For many, what they hear on Sunday drives behavior. The highest rates of #vaxx (75%-85%) are found in Catholics, Jews, Atheists, Agnostics & those not affiliated. The lowest rates are white evangelicals (57%).
2/ Non-medical exemptions are a big problem. See these states with the highest rates…this will continue to drive the pandemic, #Delta, and economic and personal hardship of #LongCOVID.
3/ We are intent on freedom of expression, freedom of speech & the desire to follow our own path. Good. But when that freedom impinges on the freedom of those standing next to you, what do we do? In mandatory vaxx programs, I believe exemptions should be few & far between.
4/fin
This survey of >10k US adults Aug 2021, 73% said they’re vaxxed, but >50% c/o confusion & concern. My approach is to stop judging so that I can understand my pts’ fears & life stories to build relationships that best support the healing I want to provide. #VaccineEducation
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1/🧵 People ask me, “What’s the main purpose of treating #COVID ICU pts with the #A2Fbundle? (a daily safety checklist of ⬇️ sedation & ⬆️ mobilization). It’s to prevent #PICS related dementia, PTSD, depression & reduce suffering in #LongCOVID.
HOW? What is the philosophy?
2/ For patients it’s about magnifying their #dignity and self-worth by liberating them sooner from us (our treatments that put them through a depersonalization chamber). For HCWs, it’s about purity of service, avoiding hypocrisy, and better self-sacrifice for our patients.
3/ Waking people up and walking them w family at their side in PPE (even inside a room if #COVID+) allows them to feel alive again. Repersonalized! Human. Seen. Drives away #delirium & #brainfog. Wouldn’t you want this?
3/🎥 I cared for 9/11 hero Colonel Victor Correa as he died in our @VA hospital years later. His story is told in #EveryDeepDrawnBreath. He carried men out of the Pentagon saving lives. Watch more of his testimonial…
1/🧵🎥 Tennessee has highest #COVID19 case rate IN THE WORLD 🌎‼️
1/3rd are KIDS, & we haven’t even peaked!
Dr. Jeff Balser, @VUMChealth President & CEO, explains our dire situation. Despite 375M doses of #Vaccine is US alone, we have ~50% overall #Vaxxed & need YOUR help.
2/ This surge is different. The children are disproportionately affected – 1 in 3 new cases. Overall, and this is hard to believe, but we are at our ALL TIME HIGH in admissions.
3/ 🎥 Except for immunocompromised patients, almost all in hospital are #unvaxxed. We are re-deploying OR personnel to the ICU and having to curb care for non-COVID pts. It’s just not fair to them. Not getting vaxxed means more suffering for everyone.
2/ Early in COVID, computers predicted “Berry” (for Bari-citinib), an FDA-approved medication for rheumatoid arthritis, could be repurposed to stop SARS-CoV-2 from killing us. Now we proved it! Why did the computers think it would work?
3/ Bari has antiviral mechanism but mainly we thought it would work by interfering with the intense inflammation the virus 🦠 causes, which is what leads to so much lung, heart, blood vessel, & brain damage (#delirium).
By no means do I think the #Unvaxxed patients filling our ICUs to capacity are evil. NO. But I do think there is evil involved in the misinformation leading many good, caring people to that decision. And I listen to each. Please hear me out.
2/ Philosophers define evil as “a deprivation of the rationality that proper human action requires individually and as a member of society.” In that sense, we can discuss choosing not to be vaccinated and “cooperation with evil.”
3/ Thus far, “cooperation with evil” has been used as an argument by some in the #antivaxx culture as a reason NOT to get #Vaccinated. The main argument is that Pfizer and Moderna were safety texted w the HEK-293 fetal cell line.
1/🧵 “Live every day like you have a terminal illness.”
The most important thing I learned @ISICEM, after 3 ✈️ & 4,400 miles to Belgium for this huge meeting of #COVID ICU doctors, had nothing to do w science.
The iconic @JRandallCurtis1 taught me…(pic & story shared w perm)
2/ My friend of 25 years opened his lecture on End-of-Life with, “I have a disclosure of sorts. I’ve been diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, aka Lou Gehrig’s disease), so this will probably be the last time I lecture at this meeting.”
Then he asked us to PAUSE.
3/ Talk about a Frame Shift.
I already knew, but it all hit me like a thunderbolt⚡️. The Father of ICU EOL #PalliativeCare research & former president of @atscommunity had just told us all that he has a fatal illness, and we could hear it in his speech pattern.