that true? Are there no? Is there an age
where it starts or an age beyond which you shouldn't
get it? What are what are the recommendations?
Speaker 1 (15:55):
So for infants we recommend after six months. We recommend
basically six months and up, as long as you've never
had a allergic reaction to the flu shot or any
of its components, or if your doctor has told you
you should not get vaccinated for one reason or another.
Maybe you're on this cancer regimen or a certain immunosuppressant medication.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
And you just said an allergic if you're allergic to
it or are the components? Can you expand on that
a little bit? Can people be allergic to the flu shot?
Speaker 1 (16:31):
You can, because you know, our bodies can decide to
hate anything at any point. So because there are you know,
preservatives and things in the flu shot, your body can
have a reaction to that. The flu shot formulation changes
slightly year to year, so just you can do fine
one year and not do fine the next.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
And is that the reason that? So I think we
all know or either have experienced or have heard some
who says that I got the flu shot and then
two days later I got the flu? Like, what is
going on in that situation? Are they really getting the flu?
Is it that the flu shot didn't work. Is it
a reaction that your body? Like, what's happening when someone
(17:15):
individually has that experience where they get the flu shot
but then they feel like they get the flup.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
So the flu shot is a inactivated virus, So because
it's inactive, it can't make you sick. If you feel
bad after a vaccine, that's your immune system doing its job.
The symptoms of illness, you know, fever, things like that,
are always that the body is trying to protect itself
(17:43):
and kill an invader. So those are symptoms of the
immune system activating. So sometimes people feel bad after a
vaccine and think that they've gotten sick from the vaccine.
Sometimes someone was already exposed to it before vaccination and
they developed symptoms afterwards. You know, are our human brains
are pretty funny in that we want to assign blame
(18:04):
for something, and a needle is a pretty you know,
our bodies are like, oh, we got a vaccine, So
anything bad that happened after that vaccine is because of
the vaccine and it's association. But again, correlation doesn't necessarily
mean causation. I saw a funny joke online that was
like everybody who's been in a car accident ate breakfast.
(18:24):
Therefore breakfast causes car accidents. No, that's not true.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
So yeah, that's a good way to think about the
difference between like a correlation and a causation. Yeah. Absolutely.
And I had a question for you that you answered
beautifully about why one person makes a difference. But what
would you say to somebody? It sounds like the way
you described it appropriately that everybody should have a flu shot.
So for somebody who says, you know, I am healthy,
(18:51):
I don't think if I got the flu. Even if
I got the flu, I probably won't get very sick.
What's your response to that in your practice if somebody
were to say that to you.
Speaker 1 (19:02):
So usually we kind of dig into okay, help me
understand this. And just because someone is healthy doesn't necessarily
mean that they are not at risk. So, for example,
the twenty twenty four to twenty twenty five flu season
resulted in two hundred and eighty pediatric deaths, and of
(19:24):
those one half were healthy, they had no chronic health conditions,
and eighty nine percent were not fully vaccinated. So that
is a otherwise healthy child. So one hundred and forty
healthy children more kids that are in my son's elementary
school dead in a year from a vaccine preventable illness,
(19:47):
whereas in twenty twenty to twenty twenty one, the first
year of the pandemic, there was one pediatric flu death
in America.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
And what do you attribute what do you attribute that to?
Speaker 1 (20:00):
So that was when you know, the world was on lockdown.
Everybody was asking. Obviously a lot of that isn't sustainable
long term, but I think it provides a stark contrast
where you know, masking, stay at a home if you're sick.
All these things they can work. They can literally save lives.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
And just briefly I heard about like that there's a
high dose vaccine. Is that different than the regular vaccine?
Like what is it? And who is that right for?
Speaker 1 (20:32):
So the high dose vaccine is for folks who are
sixty five and older. So as people age, the immune
system also ages, and you know, isn't able to be
as robust as it once was. So the high dose
vaccine has a higher dose of the flu the inactive vaccine,
(20:52):
so that way it can give a little extra juge
to the immune system for people whose immune systems may
not be as robust as they were when they were.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Younger here, fantastic. Well, coming up, we're gonna tackle some
other viruses, RSV, COVID, shingles. We got a lot to
try and cover. We're going to take a short break here.
You're listening to Senate on Health with Baptist Health here
on news radio eight forty wahs. We're talking with doctor
Lindsay Snow, my co host for the Doctor Is in
(21:19):
Chief Complaint series. Our phone number five oh two, five
seven one, eight four eighty four. We'll be right back.
