Op-Ed: The Facts About COVID-19 Vaccines

By Dr. James W. Lederer Jr. Guest Column
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Like many across the country, I was thrilled when the FDA approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the end of August. Full approval affirms that the Pfizer vaccine is safe, effective, and has met the rigorous standards required by the FDA. This represents a light in the long tunnel of the pandemic, and it fills me with a great sense of optimism for the future health and safety of our community.
 
Despite this good news, the highly contagious Delta variant continues to spread around the country. We know it can infect individuals who are vaccinated, however vaccinated people are much less likely to experience serious illness or be hospitalized than unvaccinated people. Cases are rising across Massachusetts, mostly in unvaccinated individuals. Here in the Berkshires, hospitalizations remain relatively low in comparison to earlier in the pandemic. This is in part thanks to our high vaccination rate, with 70 percent of eligible individuals in the county fully vaccinated.
 
I recognize that many of you still have questions or concerns about the COVID-19 vaccines. Over the last 18 months, publicly available scientific information about COVID-19 and its vaccines has changed rapidly. As the chief medical officer of Berkshire Health Systems, I believe that everyone should have access to the important information needed to make informed decisions about their health. Therefore, I wanted to share some data.
 
There are three different COVID-19 vaccines available: Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson (J&J).
 
The Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines are mRNA vaccines, a technology that has been in development for the last 30 years. mRNA is a strand of code interpreted by your cells to produce a protein found on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the virus that causes COVID-19. This triggers an immune response in your body. Your immune system retains a "memory" of these proteins, so when your body encounters this protein again, it will attack and destroy any cells with the protein present.
 
The J&J vaccine uses a different method. This vaccine contains a harmless virus called a vector. The vector contains DNA that codes for the protein present on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. When the vector encounters your cells, it instructs them how to make the protein, which triggers an immune response.
 
Like the mRNA vaccine, your body will remember these proteins and attack them if it encounters them again.
 
Regardless of which vaccine you get, your body breaks down the components of the vaccine within a few days. None of the vaccines have the ability of modify your DNA, and you can't become infected with COVID-19 from the vaccines. The side effects experienced after getting a vaccine are caused by the body's immune response and are evidence that the vaccines are working.
 
All three vaccines were initially given emergency use authorization by the FDA after undergoing rigorous testing with tens of thousands of people. In Massachusetts, over 5 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, of which 4.5 million are fully vaccinated. Since the introduction of the vaccines, robust monitoring programs have been in place to address safety concerns. So far, there have been no reported long-term side effects associated with COVID-19 vaccines.
 
In contrast, individuals who become sick with COVID-19 can experience symptoms long after their illness is over. While COVID-19 presents primarily as a disease of the respiratory system, it can have effects on many different parts of the body, including the cardiovascular system, the nervous system, and the gastrointestinal system. This can lead to chronic conditions or loss of function.
 
There have been several studies that show the negative effects of COVID-19 infection on the reproductive systems of both men and women. We have seen that unvaccinated pregnant women are more likely to be hospitalized and experience fetal loss or stillbirth following a COVID-19 infection than pregnant women who have been vaccinated.
 
The vaccines are the most effective way of protecting our loved ones and preventing serious illness, long-term side effects, and death caused by COVID-19. Children under the age of 12 can't get vaccinated, leaving them vulnerable to potential infection. To keep our community healthy and safe, we must all do our part.
 
I hope that you find these data compelling and will get your vaccine in the coming weeks if you haven't already. Berkshire Health Systems operates vaccine clinics around the county. Our locations in Pittsfield and North Adams are open for walk-ins seven days a week from 8:30 am to 4 pm. In Great Barrington, you can get a vaccine at Fairview Hospital Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. by calling to make
an appointment. Pfizer doses are available at all three sites daily. The BMC Urgent Care Center in Pittsfield is also offering vaccines until 7:30 p.m. if you need to get your dose after testing center hours.
 
You can make an appointment by calling the COVID-19 Hotline at (855) 262-5465. You can also call the hotline to ask any questions and speak with a trained medical professional.
 
Each of us must do our part in preventing the spread of COVID-19, including wearing masks, practicing good hand hygiene, social distancing where possible, and getting vaccinated. I encourage you to talk to your doctors; visit data-backed sources for information such as the CDC, FDA, and WHO; or call the hotline if you have concerns. Together, we can keep our Berkshire community safe.
 
Dr. James W. Lederer Jr. is the chief medical officer and chief quality officer at Berkshire Health Systems. He has more than 20 years of experience in leading innovative, patient-focused, high-quality care initiatives. Dr. Lederer received his medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and completed his residency in Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Tennessee-Memphis. He was fellowship trained in infectious diseases at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and at the University of Tennessee-Memphis. Dr. Lederer is board certified in internal medicine and adult infectious diseases. This op-ed was previously published in The Berkshire Eagle. 

