A COVID-19 vaccination is prepared prior to being administered.
The COVID-19 vaccine should still be highly effective against the virus’ new variants, so how soon we usher out the pandemic depends on how many people go get immunized, according to the physician who treated the first coronavirus patient in the U.S.
Dr. George Diaz said there likely will be enough vaccine produced in the next half year to reach herd immunity levels, but the question is whether enough people will get immunized as experts stave off misinformation and dogma.
During Healthier Oklahoma Coalition’s weekly virtual news conference Tuesday, Diaz addressed the two new COVID strains in the United Kingdom and South Africa that developed simultaneously but separately. Mutations in the virus’s spike protein have allowed them to bind easier to human cells, he said, thereby making each even more contagious but apparently not more deadly.
Diaz said the current vaccines use messenger RNA (mRNA) — not the virus itself — to teach the body’s immune system to generate multiple antibodies against the spike protein, known as a polyclonal response.
“Where this new variant has some mutations that make it somewhat structurally different, the feeling currently is that because of polyclonal immunity it is very likely that other antibodies we generate against other portions of the spike protein will still be effective,” Diaz said. “Modeling here in Seattle at the University of Washington suggests that if there is a decline in immunity activity in the current vaccine, that it would only be a small decrease in the effectiveness. Perhaps 85% to 90% rather than 95%, which we have now with the current vaccine.”
Diaz, the infection prevention manager at Providence Regional Medical Center in Washington, joined local panelists Tuesday for the discussion with reporters.
He also noted that vaccine manufacturers can more readily modify vaccines if necessary to account for evolutions in the virus because they have proven the science behind the concept.
What might be more difficult to modify are the feelings and behavior of individuals toward vaccines, particularly with this new technology.
Diaz said that if vaccinations were mandatory then “we would get this behind us right away,” when asked whether COVID-19 might stick around for years.
He said as much as 80% to 85% of the population needs to be vaccinated to create herd immunity to prevent widespread infections. There likely will be enough vaccine produced to reach that range in the next half year, he said.
“The real question will be will our population be willing to take it,” Diaz said. “If they don’t and we’re below that number, it’s going to continue to stay with us and we’ll see continued hospitalizations and infections.”
Diaz described the vaccine as safe and effective, encouraging everyone to get it. He said there can be mild reactions — such as a sore arm or mild headache — but that they rapidly go away.
Dr. Jean Hausheer, who leads the Healthier Oklahoma Coalition COVID-19 task force, said that anyone with a potential history of allergies to the vaccine components should have an EpiPen with them as health care workers monitor them after injection.
“It’s all very carefully done, but those people know who they are,” Hausheer said. “We have health care professionals who are in that category and they know to bring their EpiPen and they’ve been fine.”
Diaz also addressed a question about unfounded vaccine conspiracy theories circulating in the public.
“There’s all sorts of really crazy stuff — the government is putting microchips into the vaccine to be able to track you or you’ll no longer be fertile — just endless amounts of wacky stuff that’s appearing out on the internet,” Diaz said. “That’s where we are in 2020.
“We now have a vaccine that’s 95% effective and it’s our only way out of the pandemic, and we have people that are actively working to try to keep us from getting past this.”
The vaccine’s importance can’t be understated, he said.
Diaz highlighted that the new strain in the UK has spread rapidly in the past couple of months and is responsible for 70% of its cases. He said the mutated virus appears to infect children more easily, too.
The South African variant is different but evolutionally similar to the UK one in that it is more contagious and is spreading swiftly, he said.
Colorado announced Tuesday afternoon the U.S.’s first confirmed case of the UK variant was identified in a male in his 20s, with no travel history.
California the next day announced it found the country’s second confirmed case.
“It’s just a matter of time before it’s found in numerous states,” Diaz said. “If it’s really comprising 70% of cases in the UK, there’s no way this is not already worldwide.”
Featured video
Mourning COVID-19 deaths: These are some of the Oklahomans we lost in 2020
Leanna Crutcher fought for family, change after son Terence's slaying
Pastor's wife. Mother. Music teacher. For much of her life, Leanna Crutcher was best known for those roles, which she pursued with quiet dedication.
But she had another side, as well. And when the situation demanded, it would show itself.
“Mom was a fighter. She’s where I got my fight from,” said Tiffany Crutcher, adding that everything changed for her mother after the loss of her son, Terence, in 2016.
Having witnessed her mother’s unlikely transformation into activist after her son was killed by police, Tiffany was not surprised to see that same fighting spirit come out again recently when facing COVID-19. But in the end, the virus proved too tough.
Leanna Crutcher, 67, died Jan. 14 of complications from COVID-19. She left behind her husband of 51 years, the Rev. Joey Crutcher, a daughter and son, and 10 grandchildren, including three of her late son’s children whom she was raising.
Debbie Rusher, EMSA paramedic
Debbie Rusher joined EMSA in 1999. Around Thanksgiving, her COVID-19 struggle became grave. Numerous EMSA colleagues and other workers with the Tulsa Police and Fire departments blared their lights outside Ascension St. John Medical Center in Tulsa to show their support for Rusher, who died Dec. 28 at 56.
