FAU Schmidt College of Medicine Researchers and Collaborators Publish Commentary in ‘American Journal of Medicine’
October 26, 2023 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recently recommended vaccination with the COVID-19 vaccines that had been granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Sept. 11. These EUAs were issued to Moderna and Pfizer for their new and updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccines to combat the increasingly prevalent new variant for which prior natural or acquired immunity does not confer protection.
In a commentary published in the American Journal of Medicine, researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators provide the most updated guidance to health care providers.
“The war on COVID-19 continues to be fought valiantly and selflessly by health care professionals in communities and hospitals across the nation.,” said Allison H. Ferris, M.D., senior author, chair of the Department of Medicine, and program director of the internal medicine residency program, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine. “As competent and compassionate physicians, we must redouble our efforts to promote evidence-based clinical and public health practices, including vaccination of all eligible U.S. adults and children with the new vaccine.
A large body of reliable randomized evidence indicates that the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination on mortality and hospitalizations vastly outweigh the risk for all individuals aged 6 years and older. Moreover, vaccination of children eligible to receive the new COVID-19 vaccine will have major clinical and public health impacts by reducing their hospitalizations and deaths as well as those of their parents, grandparents, childcare providers and schoolteachers. While the absolute risks of severe COVID-19 are low in youths, the benefit to risk ratio is favorable toward vaccination.
In addition, COVID-19 vaccines are readily available and accessible with minimal out-of-pocket expenses. These favorable circumstances result from the collaborations between the pharmaceutical industry, the FDA, the CDC, as well as federal and private insurers. The updated COVID-19 vaccines are now readily available at most pharmacies, and sources can be accessed at Vaccines.gov. Health providers can reassure their patients that the Affordable Care Act mandates that insurance companies reimburse the cost for the updated vaccine for COVID-19 as well as all vaccines that are endorsed by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Further, the CDC’s Bridge Access Program for both underinsured and uninsured patients from participating providers, health centers and pharmacies. In addition, uninsured children are covered by the Vaccines for Children Program.
“In the face of continuing opposition to masking, social distancing and crowd avoidance in the U.S., vaccination is the best defense against a new emerging strain,” said Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.P.H., co-author, and the first Richard Doll Professor and senior academic advisor to the dean in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at FAU. “This approach coupled with a prescription of Paxlovid as needed during the first five days following infection will also further reduce hospitalizations and deaths.”
Study co-authors are Sarah K. Wood, MD, FAAP, M.D., senior author, director of the Harvard Macy Institute at Harvard Medical School and former professor of pediatrics and vice dean for medical education, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine. Dennis G. Maki, M.D., Ovid O. Meyer professor of medicine, director of the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit and an internationally renowned infectious disease clinician and epidemiologist from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and Mia Glickman, second year medical student, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine.
Maki and Hennekens served together for two years as lieutenant commanders in the U.S. Public Health Service as Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officers with the CDC. They served under Alexander D. Langmuir, M.D., who created the EIS and epidemiology program at the CDC, and Donald A. Henderson, M.D., chief of the virus disease surveillance program at the CDC. Langmuir and Henderson made significant contributions to the eradication of polio and smallpox using widespread vaccinations and public health strategies.
About the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine:
FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is one of approximately 155 accredited medical schools in the U.S. The college was launched in 2010, when the Florida Board of Governors made a landmark decision authorizing FAU to award the M.D. degree. After receiving approval from the Florida legislature and the governor, it became the 134th allopathic medical school in North America. With more than 70 full and part-time faculty and more than 1,300 affiliate faculty, the college matriculates 64 medical students each year and has been nationally recognized for its innovative curriculum. To further FAU’s commitment to increase much needed medical residency positions in Palm Beach County and to ensure that the region will continue to have an adequate and well-trained physician workforce, the FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Consortium for Graduate Medical Education (GME) was formed in fall 2011 with five leading hospitals in Palm Beach County. The Consortium currently has five Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited residencies including internal medicine, surgery, emergency medicine, psychiatry, and neurology. The college’s vibrant research focus areas include healthy aging, neuroscience, chronic pain management, precision medicine and machine learning. With community at the forefront, the college offers the local population a variety of evidence-based, clinical services that treat the whole person. Jointly, FAU Medicine’s Primary Care practice and the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health have been designed to provide complete health and wellness under one roof.
About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, FAU embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. FAU is designated a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report and a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.