Glossary

• Virus– a type of germ that consists solely of a bit of genetic material (DNA or RNA) wrapped in a protein coat.  The coat gets the genes into the target cell where the genes force the cell to make zillions of new viruses (genes and protein coat), and on it goes.
• Variant- also known as a mutation, a variant strain of a virus is the same species of virus but with a change in the genetic code.  The change is minor if it has no impact on contagious the new variant is, or how deadly it is, or if it allows the virus to neutralize our vaccines. Variants that substantially increase harm are now listed by Greek letters, the most troublesome one now is Omicron.

• Coronavirus– a species name of a number of different viruses.  Called corona because its protein coat is studded with spike shapes that form a crown, halo, or corona of spikes
• SARS-CoV-2– the specific name of the new coronavirus
• COVID-19-the name of the illness that the new coronavirus is causing
• Endemic– an illness always present in a region.  One could say strep throat is endemic in the US
• Epidemic– a sudden burst of an illness that comes and goes over a limited time
• Pandemic– an epidemic that bursts across the world not just one region
• Spreadability– how contagious is the disease, how many people will end up infected
• Symptoms- the experience of being ill, for example- fever, cough, headaches, loss of smell etc.
• Asymptomatic– literally means “without symptoms”.  For COVID-19 it refers a person infected with the virus but has no and will have not symptoms
• Presymptomatic– This is a person who was infected with SARS-CoV-2, and will feel sick, but hasn’t yet
• Severity– what harm does the disease cause, in terms of  how sick you get and how many it will kill
• Mask- a mask is a loose-fitting cloth or textile that covers the mouth and nose loosely.  A surgical mask is a mask used in surgery
• Respirator-  for the purposes of the COVID-19 pandemic and other respiratory illnesses, a respirator is a mask that fits very snugly or tightly to the user’s face.  An N95 mask is a respirator.
• PCR Test–  swabs the nose to detect the genes of the COVID virus.  The genes if detected are almost certainly there, but they can persist long after contagion ends.  Very few false positives, positives can be trusted.
• Antigen Test (the home kit)- swabs the nose to detect the proteins on the coating of the COVID virus, the spike proteins.  If it does not detect those proteins, you are almost certainly not infected, negatives can be trusted.  These proteins are also on the coating of many common cold viruses, so one positive test may indicate you have a cold rather than COVID.  Two positive home tests though reliably indicate you have COVID.
• Vaccine Terms
• Vaccine or Immunization– a dose of a substance that activates your immune system, as if you have the actual infection you are hoping to prevent, leaving you in fact protected from having that infection.
• Efficacy– the percentage of people immunized with a particular vaccine who will not get infected if exposed to the target infection.  For example, a COVID-19 vaccine will be said to be 95% effective if 95% of people immunized with that particular COVID-19 vaccine will not get COVID-19 if exposed to COVID-19
• mRNA– DNA works by dictating exactly which proteins your cell will make.  The message on how to construct each protein is delivered to the cell machinery that makes proteins by a piece of genetic material called messenger RNA, or mRNA
• mRNA vaccine– an mRNA vaccine places a small bit of mRNA code that makes your cells make a protein that is the protein from a virus that alerts your immune system and activates it to make protections against you being infected
• Viral vector vaccine– a viral vector vaccine takes a harmless virus that is known to infect people reliably and places that weakened virus in a person where that virus will in fact infect the person.  The virus is not only weakened, but also attached to a set of genes  that makes your cells make a protein that is the protein from a virus that alerts your immune system and activates it to make protections against you being infected.

At Last- COVID Protection for Our Infants, Toddlers, Pre-schoolers!

The month of February opens with a very resounding blast of great news.

The data on the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 6 months old through 4 years old was so strong and good that the FDA asked Pfizer apply for authorization ASAP.

And today, we hear that Pfizer will be applying for authorization for offices such as ours at ACHP-Beachwood to at last be able to protect our older infants and toddlers and pre-schoolers starting as soon as the end of this month!

This is extraordinary news for everyone who has a baby, a toddler, a pre-schooler.  We have shared the agony of parents watching as protection against a deadly virus being granted to nearly everyone, but their young child.  We have shared the terrible burden that all parents of unimmunized children have faced, trying to protect their young children from a very deadly virus that threatens us all with unknown dangers.  We have watched as parents of young children have struggled to know if they can join large family gatherings, travel, attend programs, get together on play dates, knowing the Omicron is everywhere, and that their young children have been unable to get vaccinated.

Those days are now ending for every child ages 6 months old and up, period.  And they are ending THIS month.  I cannot tell you how happy I am to share this news.