Welcome back to Senate on Health with Baptist Health here
(21:41):
on news radio eight forty whas. I'm your host, doctor
Jeff Toblin, and if you're just joining us, we're talking
tonight with doctor Lindsay Snow about respiratory illnesses, viruses, vaccinations.
It's part of our Doctor Is in Chief Complaint once
a month's series that doctor Snow and I are doing together.
We've talked about vaccinations, we've talked about the flu, and
(22:02):
we're going to move on and talk a little bit
about some other things that we need to be aware
of this this season. So jumping into to COVID, I know,
doctor so we heard so much about COVID for so long,
and then we didn't talk about it so much for
the last little bit. And so where are we with COVID?
(22:24):
What is the season for COVID and what should we
be thinking about this season?
Speaker 1 (22:29):
So COVID season is similar to flu and upper respiratory
season for you know, all the reasons that we talked about.
I always think about COVID as like the upstart little sister,
like influence has been around the longest, she's you know,
had her moment, and now little miss Rona is ready
(22:50):
for her time to shine and she's out there competing
with the flu right now.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
So who is recommended at this point? I know, you know,
we heard a lot about who gets what back in
the twenty twenty one and right in the heart of
the pandemic, But in twenty twenty five, going into twenty
twenty six, who should get the COVID vaccination?
Speaker 1 (23:19):
So similar to the flu, the recommendations are for people
who are older, pregnant people and children, and people who
are at increased risk of complication, and which I would
argue is anybody. You know, we focus a lot, I
think on death rates from viruses, which sometimes can be
(23:42):
very abstract, but you know, there are other things. So,
speaking of COVID, you know, four percent of children and
ten percent of adults who are unvaccinated who get COVID
will develop long COVID, which can look like chronic headaches, dizziness,
(24:04):
rapid heart rate, brain fog, upset, stomach fatigue, muscle aches, weakness,
body pain. And the thing that really stinks about long
COVID is we don't really have a treatment for it.
Like a study of people who have had long COVID
symptimes for twelve to eighteen months showed that at least
(24:29):
forty percent of them were unable to do one or
two major areas of their life, so that's taking care
of their home, cooking, cleaning, driving to work. Working as
a primary care doctor, I have a fair amount of
patients who will tell me I was a normal person
until I got COVID, and ever since then, my life
has been destroyed because now you know, they can't exercise,
(24:54):
they can't work, they can't do the things that they
used to do. And the vaccination for COVID reduces the
risk of developing long COVID. So whereas ten percent of
people who get COVID who are unvaccinated or under vaccinated
will develop long COVID. Only three point five percent of
people who are vaccinated will develop long COVID, so that
(25:15):
cuts the risk down significantly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Yeah, And is it still at this point kind of
like the flu shot where we're recommending them once a
year or is it less often than that?
Speaker 1 (25:28):
So for most people it's once a year, for people
who are over sixty five or high risk, it's every
six months.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Oh okay. And then from a practical standpoint, you know,
because we're all busy and we all get on in
our mind. Okay, I'm going to take care of this
and I'm going to go get my vaccinations. Like can
they be given together? Can you get them together? Or
do you have to come back multiple times to get
these vaccines?
Speaker 1 (25:50):
I would absolutely, I personally do both mine together because
I feel a figure. If you know, I'm going to
feel a little crummy because my immune system is doing
its job, I might as well just feel crummy one
time instead of sometimes.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
So you don't have to come back and do these
things like on different schedules. You can do them together.
Absolutely wonderful. So I know this is our our co
hosting show, and I know it feels doesn't. It probably
doesn't feel that way to you right now because I've
been asking you all the questions. But I'm gonna let
you talk to me a little bit about another topic
(26:24):
that I think people need to know about, which is shingles.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Yeah, so you know, tell me why you're a little
jazzed about shingles vaccination.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Well for me, Well, so, first of all, for me personally,
it's a very big deal in the conditions that I treat.
So I treat, as you know, I'm a gastroentrologist. I
treat a lot of patients that are on medications that
suppress the immune system, and one of the risks of
being on some of the treatments is a reactivation of shingles.
(26:56):
And so I think it's a good thing to talk about.
But to talk about that, we really need to kind
of understand what we're talking about. So, the Varicella zoster virus,
which is V is a virus that can cause two
different types of diseases. So the primary infection that most
of us are familiar with we call varicella, and that's
(27:17):
the other name that we know about that biased chicken pox.
