42 Doctors Told Us What They Think Of Boosters And Masks In The Face Of Omicron And Everyone Should Hear Their Answers

Having already endured new waves of the virus crashing immediately behind previous ones and witnessing the devastating effects from variants such as Delta, the country is now battling the most contagious strain of the virus yet: Omicron."Omicron appears to be much more infectious than prior variants," said Dr. Scott Wetstone, an associate professor of public health sciences at UConn Health at the University of Connecticut.Indeed, former CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden recently posted to Twitter that in his 30 years of studying infectious disease outbreaks, "I've NEVER seen anything like the speed of Omicron."Despite its unprecedented spread and danger, a whopping 37.4% of the country remains unvaccinated, with those unvaccinated individuals making up the vast majority of COVID-related hospitalizations.Dr. Julie Smith-Gagen, an epidemiologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, told me her sister-in-law's father couldn't receive adequate treatment for the chest pains he was experiencing because his hospital was "overwhelmed with unvaccinated sick people." She said, "He spent time in the hospital hallway and passed away a few days later." Wetstone lamented that Omicron could push our healthcare system "past its breaking point" and that "patients needing care for matters other than COVID won't get it.""It's unfortunate that people with various illnesses including cancers have to delay their care because unvaccinated patients with COVID are overwhelming the system," said Dr. Josef Neu, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Florida. "Multiple studies show that individuals who have previously been infected with COVID-19 still benefit from the vaccine and boosters, especially in reducing the risk of reinfections and protection against severe disease or hospitalizations," he said.Dr. Jesse Erasmus, a microbiologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, had similar advice. Each and every one of us would feel terrible if we passed on COVID to a vulnerable friend or family member."While the future of COVID-19 is still unknown, most public health officials told me they think it would be wise to recalibrate one's expectations about COVID vaccines and boosters from the "one and done" mentality to annual doses becoming likely."I anticipate seasonal outbreaks and hopefully effective boosters to control the spread and severity of the disease," said Dr. John Hokanson, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Colorado School of Public Health."COVID vaccines will be similar to the flu vaccine," Dr. Borrell offered.