Thank you for listening to the City of Plantation's Podcast. In this episode, Cary and I discuss the two vaccines currently available and details about the vaccination process, as well as reported side-effects. We also cover the many resources available to the residents of Broward County and the sites where those who meet the vaccination criteria can go get vaccinated. This Podcast is aimed at keeping the residents of Plantation informed of events and important information happening throughout our city. Please subscribe to this podcast, as we will be producing new episodes weekly.
Please see the City of Plantation's FB for all of the relevant links discussed in this Episode.
Hosts: Cary Blanchard and Ezra Lubow
Music: Oakwood Station
Graphics: City of Plantation
Thank you for listening to the City of Plantation's Podcast. In this episode, Cary and I discuss the two vaccines currently available and details about the vaccination process, as well as reported side-effects. We also cover the many resources available to the residents of Broward County and the sites where those who meet the vaccination criteria can go get vaccinated. This Podcast is aimed at keeping the residents of Plantation informed of events and important information happening throughout our city. Please subscribe to this podcast, as we will be producing new episodes weekly.
Please see the City of Plantation's FB for all of the relevant links discussed in this Episode.
Hosts: Cary Blanchard and Ezra Lubow
Music: Oakwood Station
Graphics: City of Plantation
Welcome to the city of plantations podcast. I am Carrie Blanchard, battalion chief of public affairs for the plantation fire department. Thank you for tuning in our podcast is designed to keep you up-to-date on all the latest happenings and activities in about and around the city of plantation on our episodes, we talked directly with the leaders decision makers and the movers and shakers who make plantation the great city that it is
Speaker 2:Welcome back to another episode of the city of plantation podcast today, Carrie and I would like to discuss the vaccination efforts that are occurring throughout the state of Florida, but more specifically, what's going on in Broward County. We'd like you, we'd like to provide you with some resources and some information that may be helpful to you in your decision to a get vaccinated and then B how to accomplish getting vaccinated. So, Carrie,
Speaker 1:Okay. I figured we'd start with the sites that are available. Uh, the Routt County has designated five different sites for vaccinations, and this is for seniors, age 65 and over, um, they're open at the County parks and these include Tradewinds park in coconut Creek Vista view park and Davey Markham park and target range in sunrise, central Bauer park and Broward County stadium in Lauderhill. And the last one is the holiday park war Memorial. We used to be a test, uh, test site. Um, those are the sites that are open right now for testing. Um, just vaccinating. I mean, I apologize. These are the sites that are open now for vaccinations. Um, an appointment is required for all vaccine vaccination sites. They're really stressing to not show up there without an appointment. Thus far, the department of health has provided 26,465 vaccination appointments to individuals aged 65 or over the problem is obviously the resources are limited. We know you see it on the news and everything that's, the resources are limited. So appointments have to be made online. And at this point you kind of have to wait until they're available. Again, we have to stress that once you receive your first dose of the vaccine, you have to be able to get the second one. They will usually schedule you right there for the second dose. It's important to return for that as you're instructed to do so. Right. Um, the initial availability of the vaccine does not renew reduce the need for ongoing testing. If you feel that you need to get tested, if you feel that you have symptoms or anything, you should definitely go and get tested. And those are still available on the, you know, the 12 sites that are available in Broward County and you can find those on our website. Yeah, absolutely. Um, I also know that there's a couple of vaccines that are available. There's two right now that were approved. Can you get into that as HRA?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So, um, and one more thing just to circle back, I guess, just to reiterate what Carrie had said is if you show up at one of these testing sites without an appointment, the chances you're not going to get vaccinated, but you may not find that out right away. So you may be there for an hour or two, which is extremely inconvenient and not get vaccinated at all. So it it's a waste of time and it increases the crowds and the chaos and the confusion. So we can't emphasize enough the importance of ensuring that you register and have an appointment set and so on and so forth. Right? So two different types of vaccinations have received emergency use authorization from the FDA. And we'll talk a little bit about what that means. So the typical approval process through the FDA can take up to 15 years, depending on what is being asked to be approved by the FDA emergency use authorization. In the case of vaccines are vaccines that have gone through a clinical trial period, although not as long and arduous as a full FDA approval and have shown very good outcomes based on their use. So the FDA says this is a state of emergency. It's