And we're all pretty familiar with chicken pox. We all
know what that is and the ration and it goes
all over your body. But this Vericella zoster virus or
v ZV can cause a second type of disease, which
is zoster or shingles. And what happens is during the
(27:41):
vericella initial infection, the virus can actually go dormant or
hide in the nervous system of our body, and as
they specifically go to the sensory nerves, and so they
can sit there and they can be there for ever
and they could never cause an issue, or that virus
can reactivate and cause a condition called shingles.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
I remember when me and my younger brother had chicken
pox before there was a viruslla vaccine for kids, and
he was so itchy and we were covering calamine lotion.
It was so miserable, and he was like, I hate
chicken pockets.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Yeah yeah, I mean it's not And I think what people.
So the vaccination for shingles is now a two shot series,
and there's one called shingrex which is the most common thing.
And you spoke earlier about the difference between a live
virus and a killed virus, and I think that it's
really important to know because the shingrex is not a
(28:47):
live virus, so you can get this and it is
very very important to get it, especially if you know.
We all see these commercials for all these medications for
rheumatard arthritis and for psoriasis, for Crohn's disease and altered
of clientis, and the number of people that are on
these medications is just growing and growing and growing. And
that's a good thing because these medications work amazing. But
(29:10):
one of the things that they do is they can
decrease your immune system and when you do that, you
are at risk for a reactivation of this the zv
or the veri Cela zaser virus, and you can get shingles.
And I don't know if anybody listening has ever had shingles,
but it is. It's extremely uncomfortable, it can be very painful,
and it can be very dangerous.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yeah. I had a patient come in. He was kind
of like a construction worker type guy, and I was
asking him, you know, okay, you do these vaccines. And
I was like, okay, do you want your shingles vaccine today?
And he was like yeah, And I was like, oh wow, okay,
I'm not that's enthusiastic.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
People aren't normally not excited, right.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Yeah, And I don't normally get folks like lining up
for a shingles vaccine. And he said that the meanest
lady at his work had shingles and was crying at
her desk, and if it could make someone as mean
as her cry, he didn't want any part of it.
And this was cracking up. Yeah, you know, and he's
exquisitely it's exquisitely painful. But what are some of the
(30:15):
other risks of getting shingles?
Speaker 2 (30:19):
So so, like you said, it's it's extremely painful. The
characteristic hallmark of a shingles outbreak is that, like we said,
these sort of go dormant in your nervous systems. So
whatever nerve track it is hiding in and it gets
reactivated from you see these reactivation along that it's actually
a very interesting phenomenon and it helps us make that
(30:40):
diagnosis very quickly because it goes along what we call
a dermatome, or along the line of where the nerves are.
And they can be these eruptions we talked about that
they can be very achy, very painful, but it doesn't
always just resolve there are conditions that go on called
post herpetic neuralgia, where patients have pain in that area
(31:01):
that go on far beyond the actual acute infection after
it's been treated. And depending on where the shingles present.
Most of the time it doesn't, but it can prevent
in places that can be very dangerous. It can prevent.
It can present in the eye, it can present in
the LUNs. So just like we talked about earlier with
you can be healthy and get through an illness, sometimes
(31:24):
things happen even to healthy people that cause them severe morbidity,
even if it's not mortality. So it's two doses, there's
six months within six months apart, we do red it
and it's it's extremely effective. So we're going to take
our final break right now and we're going to come
back and talk a little bit about one last virus
(31:45):
and some myths about what we're talking about. So you
are listening to Center It on Health with Baptists Health
here on news Radio eight forty whas my co host tonight,
doctor Lindsey Snow, we're talking about flue, COVID, shingles RSB.
If you missed any part of the show, download the
iHeart Radio app. It's free, it's easy to use, and
you can listen to the entire show. We'll be right back.
(32:19):
Welcome back to Senate on Help with Baptist Help. Here
on news radio eight forty WHGs. I'm your host, doctor
Jeff Tublin, and we're talking tonight with our co host,
doctor Lindsay Snow, about vaccines and respiratory illnesses. Remember to
download the iHeartRadio app to re listen to this or
any of our previous segments and have access to all
(32:39):
the other features the app to offer. Doctor Snow, welcome back.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
I am so happy to be here.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
I'm trying to think of a We're happy quick. Well,
next month you can have we will have a pun available.
There is one I'm very curious about bringing up because,
for some reason, and maybe this is just me, I
feel like this just sort of came out of nowhere
and all of a sudden, we're talking about RSV. So
(33:09):
can you tell us a little bit about what RSV is?
And why are we just starting to hear about this?
