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Dr. Jerome Adams on monkeypox reports in Marion County

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Dr. Jerome Adams, WISH-TV’s medical expert and a former U.S. surgeon general, talked Wednesday about the latest monkeypox news.

Marion County on Wednesday reported two probable cases of monkeypox.

Adams said, “It’s important for people to understand we’re going to continue to see more cases of monkeypox. We know that for all the cases that we’re seeing is just the tip of the iceberg, but people don’t need to panic. What they need to do is understand that this is a disease that’s spread by very close person-to-person contact. It’s predominantly impacted the gay community; men who have sex with men thus far, but we know that anyone who comes into contact with someone who has monkeypox is at risk, and that’s why we want people to just be aware, not panicked, not concerned, overly concerned but aware. If you have a new rash, talk to your doctor because there are medications, vaccines and treatments for people that can help prevent monkeypox, or to alleviate the symptoms of monkeypox that’s the key here.”

FDA gives emergency use authorization to Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine

“We have the two mRNA vaccines that are available so far Moderna and Pfizer. You have the Johnson & Johnson vaccine which is no longer recommended. What’s new about this Novavax vaccine is it’s a protein subunit vaccine. It’s made through traditional vaccine technology, and so it may be more accepted by people who are wary of the mRNA technology. It’s also not been made from cell lines that were derived from aborted beetle cells, and people who have religious objection may also be willing to get the Novavax vaccine. Important to remind people that the pope, the prominent Jewish leaders, prominent Muslim leaders all have said they are fine with their other followers getting the mRNA vaccine. This is a new option for the 10% of adults out there who are unvaccinated and it’s also highly effective, at least in preliminary studies as effective or more effective even by a little bit than the mRNA vaccines,” Adams said.

White House releases new guidance on COVID-19 BA.5 variant

“I and other experts have been calling on the White House to have a briefing to help people understand that we are seeing a rapid, rapid rise in new cases because this new BA.5 variant along with the variant before BA.4 now composed about 80% of all cases and we’re starting to see hospitalizations go up in addition to cases; that’s what the White House revealed yesterday. We’re seeing hospitalizations take up; so far deaths haven’t gone up yet, but we know that usually lags behind hospitalizations. Unfortunately, they didn’t tell us much new about what they’re going to do to respond to this, it’s still pretty much on the individual. To the viewers out there, please remember that there are steps you can take to protect yourself. The number one thing that they talked about yesterday was getting boosted. Only about a third of people, adults out there for people who are eligible for a booster have gotten a booster, yet we know that it lowers your risk of getting severe injury and death from COVID significantly compared to people who were unboosted and unvaccinated. In my opinion, I don’t think you’re going to see a return to rules and mandates particularly here in Indiana. What I think you’re going to see tough, is that cases are going to go up, hospitalizations are going to go up, and you’re going to see flights delayed, you’re going to see restaurants having difficulty staffing simply because more people are going to get the virus and get sick. Which is why I tell folks, even when there isn’t a mandate, I want you to understand the steps you can take to protect yourself. You can mask when you’re around people who you’re not familiar with, particularly with a high quality N95 mask. You can get vaccinated and boosted critically important; easy to do, and the most important thing you can do, especially now with Novavax as an option, ventilation is key being outside, opening windows. If you have symptoms, test because we have a great treatment packs loaded. that’s 90% effective at preventing you from going to the hospital even after you get COVID. So if we use these tools , we’ll be able to keep our society open. I don’t think it’s going to be the government, I think it’s going to be the virus that actually causes things to shut down in the fall if we all don’t do our part,” Adams said.

CDC: Pandemic led to surge in antibiotic-resistant superbugs

Adams said, “Antimicrobial resistance is when our antibiotics stop working because we’ve been over using them for things like viruses that antibiotics don’t work for. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) issued a report yesterday saying that antimicrobial resistance increased by 15% over the last year. The bottom line is we’ve got to walk and chew gum at the same time. We’ve got to focus on controlling COVID, but we’ve also got to worry about mental health, and antimicrobial resistance and missed cancer screenings and these other things that are going to impact our health moving forward. We’ve got to understand that if we aren’t more responsible about the way we utilize antibiotics; not demanding them for a simple cold. For instance then we’re not going to have these tools available in the future when we really do need them, and it could kill more people than even COVID has.”