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Clinical Research Helps With Healthcare Hurdles

• Dr. Michael Koren, Kevin Geddings

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Dr. Michael Koren joins Kevin Geddings to discuss the current state of COVID vaccines and research. The cardiologist weighs the real risks and benefits of COVID vaccines, focusing on who may need protection the most and who might be able to skip this year's booster. Dr. Koren also talks about the new prescription mandate for COVID vaccines, and how joining a clinical trial may help some people clear that burden more easily.

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Have a question for Dr. Koren? Email him at askDrKoren@MedEvidence.com

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Music: Storyblocks - Corporate Inspired

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Announcer:

Welcome to the MedEvidence! radio show, hosted by Kevin Geddings of WSOS St. Augustine Radio and powered by ENCORE research group. Each Monday Morning Dr. Michael Koren calls in to bring you the latest medical updates and insightful discussions. MedEvidence! is where we help you navigate the real truth behind medical research. Both the clinical and research perspective. So set back, relax, and get ready to learn about the truth behind the data, medicine and healthcare. This is MedEvidence!

Kevin Geddings:

Dr. Michael Koren joining me live on the studio line. He is a medical doctor, a cardiologist, research scientist, and of course runs a show with ENCORE Research Group. We wanted to talk a little bit about the COVID vaccine. We've just anecdotally had folks, you know, the clients at the radio station who have come down with COVID over the last several weeks, off and on dealing with that. Is COVID still very much alive in our society, right?

Dr. Michael Koren:

Oh, it's still out there. There's no question about that. And some people get really, really sick. The strain isn't killing people the way it did back in 2020, but people can still be hospitalized or get really ill, particularly if you're a vulnerable population person. And I know you and I want to talk a little bit more about that because a lot of the misconceptions around who should get the booster are related to I the proper identification of people who are truly at risk.

Kevin Geddings:

Yeah. Well, we've had uh confusing messages, right? Obviously, uh, if you're somebody who's dealing with heart issues or other sort of chronic health conditions, you really should get a COVID booster, right, Doctor?

Dr. Michael Koren:

Absolutely. Everything in medicine, Kevin, is a risk-benefit ratio. Taking an aspirin is a risk-benefit ratio. Drinking water is a risk-benefit ratio. I I've seen people have gotten toxic from drinking too much water thinking it's helping them. So everything that we take into our bodies has a risk-benefit ratio, and the COVID-19 booster is no different. So for folks who are at high risk, older people, say over the age of 55, people who have pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or heart failure or COPD, those folks should certainly get a booster. And people who are at low risk maybe don't need one. So if you're a healthy 18-year-old person, even if the CDC suggests that it's a good idea, I would say maybe not. You're probably not going to really get any major benefit because if you get sick from COVID-19, you probably won't be too sick. There'll be a relatively mild illness. You'll recover from if you were you will recover after a few days and move on with your life. But yeah, again, some 18-year-olds get some chronic COVID issues and they have to make that decision with their physicians. But on average, that person will do fine without the booster. And this is unfortunately not where the public debate has gone. It's either it's all good or it's all bad. But in fact, there's a nuance here, a very important nuance. So if you're at high risk, you should get the booster, or if you have a high transmission risk to somebody who is vulnerable, you should probably get the booster. So you know if you're a 25-year-old healthy person, but you're taking care of an 80-year-old chronically ill grandparent, well, the booster may be a good idea for you.

Kevin Geddings:

Right. I guess flipping it on its head a little bit, say you're 35, 38-year-old and you get the COVID booster. What's worst case? I mean, what why the added level of, you know, let's face it, uh, additional hurdles to getting a COVID vaccine that seems to be put in place by some government officials. I mean, is there really a risk, a downside risk?

Dr. Michael Koren:

Yeah, and and that's a great question. So there is a very small likelihood of getting a complication. The most serious complication that people talk about is getting inflammation of your heart. It happens very infrequently, about one in forty thousand, but it does happen. So this gets into the whole, again, risk-benefit uh discussion. If you're young and healthy and not going to get that much benefit, do you want to take a one in forty thousand risk of developing cardiac inflammation? So that that's an example why the the CDC is now officially recommending a prescription. This is actually all coming, of course, from the the uh the Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, and these other government uh government organizations such as the FDA and the CDC report to HHS. So this is coming from uh RFK Jr. and the team there that then oversees CDC and FDA, which has other leadership that may not agree with the edicts of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but of course that's the way the government works. So currently, if you want to get a COVID-19 booster, you need a prescription, a doctor's prescription, which leads to where research fits in.

Kevin Geddings:

Yep. Yeah, and there's great opportunities there for you to participate and leading edge, you know, clinical research and I guess benefit from a COVID booster, but be a part of a research project where your health is going to be constantly monitored, right?

Dr. Michael Koren:

Absolutely. So we're doing vaccine studies as we speak. Not all sites are doing COVID-19 vaccine, but we're working in the flu and other in other areas where vaccines are very, very effective. But what we can do for our patients is we can give you a prescription for things that we're not addressing directly. So, for example, if you're in a flu study, there will be a rule in the study that the COVID-19 vaccine for that particular year will be at a different date than when you actually get your flu vaccine. So our our doctors are more than happy to give you that vaccine prescription for COVID-19 so that it's coordinated with your flu vaccine or your RSV vaccine or whatever the case may be. So this is an example of we're helping you deal with a hurdle in the healthcare system and also coordinating your care.

Kevin Geddings:

And Dr. Koren, for information about, you know, COVID and all sorts of other health issues, we've got a great resource for them, right, at MedEvidence.com.

Dr. Michael Koren:

Absolutely. MedEvidence is a wonderful objective resource where people glean insights by watching two doctors speak to each other. Two knowledgeable people will actually talk about all sides of the issue. Of course, we have a very famous interview on Med Evidence! with Dr. Tony Fauci, who's actually his last public podcast or interview before he got his get out of jail free card from Joe Biden. So a lot of people find that particularly interesting where uh Dr. Fauci and I talk about things that went right and things that went wrong with the whole preparation for COVID and the response to COVID. So I think people find that interesting. But we also have just very practical things. So people can understand how to deal with migraine headaches or how to deal with certain uh types of acne, or whatever the case may be. It's it's pretty diverse the areas that we touch. But people find it to be a refreshing way of getting information without bias. We're just out there telling you what we know, what we don't know, and how we think about the stuff that we don't know.

Kevin Geddings:

That's right. Well, once again, it's a great resource. Go to medevidence.com. That's medevidence.com. Dr. Michael Koren, thank you for your time this morning, and we'll talk with you again on Monday, okay?

Dr. Michael Koren:

Always a pleasure. Have a great week.

Announcer:

Thanks for joining the Med Evidence! Podcast. To learn more, head over to MedEvidence.com or subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.

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