Speaker 1 (33:18):
So RSV isn't news to me because in family medicine
you have to do pediatrics rotations, unlike interire medicine which
is no shade at all, And so we used to
think that RSV just affected kids. So every fall to
winter to early spring, the pediatric hospitals and ers and
(33:40):
pediatrician offices and family medicine offices and medped offices overflow
with sick, boogery coughing kids who have RSB, and it
actually causes fifty eight thousand or more hospitalizations a year
for kids. And the reason RSB is dangerous for kids,
especially babies, is because it can cause the respiratory muscles
(34:05):
that help them breathe. It just makes them do so
much work that they can actually go into respiratory failure
and have to be intubating, and if they can't get
medical care, they can die. So we used to think
it was just kids and babies, but surprise, surprise, RSB
can affect adults and it can cause it's caused over
(34:25):
one hundred thousand hospitalizations a year and six to ten
thousand deaths a year. And the thing that really stinks
about RSB is, unlike covid or flu, where we have
anti virals, there's no anti viral for RSB, so.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Mething like what if you've got it? There's no treatment, no.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Aside from you know, supporting the respiratory system, right like that. Okay,
So they developed this RSB vaccine because the research showed
that it was a significant cause of hospitalization and death
among older adults.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Is there a difference between the symptoms of RSV and
flu and all this or is it just somebody sick
and when you work them up you might diagnose it
as this particular virus.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
So in my experience, you know, in family medicine, primary
care clinic, and I also moonlighten urgent care. RSV last
year particularly would just cause this horrible lingering cough and
people would be sick with like the typical head cold
symptoms for maybe a week, but they would cough for
a month. And there was nothing we could do to
(35:39):
get rid of this cough because it's caused by a
virus and we don't have an anti viral for it.
So that last year in people you know who weren't
hospitalized the horrible lingering cough, you know, they would come
into the doctor's office two or three times, they would
be in urgent care every week. It was.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
It was pretty miserable, So correct me if I'm wrong.
But unlike the flu, who you gave us a very
lifelong span of people who should be getting that vaccine.
Who is the RSV vaccination appropriate for?
Speaker 1 (36:15):
So right now, we recommend that people who will deliver
during RSB season get it between thirty two and thirty
six weeks of pregnancy. So if your due date, you
know is guestimating, you know, maybe August or September to
March or April. And then if you have your baby
(36:35):
and baby didn't get the RSV vaccine while they were
in utero, getting the vaccine before their first RSB season,
and then they may need another dose if the baby
or the young child has certain you know, immunal compromise conditions,
or is undergoing cancer treatment, or has heart disease or
(36:56):
lung disease. And then adults age six dean over.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
And we have just under about two minutes or a
minute and a half left, And I just want to
ask you. We hear a lot that you know, there's
a lot of things we've talked about a lot of
vaccines on this list. Does getting too many vaccines do
something to overwhelm the immune system or people who might
(37:23):
be concerned about that, what would you say to them?
Speaker 1 (37:28):
That's a completely valid concern. You know, we all sometimes
I think for people who are on different sides of
something like vaccines, it can feel frustrating. But to me,
I always remember that at our core, everyone really is
just trying to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.
So by remembering that people's motivation is about love and
(37:49):
safety helps me. And you know something I always say
as a parent, You know, my daughter, my second child's
first food was probably cat food. So if your baby
has ever picked something up off the floor and eaten it,
they've been exposed to more antigens than in their vaccines. Additionally,
(38:12):
the vaccine schedule that's recommended, there's two important things. It
gives kids the vaccines when their immune system is ready
and able to learn right, it's able to take that
wanted poster. And it will protect the kid when they
are most vulnerable to that particular pathogen. So the reason
(38:32):
babies get a ton of vaccines in their first year
of life is because historically babies have been the most
vulnerable to these illnesses, you know, the childhood. If you
ever go into an old cemetery, the number of tiny
gravestones of people who never made it past one or two.
There's a ton of them and then after about the
(38:55):
nineteen fifties that changed.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Wells us that beautifully said though about the reasons to
think about the vaccines and getting them. So that was
really well said. Well, thank you, doctor Snow. This was
our second episode together of Chief Complaint. That's going to
do it for tonight's episode of Center on Help with
Baptis Health. We are your co hosts for this series,
doctor Jeff Tavlin and doctor Lindsay Snow. I want to
(39:20):
thank our producer mister Jim Fannon. Of course the listener
join us every week for another segment. We will talk
to you next Thursday. I hope you have a great weekend.
(39:42):
This program is for informational purposes only and should not
be relied upon as medical advice. The content of this
program is not intended to be a substitute for professional
medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This show is not designed
to replace the physician's medical assessment and medical judgment. Always
seek the advice of your physician with any questions or
concerns you may have related to your personal health or
(40:05):
regarding specific medical conditions. To find a Baptist health provider,
please visit baptistealth dot com,
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