Greg:
Hey, this is Greg here with Big Bay Mornings on 99.7 Now. And of course I am here with a board-certified plastic surgeon, Dr. Bae. How you doing Dr. Bae?
Dr. Bae:
I’m great, Greg. Good to see you.
Greg:
It is good to see you too, especially now. I mean, have you noticed the weather’s getting a little bit better? We’re finally seeing the sun again. It was a bleak summer for a while.
Dr. Bae:
July. Yeah, we got out of July and it’s beautiful again.
Greg:
Yeah. July was pretty bad. Speaking of pretty bad, this new COVID variant, this Delta and Delta Plus I guess, is in the mix again. I mean, what is happening with the new variant and what can we expect over the next couple of months?
The Delta Variant
Dr. Bae:
Yeah, the Delta variant is… What they’ve said is about a thousand times more infectious than the original Wuhan variant, and what that means is that there’s just so many more viral copies of the virus that build up in your respiratory tract, specifically in your nose. And so that, back before you weren’t putting out as many viral particles, maybe you’d have to be in consistent contact with somebody for 15 minutes indoors to pass it along. Now you could be outdoors potentially and have just a passing interface with somebody. And because there’s more viruses that you’re expelling.
Greg:
Masks again, right? Pull out the masks again.
Dr. Bae:
Masks again for sure. And you know, some people are saying N95s, particularly in a close quarters, like an airplane. So yeah, we are going backwards. It’s very frustrating. And it’s because not everybody’s getting vaccinated. We’re allowing this new Delta variant to get a foothold on all of the unvaccinated people. Yes, there are some breakthrough cases of people who’ve been vaccinated getting the new Delta variant, but it’s definitely significantly fewer vaccinated people are getting sick compared to the unvaccinated people and more critically important as the unvaccinated people are getting seriously ill, more likely to be admitted to the hospital, more likely to die.
Dr. Bae:
Whereas the vaccinated people are less sick. And maybe after a 24 hours or 48 hours of feeling like you have the cold, those people get better that are vaccinated without having to go to the hospital. So obviously [inaudible 00:02:08]… I don’t think I have to say it again, but I will that it would be beneficial if you go get vaccinated, whatever data you’re reading out there that the vaccination is unsafe or something like that. I don’t know how many hundreds of millions of people you have to have entered into a study, getting a vaccine and obviously a huge majority of them, over 99% of them are doing fine with the vaccine. It’s going to convince you.
Long term immunization and boosters
Greg:
Well, let me say this. Yeah. Even though that is kind of the bad news that we’re getting right now and the Delta thing is going on, I do think there’s been two pieces of good news that have come out recently. Number one, we just found out that Moderna said that, I think, even after six months, that vaccine is still 93% effective. So that is great news to know that we now have that study. And of course my girl, Dolly Parton, she funded that one. So of course that one works.
Dr. Bae:
Of course, of course. Yeah. No, a lot of good studies coming out of Israel also, cause they’ve done a lot of the studies with Pfizer showing that, the more antibodies you have that the more protection you have. And so that’s why they’re talking about maybe getting a booster, which isn’t unusual. Because that’s what you do with the regular flu vaccine every year is you’re essentially getting a booster of the new variants that are coming out every year. So to some extent, this Delta variant is no different than… I mean it’s much more serious and obviously… But as far as getting the vaccine, it’s no different than what you would typically get annually for the flu vaccine.
Greg:
Because flu strains change, right? I mean they change every year.
Dr. Bae:
Every year. Exactly right.
Greg:
It’s not the same flu last year that it was this year. And so they change the vaccine every year a little bit.
Annual flu shot will include protection against COVID variants
Dr. Bae:
Exactly. And people think that this is a new thing just because it’s always in the news and you’re hearing about it more, but it’s just obviously rising to our top of mind because of the pandemic and everything. But yes, that is going to be a pretty typical thing I think is that maybe even the annual flu vaccine will include some aspects of the COVID virus in the future, moving forward as that variant changes. So, I think what I’ve read before is that the typical flu vaccine is trivalent, meaning it’s effective against three strains. Now it’s going to be four strains, five strains, but including these different COVID strains, it’s going to be a much bigger needle next year, probably.
Greg:
Yeah, well the other piece of good news is that with the Delta variant, which is not the good news, more people are getting vaccinated. I think people have kind of wised up to the fact that, okay, this is really serious. So we’ve seen numbers, I think going about the 50% range to going over 70% with people at least have one shot.
Herd immunity
Dr. Bae:
Correct. And I think what they were talking about with the original Wuhan strain, that if they got to 70% vaccination rate, that that would give us herd immunity. Now with this more infectious Delta variant, that has got to be closer to 90%, but yeah, we’re definitely moving in the right direction. I think people are getting scared now, they’re realizing, oh wow, this is actually happening to people I know. And so, yes, you’re right. I agree with you. More people are getting vaccinated. And I think just seeing those numbers from the hospital where a huge majority of the people admitted to the hospital are unvaccinated. So people are starting to realize that’s the way to go.
What if the Delta variant was around before the vaccine?!
Dr. Bae:
Something I’ve said before, that blows me away though, is that how many people are getting admitted to the hospital right now in Florida, Louisiana that are overwhelming those systems like no previous surge was overwhelming them. Keep in mind that with this Delta variant, that not everybody’s going to the hospital because we have the vaccine right now. But think about back in March of 2020, if we didn’t have any protection, no vaccine, if the Delta variant was the original strain back in March of 2020, how much more infectious it would have been, how much more sick everybody would have been, how many more people had been going to the hospital, it would have really been like Armageddon. It would have been unbelievable experience. Like we think this was bad. It would have been even worse.
Go get vaccinated!
Greg:
It could have been worse, but you know what, here’s the deal. I’ll make it easy for you. It is… So we were all begging to try to get the vaccine back in the day, right. A year ago, or whenever we started doing it, six months ago, it is so easy. The Safeway across from where I work out, you could walk in, it’s free. You don’t need an appointment. It takes under five minutes. I’ve seen people do it when I’m in there shopping. It is so easy to get vaccinated and it is free. So if you’re not… Go in and do it and you will feel so much better I think.
Dr. Bae:
It’s so true. Do you remember the days where people were getting up early in the morning to log in on multiple websites, trying to find an appointment? And now, the Walgreens in our building, they say walk-ins welcome, walking [crosstalk 00:06:46] available. [crosstalk 00:06:46].
Greg:
Absolutely. And we are lucky again. I know everybody knows this. We’re lucky to live in this country. I was just in Puerto Vallarta a couple of months ago for my birthday. Did you send me… You sent me an email, but where’s my card Dr. Bae? Anyway, there were people, 300 deep, around a building in sweltering heat, just waiting to get the vaccine. So we’re so lucky to be able to just walk into a Safeway. So please do that. And if you have any questions, Dr. Bae can answer them or get you to somebody. If he doesn’t know the answer, he’ll get the answer for you. You’re so good about answering everything on your social media. So can you tell people how to ask you anything really, right?
Where to find Dr. Bae
Dr. Bae:
Absolutely. Anybody can get in touch with us at Real Dr. Bae, R-E-A-L-D-R-B-A-E on Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and just direct messages. And then you can also come to our website and message us through our contact page, or even schedule a consult, well for cosmetic things, obviously, but if you have questions about COVID and the vaccine just absolutely go through our contact submission form at realdrbae.com, R-E-A-L-D-R-B-A-E.com.
Greg:
Great information. Great to see you again, Dr. Bae.
Dr. Bae:
Great to see you, Greg. Thanks for having me.
