Task Force discusses new COVID treatment options
At the November meeting of the Pine Island Pandemic Task Force, Dr. James Koopman brought the issue of the potential of new COVID treatments currently undergoing trial. These treatments, he said, which have, so far, proven highly effective, provide an opportunity to decrease the pandemic outside of vaccination.
“I wonder what our strategy should be on the island to institute early diagnosis and treatment?” Koopman asked.
Scientifically, Koopman said, there is a huge difference between vaccines and treatment, and some of the same people who have a negative attitude regarding the vaccines are advocating various treatments.
Task Force member Jim McLaughlin said although there are people who understand the difference between vaccines and treatments, many are likely to assume they are immunized after receiving treatments as an alternative to vaccines.
According to fellow Task Force member Dr. Daniel Hanley, the new treatments brought forth by Merck and Pfizer are valuable tools, however, he feels caution is essential before recommending these new treatments.
“I feel like if we promote these new medications as ‘wonder drugs’ and people don’t get the outcome they expected, that could lead to a lot of disappointment. So when we prescribe medicines, it’s always with a word of caution,” Hanley said.
Hanley likens the situation to taking over the counter medications to treat the flu. The flu will go away by itself within days, he said, but the medicines may help with complications, although people will still be symptomatic. Comparing this to COVID, he said, people might still have the symptoms of COVID if they receive treatment, although they may not die or become hospitalized.
“I don’t want people feeling like they got this magic pill … expectations need to be tempered,” Hanley said.
There is a level of trust that needs work, Hanley said, supposing if people still don’t trust COVID vaccines, they may not trust any medications for the COVID virus.
Koopman said people are more likely to seek a viable treatment than risk death and that these two new treatments are more effective than existing monoclonal antibody treatments, with a much lower risk of generating resistance to the virus.
“I want us to think about what we could do besides vaccines to protect the lives of people on our island,” Koopman said.
Hanley said getting the word out about these two new medicines is important, especially once they’re approved.
“People want to know what their options are. They want to understand what options they have available to them,” Hanley said.
Koopman said, in his estimation, the demand for testing has gone up significantly. Hanley agreed, but said the bulk of people who want testing at his office, do so for the sake of travel or vacation. Most of these recent tests, he added, are coming back negative.
Hanley said his role is his continuous availability, first and foremost and to educate people the best he can.
“There are still a lot of people that are very worried about the whole pandemic and how it transpired,” Hanley said.
Although he said he doesn’t really believe in mandates, outside of the healthcare system, Hanley said he wants people to feel like they have choices. He said it is important to him that people feel they can trust him.
“I want people to feel like they can express their points of view or concerns about the various options out there — not just the vaccines, but also the treatment, and the pandemic. My role is to be an impartial, objective observer,” Hanley said.