extremely important to vaccinate our people, uh, for a host of different reasons. And so we're going to authorize use of this because the benefits outweigh any negatives that we've been able to see. So they get the U a but ultimately these are not FDA approved by definition, right? But so the two of them, the first one I'm going to talk about is Pfizer. Uh BioNTech. And this vaccine is given in two doses 21 days apart, typically, like we said, it's UAA authorized through the FDA and it is for individuals who are 16 years or older. So unfortunately the vaccine won't be given to anybody under that age. Um, the vaccine has been shown to prevent COVID-19 when given as directed, the duration of protection is currently unknown. However, the clinical trials included about 20,000 people and the results were very, very well, very, very good in the high nineties, after a second dose for protecting you from manifesting the COVID disease after exposure to the SARS cov two virus. So that's a good thing. Um, some of the risks might include injection at the injection site, pain, tiredness, headaches, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, fever, injection sites, swelling, redness, nausea, feeling unwell, or swollen lymph nodes. Those are all normal responses to this vaccine. So nobody should panic if they experience one or two or three of these, uh, however you should monitor to make sure that if the condition gets worse or progresses, uh, you should seek out medical attention. These are mostly short term, correct short term. Short-lived usually the injection site pain that for most of us, that that happens right away typically. But, um, yeah, short-lived within 24 hours. Most all of these should disappear and shouldn't be an issue. The Medina is two doses. The only difference between, uh, the Madonna and the Pfizer is the Moderna is a month or 28 days in between doses, but definitely have to have the two dose regimen. It is also not FDA approved, but it does have the EUA, uh, the EPA covers individuals 18 years and older. So a little bit of difference between the Pfizer. So if you have a 16 or 17 year old who wants to get vaccinated, they're only going to be able to do that with the Pfizer vaccine and not with the modern vaccine. The risks are literally the same for the modern of vaccine, as far as the pain, tenderness, swelling, things of that nature. Those are all natural responses to this vaccination. Now, with both of these vaccines, there has been a very, very, very remote chance of individuals having a severe allergic reaction, but we want to make our listeners aware of what that would entail. So any type of reaction that causes difficulty breathing, uh, swelling of your face or your throat, a rapid heartbeat, a bad rash that covers a large part of your body, dizziness, weakness, anything that occurs, please call nine one one initiate the emergency medical system and getting to the nearest hospital to make sure that, uh, this is not a significant event for you and it can be managed and treated properly. Um, the CDC and the FDA offs also want to know if you have significant side effects that don't go away, or if you happen to have severe allergic reactions, you can report that to the FDA and the CDC so that they can keep track of these occurrences and see what's going on. And we'll include these links all in, in the documents that we put forward. And then the other option, which is a fairly new program is called V safe. Uh, this is voluntary smartphone-based tool that uses text messaging and some web surfing to check in with people who have been vaccinated to see if they're having any side effects or anything like that. So it's sort of an interactive thing you can register to do that we'll include links for that and how that works. And, uh, that's about it.
Speaker 1:I'm assuming that you should probably know which of the vaccines you took. Like if you have an allergic reaction or anything you want to keep track of the fact that you took the Pfizer BioEnTech versus the Medina.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And as a matter of fact, all of the vaccination sites where you may go, they're going to give you a COVID vaccine card, if you will. And they will put the vaccination, the date, the date, you should come back for your second dose, um, and all that relevant information on you. So definitely hold onto that card, you know, in the future, that card might be required for certain things. So it's good to keep it as proof of vaccination if you have it, but, uh, yeah, definitely you cannot mix the vaccines. So if you start with the Pfizer, you have to end with a Pfizer. If you start with the Madonna, you have to end with a Moderna. And then the one last note that I would say is that, um, the second dose is imperative. Both of these vaccines on our first dose only provide you 50% or less protection against manifesting the virus or the disease, I should say. So going and just getting one dose and being okay with that. You're not going to be fully protected. You might have a false sense of security, but you will still be at risk. The second dose has put you, uh, either close to the 90% marker over it, uh, which is very good for, for a vaccine. So,
Speaker 1:And you want to keep that in mind when you're getting the first dose to make sure you're available for the second dose. Correct. You know, sometimes, Oh, I'm on vacation. I can't go. I'll go three days later. It has to be specific,
Speaker 2:Right? Absolutely. Yep.
