Developing the COVID-19 vaccine was the first monumental milestone on a long and arduous journey to achieving the entire U.S. population’s vaccination. One of the barriers to achieving this task is the absence of a reliable, scalable way to uniqu…
Category: Conditions
Not all frontline health workers who need priority vaccination are doctors and nurses
Canadians breathed a huge sigh of relief when the federal government approved the first COVID-19 vaccine and saw the first immunizations take place. The end of the pandemic and the prospect of a return to normal, whatever that means, became a real poss…
Grief during the pandemic
With this third surge and our ICUs at zero capacity in Los Angeles, I spent New Year’s Eve alone at my apartment, recovering from a wards rotation I had completed the night before. No revelry or celebration for me this year. For months, this virus ha…
Why this critical care doctor got the COVID-19 vaccine
December is typically busy in the ICU. Flu and respiratory viral pneumonia cases start trickling into the ICU, interspersed with cardiac arrests, strokes, pulmonary emboli, septic shock, and COPD exacerbations. The ICU census starts creeping up. Decemb…
As a busy primary care doctor, here is what I am facing
I’m really so grateful when people take the time to ask this. But when I respond, candidly, that it’s been tough and I’m definitely not doing great, I often hear, “But you haven’t had any patients who have died from COVID, have you? And you got the vac…
The consequences of the coronavirus pandemic are eternal
She was rather calm during her visit. It was the first time we’d met, and she was establishing primary care with our office and me. We were both delighted to learn she was from a small Georgia town not too far from where I previously practiced, and w…
Why some patients refuse care
Vince Hamilton has no legs. For that matter, he has lost the tips to most of his fingers as well. It made opening soda cans almost impossible. So when I saw him for the first time, my immediate reaction was one of sympathy. He had been admitted from …
Upholding the principles of informed consent in the fight against vaccine hesitancy
Experts have taken to social media to quell misinformation and address common concerns about Pfizer’s messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccine, performing an important public service in support of robust vaccine uptake. However, some scientific informatio…
Under the COVID testing tent
As a podiatrist, Dr. M usually focuses on feet. But years of military service and expertise in program implementation and measurement qualified him for another clinical job, setting up a COVID test site. Testing stations were available in the suburbs, …
An unexpected COVID-19 vaccine side effect
Introduction Today, I had my second shot of the Pfizer vaccine and suffered an unexpected and unreported side effect. That’s the problem with a new medical treatment; you never know what might happen. Transformation Just a few seconds after the needle …
