By Mary O’KEEFE
COVID-19 numbers continue to rise in Los Angeles County and throughout the nation. The Delta variant is more contagious than previous variants and people who are not vaccinated may find themselves more severely affected by the virus, including being hospitalized.
“The Delta variant is the dominant variant in the world,” said Kimberly Shriner, MD, medical director and an infectious disease and tropical medical specialist at Huntington Hospital.
Shriner added the Delta variant is much more infectious than the original variant, Alpha, and may cause more severe illness. It also affects much younger people and, although she is not a pediatrician, she said the “reporting is pretty stark.”
In an Aug. 5 letter to the Food and Drug Administration from Lee Savio Beers, MD, FAAP, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the FDA was urged to continue its research into vaccines for children younger than 12 years old: “The [Delta variant] is seriously impacting all populations, including children. The AAP and the Children’s Hospital Association have been tracking COVID cases in children since the start of the pandemic. Last week saw the largest week-over-week percentage increase in pediatric COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. The data show 71,726 COVID cases in children reported last week, almost double the 38,654 reported in the previous week. Simply stated, the Delta variant has created a new and pressing risk to children and adolescents across this country, as it has also done for unvaccinated adults.”
More children are being hospitalized due to the Delta variant.
The number, said Shriner, is the “same as adults who chose not to get vaccinated. There are two worlds: vaccinated and unvaccinated.”
Vaccinated people can test positive for COVID-19 and have symptoms but are less likely to become seriously ill and require hospitalization. Unvaccinated people are more likely to be hospitalized and die from COVID. On Tuesday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study that found unvaccinated people are 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than those who are fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated people are about five times more likely to be infected with COVID than those who are vaccinated against the virus.
The vaccines do protect most people from becoming seriously ill from the Delta variant; however, there is concern about future variants.
“Yes, that is a huge concern,” Shriner said. “I am an HIV specialist as well. Any virus can replicate.”
Lambda is a “variant of interest” … and is not the only one.
“The big fear we have is a representation [variant] that is not covered by the vaccines,” Shriner said. “It isn’t entirely bleak; these vaccines are highly protective and safe for most individuals … The vaccines are holding but not preventing transmission.”
She added thus far the current vaccines are effective against the Delta variant. If there is a variant in the future in which the vaccine is not as effective she assured “We can change the recipe” to create a new vaccine that will adjust to a new variant.
A problem that those in the medical field is facing is misinformation surrounding COVID-19 and especially with the vaccine. Reported stories throughout the nation speak of those who find themselves in the hospital sick with COVID-19, are very ill and, in some cases, are not expected to survive. Doctors have reported that patients who find themselves in this situation then ask for the vaccine; unfortunately, that is not how vaccines work.
Other reports are of doctors who tell their patients they do not need the vaccine, that summer heat will keep COVID away. Recently the Federal Drug Administration, along with other health officials, warned people not to use a drug called ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19.
This drug has only been approved as an anti-parasitic treatment for humans and animals such as livestock and horses. The drug for humans is produced differently than the drug used for animals. In Mississippi, there were reports of several people hospitalized or treated for self-medicating with ivermectin intended for horses. This prompted the FDA to issue the warning, “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
“[Misinformation] is a very big problem with trusted individuals [sharing] incorrect and inaccurate or false information,” Shriner said. “Sunshine doesn’t protect you … look at the real data.”
Shriner added that with the transmission of the Delta variant there are two scenarios.
“Either you are vaccinated against COVID-19 or you are going to get COVID,” she said.
She added Huntington Hospital, like most other medical facilities, is seeing an increase in cases with a majority of those hospitalized being unvaccinated.
“We are seeing a very high volume in [the Emergency Department],” she said. “This [current increase] is preventable if people just get vaccinated …You don’t want to be that person who says they will wait.”