Speaker 1:No. Right. Well, in addition to the department of health initiatives, they're 173 hospitals in Florida that are currently administering vaccines to healthcare workers with direct patient contact. Um, this includes the health co-workers and their communities, as well as persons aged 65 that are determined by the hospitals to be extremely vulnerable in Broward County. There are 14 hospitals. We're going to make that list available on the website, on the podcast and on the YouTube channel so that you can check up on what hospitals are participating in this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And the links that we put will actually be the links to the registration sites and, or the screening sites, because I believe, and we don't know exactly yet, but I believe that the application will be also a screening. So if you're not qualified for the vaccination to the hospitals, they'll let you know at that point through the automated system. So, um, we'll link everything up. So a couple last important reminders while you're waiting to get vaccinated, you still have to take all the precautions that we've been talking about for the last 11 months or so, washing your hands thoroughly and frequently wearing a mask, uh, social distancing, you know, just take care of your everyday life and, and stay aware. I know we're all a little, COVID exhausted at this point, but, um, we're kind of rounding the bend right now and there's light at the end of the tunnel. So w we don't want to drop our guard. Now, the hospital community also wants to remind you, and if you listen to our show frequently, you know, that we have hospital staff on our show, uh, Carrie and I, we, we like to interact with our local hospitals, as well as some other hospitals outside of the city. They want everyone to know the hospitals are open, they're safe. And in a lot of cases, that is the appropriate place to be. You can't be afraid to go to the hospital, especially if you're having crushing chest pain or, you know, signs and symptoms of a stroke. And, and going back to you, time is essential with those medical emergencies. So hospitals are open, they're clean, they're waiting for you. And if you need to be there, make sure you get there.
Speaker 1:And also a nine 11 call nine one, have the, the rescue pick you up, you know, that's immediate care.
Speaker 2:Yup. Definitely. We're going to post some other resources links. Uh, one of them is going to be the daily COVID-19 updates. Uh, this is a dashboard style website that you can go to. You can see the number of cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations, deaths, things of that nature. Uh, the state of Florida's COVID 19 vaccination plan. We'll, uh, we'll post the link for that. Uh, governor DeSantis his executive order. We'll put that up there as far as it relates to vaccinations, and then also links directly to the two types of vaccinations that we discussed. Cause there's a lot more information we didn't want to, uh, fill the airwaves with it, but there's composition and ingredients and things of that nature. And I I'm glad we brought that up now because one of the things to be aware of is before you receive the vaccination, go through the list of ingredients and contents of the vaccination, because there may be items in there that you have no analogies to, in which case it would not be a good idea to receive this particular or that particular vaccine. So keep an eye out on that. We're also going to link up DOH Broward. They have a hotline phone, email website, and Broward County as well. So that should provide everyone with a lot of information. But, uh, if your answers, if you don't get your answers there, Carrie, where can they go
Speaker 1:Ask cityHall@plantation.org. All those questions are answered. Very good. All right. So we just want to thank everyone for joining us on this episode. We know there's a lot of frustration attached to this with the vaccines and people trying to get appointments. So we're really trying to get the information out to help people hopefully soon enough, this will, it will be alleviated. Vaccines will be available for everybody. And like you said, the light at the end of the tunnel, I think we're there. So again, I just want to wish, first of all, everyone, a happy new year and please stay safe, everyone. Awesome. Take care of everyone. You've been listening to the city of plantation podcast. We strive to bring you accurate and timely information. Please continue to tune in to our podcast episodes and also catch up with us on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, and next door. If you have questions, send them to ask cityHall@plantation.org and we will answer your questions directly. Thank you for taking the time to listen to our podcast and stay safe, everyone.