Dr. Greg Gray, a doctor at Saint Francis Hospital South, wrote how Rusher was “out in our community working to help all of us” stay safe from COVID-19. How Rusher contracted the virus likely will remain unknown, he said, but he called her an “awesome, loving, caring paramedic” whose loss is “hitting our EMSA and EMS community HARD.”
Dr. Yee Se Ong
A longtime Muskogee physician who was the first cardiologist to set up a practice in the community, Dr. Yee Se Ong died Dec. 21 at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa of complications from COVID-19.
For the past several months of the pandemic, Ong spent virtually every waking hour in the ICU at Saint Francis Hospital in Muskogee.
Ong was a native of Cabanatuan in the Philippines. He came to Muskogee in July 1979 and dedicated his life to caring for residents from the rural areas and small communities nearby.
Pam Rask, Tulsa Health Department
Pam Rask, 61, was serving as Tulsa Health Department's division chief of adolescent and child health when she died Dec. 26. A public Facebook post from relatives indicated Rask had been hospitalized and placed on a ventilator after testing positive for COVID-19.
Jimmy's Egg pioneer Loc Van Le
Loc Van Le, who purchased a single breakfast cafe in 1980 and turned it into a multi-state franchise, died of complications from the coronavirus Dec. 10, 2020. He was 75.
As it mourns the passing of its patriarch, the Le (pronounced Lee) family is keeping vigil for its matriarch Kim, who remains hospitalized with the virus.
Oklahoma education advocate Melvin Todd
Melvin R. Todd, Ph.D, died Dec. 2 after testing positive for COVID-19. He was 87.
Todd was one of Oklahoma’s most consequential educators, leaving a trailblazing legacy of leadership through racial integration.
Former longtime Oklahoma City pastor Nick Harris
The Rev. Nick Harris, former longtime minister of First United Methodist Church of Oklahoma City, died on Nov. 23. He was 81.
His life story intersected with the broader story of the tragedy of April 19, 1995, and the triumph of the "Oklahoma Standard" that prevailed in its aftermath.
Jerad Lindsey, Tulsa FOP chairman
Jerad Lindsey, 40, chairman of the Tulsa Fraternal Order of Police, died in October after suffering complications of COVID-19, the agency reported.
He had started his career with Tulsa Police Department in 2005 and worked as patrol officer. He recently was serving also as Oklahoma Fraternal Order of Police vice president.
Lindsey is survived by his wife, Jennifer, and two sons.
Oklahoma City preservation leader Bill Gumerson
Bill Gumerson, 76, who co-founded Friends of the Mansion, a group that has helped support upkeep of the Governor’s Mansion, died on Thanksgiving from COVID-19.
As president of Preservation Oklahoma he led a successful capital campaign to renovate the Overholser Mansion.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Jeff Sewell
Capt. Jeff Sewell, 58, had been hospitalized since Sept. 5 due to COVID-19, and he died at Texoma Medical Center in Denison, Texas, on Sept. 26, according to a social media post.
“It is with deepest regret that the Oklahoma Highway Patrol announces the passing of one of our active duty members,” the agency wrote the post.
Tulsa Public Schools electrician Michael Angelo
Michael Angelo, an electrician who worked in the maintenance and plant operations department and joined Tulsa Public Schools in 2007, died in October and is the district’s first COVID-related death.
Angelo’s wife, Violet Angelo, also became ill from COVID-19 but has recovered. Violet Angelo is a custodian at TPS and joined the district in 2005.
Former Jenks East Elementary teacher Sandy Majors
From Michael Overall: "My Aunt Sandy — you might remember her as Sandra Majors, Ph.D., who taught for many years at Jenks East Elementary — tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-August."
She died Aug. 28.
QT employee Israel Sauz
Israel Sauz, a 22-year-old Broken Arrow resident, died in April. He left behind a wife of less than one year and their first child, a son born in March, among other family, friends, co-workers and even regular customers at the QuikTrip store where he worked east of downtown Tulsa.
Sauz, known as “Izzy” to some, was a night assistant manager at the QuikTrip at 1022 S. Utica Ave., and his death raised panic and outrage among fellow employees and some customers.
State's first COVID-19 death
A Tulsa County man became the state’s first resident to die from COVID-19 in mid-March, one day after he tested positive for the disease.
Tulsa County health officials said that it also was the first case of community spread in the county. The man was identified by friends and peers as Merle Dry.
12 months for just $26
"This is a special 'editor' offer at a rate we have not offered before. For just $26, you get unlimited access to everything on tulsaworld.com for a year. Every time you click on a story from social media you will get it without interruption and without surveys. Every story online + the daily e-edition that shows you the pages of the paper that day. Support our local journalists who work for you." — Tulsa World Editor Jason Collington
"The real question will be will our population be willing to take it. If they don't and we're below that number [of 80-85% vaccinated], it's going to continue to stay with us and we'll see continued hospitalizations and infections."
-- Dr. George Diaz, who treated the first case in the United States
Corey Jones
Staff Writer
I am a general assignment reporter who predominately writes about public health, public safety and justice reform. I'm in journalism to help make this community, state, country and, ultimately, world a better place.