 


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Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Architect Carl Franceschi and Superintendent Joseph Curtis address the City Council on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the approval of all necessary bodies, the school district will submit a statement of interest for a combined build on the site of Crosby Elementary School.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave Superintendent Joseph Curtis the green light for the SOI to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 12.

"The statement I would make is we should have learned by our mistakes in the past," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

"Twenty years ago, we could have built a wastewater treatment plant a lot cheaper than we could a couple of years ago and we can wait 10 years and get in line to build a new school or we can start now and, hopefully, when we get into that process and be able to do it cheaper then we can do a decade from now."

The proposal rebuilds Conte Community School and Crosby on the West Street site with shared facilities, as both have outdated campuses, insufficient layouts, and need significant repair. A rough timeline shows a feasibility study in 2026 with design and construction ranging from 2027 to 2028.

Following the SOI, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the specific needs and parameters of the project, costing about $1.5 million and partially covered by the state. There is a potential for 80 percent reimbursement through the MSBA, who will decide on the project by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, city officials took a tour of both schools — some were shocked at the conditions students are learning in.

Silvio O. Conte Community School, built in 1974, is a 69,500 square foot open-concept facility that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s but the quad classroom layout poses educational and security risks.  John C. Crosby Elementary School, built in 1962, is about 69,800 square feet and was built as a junior high school so several aspects had to be adapted for elementary use.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said the walkthrough was "striking" at points, particularly at Conte, and had her thinking there was no way she would want her child educated there. She recognized that not everyone has the ability to choose where their child goes to school and "we need to do better."

"The two facilities that we are looking at I think are a great place to start," she said.

"As the Ward 6 councilor, this is where my residents and my students are going to school so selfishly yes, I want to see this project happen but looking at how we are educating Pittsfield students, this is going to give us a big bang for our buck and it's going to help improve the educational experience of a vast group of students in our city."

During the tour, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, saw where it could be difficult to pay attention in an open classroom with so much going on and imagined the struggle for students.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said, "we cannot afford not to do this" because the city needs schools that people want their children to attend.

"I know that every financial decision we make is tough but we have to figure this out. If the roof on your house were crumbling in, you'd have to figure it out and that's where we're at and we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

"We can't afford for the sake of the children going to our schools, for the sake of our city that we want to see grow so we have to build a city where people want to go."

Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso, who served on the School Building Needs Commission for about 18 years, pointed out that the panel identified a need to address Conte in 2008.

Curtis addressed questions about the fate of Conte if the build were to happen, explaining that it could be kept as an active space for community use, house the Eagle Academy or the Adult Learning Center, or house the central offices.

School attendance zones are a point of discussion for the entire school district and for this project.

"At one time I think we had 36 school buildings and now we have essentially 12 and then it would go down again but in a thoughtful way," Curtis said.

Currently, eight attendance zones designate where a student will go to elementary school. Part of the vision is to collapse those zones into three with hopes of building a plan that incorporates partner schools in each attendance zone.

"I think that going from eight schools to three would be easier to maintain and I think it would make more sense but in order to get there we will have to build these buildings and we will have to spend money," Kavey said, hoping that the city would receive the 80 percent reimbursement it is vying for.

This plan for West Street, which is subject to change, has the potential to house grades pre-kindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another with both having their own identities and administrations. 

The districtwide vision for middle school students is to divide all students into a grade five and six school and a grade seven and eight school to ensure equity.

"The vagueness of what that looks like is worrisome to some folks that I have talked to," Lampiasi said.

Curtis emphasized that these changes would have to be voted on by the School Committee and include public input.

"We've talked about it conceptually just to illustrate a possible grade span allocation," he said. "No decisions have been made at all by the School Committee, even the grade-span proposals."

School Committee Chair William Cameron said it is civic duty of the committee and council to move forward with the SOI.
 
He explained that when seven of the city's schools were renovated in the late 1990s, the community schools were only 25 years old and Crosby was 35 years old.  The commonwealth did not deem them to be sorely in need of renovation or replacement.
 
"Now 25 years later, Crosby is physically decrepit and an eyesore. It houses students ages three to 11 in a facility meant for use by teenagers,"
 
"Conte and Morningside opened in the mid-1970s. They were built as then state-of-the-art schools featuring large elongated rectangles of open instructional space. Over almost half a century, these physical arrangements have proven to be inadequate for teaching core academic skills effectively to students, many of whom need extra services and a distraction-free environment if they are to realize their full academic potential."
 
He said  the proposal addresses a serious problem in the "economically poorest, most ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse area" of the city.
 
Cameron added that these facilities have been deemed unsatisfactory and need to be replaced as part of the project to reimagine how the city can best meet the educational needs of its students.  He said it is the local government's job to move this project forward to ensure that children learn in an environment that is conducive to their thriving academically.
 
"The process of meeting this responsibility needs to begin here tonight," he said.
 
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