Details on the COVID vaccine for the 6 month old to 4 year old

Here are details from Pfizer on the path to get your 6 month old to 4 year old at last protected from COVID

1. The first plan will be for the dosage to come in a three, not two, dose regimen.  Everyone 5 years old and up has been getting an initial 2 dose regimen with a booster approved for all 12 and up.
2. The reason for starting with a 3 dose plan is that Pfizer’s plan for the 6 months old to 4 year olds to have a dosage in their COVID vaccine of 3 micrograms (mcg).   To put that in perspective, everyone 16 years old and up gets 30 mcg and kids 5-11 years old get 10 mcg in every COVID vaccine.
3. It turns out that at the lower dosage, 3 mcg, the first two doses offer substantial protection, but not the same level of protection as the 10-30 mcg dose for older kids and adults.  The data strongly suggest that the use of a 3rd dose at the 3 mcg level will get all 6 months to 4 years old children up to the staggering level of protection from real harm seen in everyone 5 years old and up.
4. Because we now know the first two doses at 3 mcg provides substantial protection against the harms of COVID to infants through pre-schoolers, the FDA concluded that we need to make this available ASAP, get those doses going, while final authorization of the 3rd dose is completed.
5. And so, therefore, the United States will in fact be opening the door, will be urging all parents to start the absolutely wonderful process of ending the threat of COVID to their 6 months old to 4 year olds very, very soon.

Will Our Children Close the Door on This Pandemic?

This wonderful gift of February puts every parent in the United States of all children ages 6 months old and older, nearly every child, in the remarkable position of being the final link in ending the catastrophe of COVID.

We KNOW for a fact, looking at every County, every precinct in the United States, that neighborhoods that are more highly immunized suffer shockingly lower death rates from COVID. Period.

And the level of protection from being killed by COVID is shocking, because the risk doesn’t go down 50%, or even 100%, but 1600%!  How is that possible, isn’t 100% the most you can get on a test.  Not on this test, because the chance someone in your county or precinct will die from COVID drops 16 fold, 16 fold!! if you are immunized.

It really comes down to a choice between living and dying, and now the choice for living is being extended to our babies.

There is no doubt whatsoever that should everyone, all adults, and all parents of all children 6 months old and up, get everyone immunized against COVID that death from COVID will shrink in America so dramatically it will stun the nation.  Death from COVID will shrink in America so dramatically that the long awaited move from pandemic to endemic will begin.  Death from COVID will shrink in America so dramatically that the lives of all Americans will become so normal.

Of all Americans, we are very sad to report, the group MOST likely to choose not to be protected against COVID and all it threatens are our 5-11 year old children, who remain only 25-30% immunized.  This means the vast majority of parents of children ages 5-11 have chosen fear over protection.  The data are dramatic and convincing, you are vastly safer WITH the vaccine than WITHOUT the vaccine, at all ages.  Period.   Choosing not to vaccinate your child against COVID only continues the threat to their health and the health of all the unimmunized including vulnerable parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends.  This is NOT a theoretical danger.  Right now over 2500 Americans die of COVID every day, largely due to people’s choice to not immunize.  Should that number of deaths continue for a year, we could be choosing to end the life of nearly 1 million MORE Americans simply out of fear of a vaccine that has already been proven to be safer than aspirin.

As we at last make the surest protection against COVID to all 6 months old and older, we call on every parent to get all their children ages 5 and up immunized against COVID, and very soon, perhaps at the end of this month, all their children after they turn 6 months old immunized against COVID.

The greatest killer of all our lives remains at large, we each hold the key to lock the door to end the death, to end the catastrophe, to save the lives of those we love and care for, all with a simple vaccination that carries no substantial risk at all.

Bottom Lines

1. The Day is Finally Here.  All our children as soon as they turn 6 months old will be able to be protected from the very real dangers of COVID, as soon as the end of THIS month.
2. The COVID vaccine for 6 months old to 4 years old children will be a 3 dose series, a 3 dose series for their primary series, not including any boosters later on.
3. The US government through its leading experts, the FDA, is so impressed with the ability of the Pfizer vaccine to protect 6 months old to 4 years old children, it has asked Pfizer to apply for authorization ASAP and Pfizer will do so, as early as TODAY.
4. Once Pfizer applies for this authorization, the FDA will review the data and if it authorizes will then turn it over to the CDC for review and see if it recommends folks like me give it.  Once the FDA authorizes and the CDC recommends, then pediatricians across the nation will be giving COVID vaccine to all children ages 6 months old and older.  This could start as early as the end of THIS month.
5. The authorization being sought today will be for the first 2 doses of the 3 dose COVID vaccine, which have already been proven to help, while the trials that will demonstrate the 3rd dose brings young children to full levels of protection and completes their primary series of COVID vaccine are completed and lead to authorization of that final primary dose.
6. THIS IS A GREAT DAY.  The awful months of watching everyone being able to be protected against COVID except our youngest are finally coming to an end.   Now everyone 6 months old and older can look forward to a day, and a day coming very soon, when we can all travel, get together, be at the great events of our lives, attend school, be with family, be with friends, without danger to our lives or the lives of those we love.
7. We do note that there are no plans to develop a vaccine program for newborns and young infants.  Children 0-5 months old will not have a COVID vaccine available any time soon, but even they will enjoy vaster more protection if everyone ages 6 months old and older gets fully protected, COVID will dramatically recede as a threat to EVERYONE, if only EVERYONE who can gets COVID vaccinated.

My One Takeaway Sentence:

The final steps to allow all of our children ages 6 MONTHS OLD AND UP begins today, we urge, we plead, we celebrate all parents providing this extremely safe vaccine to all their children 5 years old and up NOW and 6 months old and up SOON, lives literally hang in the balance.

To your health,
Dr. Arthur Lavin