Ronnie Lovler
January and February usually mark the peak of the cold and flu season, heightened this year by new variants of COVID-19 that are surfacing. But the debate over the value of immunizations and whether to vaccinate is still going strong, especially in Florida.
At a recent conference in Tampa of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), experts at a session on immunizations for the elderly called for “increased reverence for vaccines.” In a handout, they cited the need to “change the dialogue about vaccines from the narrow focus of an individual benefit offering protection against a single target condition to a broad, far-reaching value to the individual and society.”
The emphasis from all the panelists was on the need for older adults to get vaccinated as a good health practice that could keep them alive longer and for practitioners and providers to help them to do so.
“Our opinion is that older adults must be protected,” said Chad Worz, CEO of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, who has 20 years of experience as a geriatric pharmacist. “It’s not just COVID-19; it’s influenza, RSV, any infection in someone older who is medically complex or just older. The disease has an opportunity to hospitalize them and potentially kill them. We need to do what we can to lessen the chance of that happening.”
But that’s not a consensus view on COVID vaccines, particularly in Florida. The state’s senior health official, Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, also a professor of medicine at the University of Florida, issued a January statement calling for “a halt to the use of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines” like those developed by Pfizer and Moderna.
Ladapo said DNA fragments found in mRNA vaccines are a potential cause of increased cancer risk, reproductive issues, and many other health problems. He cited 2007 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance that warned the industry of potential unintended consequences of DNA integration.
After Ladapo expressed his concerns in a December letter, the FDA said the 2007 guidance was not applicable and that it is “quite implausible” that minute amounts of DNA fragments could find their way into a person’s chromosomal DNA.
“The agency’s benefit-risk assessment and ongoing safety surveillance demonstrate that the benefits of [mRNA vaccine] use outweigh their risks,” wrote Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “Additionally, with over a billion doses of the mRNA vaccines administered, no safety concerns related to residual DNA have been identified.”
Ladopo was unconvinced.
“The FDA’s response does not provide data or evidence that the DNA integration assessments they recommended themselves have been performed,” Ladapo said in the January statement. “If the risks of DNA integration have not been assessed for mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, these vaccines are not appropriate for use in human beings.”
Worz and others support the FDA position and says vaccines are particularly helpful for older people.
“We all have to agree as we get older our body systems are slowly breaking down and that includes your immune system,” he said. “People who are older are more susceptible to a cold that is more severe or flu that is more severe. Something we can do that lessens the blow or lessens the chance of acquired infections, we need to do it.”
In a July 2023 statement, the American Medical Association called for “special attention” to age as a risk factor for COVID-19: “Compared with other age groups, hospitalizations have remained higher among patients 65 or older.”
Locally, county health officials sidestepped a request for more information about the issue. Paul D. Myers, administrator for Florida Department of Health in Alachua County, indicated he would respond to written questions provided by Mainstreet Daily News, but in the end only referred Mainstreet to public-facing websites and said it was, “all that I can provide at this time.”
Myers suggested reaching out to state officials. The University of Florida referred a Ladapo interview request to the Florida Department of Health, which did not respond to Mainstreet’s inquiry.
The vaccine debate is perplexing for people trying to decide whether to vaccinate as COVID-19 continues to be part of day-to-day health scenarios, especially among the elderly.
In Gainesville, many older people are rushing out to get the vaccine, despite the surgeon general’s warning.
“It’s like a nightmare that won’t go away,” said Dixie Neilson, 70, regarding Ladapo’s recommendations. “I’m really upset about this. We’re going in tomorrow to make sure we are all up to date.”
But others are taking a different approach, even if they have been previously vaccinated. Paul Korman, 74, who got the first two COVID shots and two boosters, is slowing down.
“If everyone else gets vaccinated, I’ll be protected,” he said. “I don’t know if the new vaccines have been tested enough. And with everybody as inoculated as they are, it doesn’t seem like it’s spreading as much. I don’t think it’s worth the risk of being exposed to an untested or not thoroughly tested vaccine, compared to the danger of getting the illness.”
Karen Tracy, GSA’s vice president for strategic alliances, calls the current situation a conundrum as fewer people are vaccinated.
“COVID is like the flu in that there are going to be different strains of it,” Tracy said. “The idea that other people are going to be vaccinated so I don’t need to be is the very reason you need to step up and play your role.”
Tracy pointed to declining immune systems and co-morbidities particular concerns for older people.
“The other big issue for older adults is the other health issues like dementia or obesity,” Tracy said.
State data show that COVID maintains a consistent presence, even though cases have declined since the peak in 2022. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, weekly COVID-involved deaths in Florida have, on four different occasions, surged above 1,000 per week for at least five straight weeks since the start of the pandemic, but they have hovered under 100 per week for most of the last year.
Older adults have chosen to get vaccinated at higher rates than those under 65, with Alachua County numbers peaking in 2021 and 2022 at 38,238 and 24,822, respectively. That number fell to 16,216 older adults vaccinated in 2023.
In neighboring rural counties, the numbers are much lower. Columbia County reported 2,051 older adults were vaccinated in 2023. In Levy County, the number of older adults vaccinated against COVID was 1,913 in 2023.
The flu vaccine is widely available, but state numbers show one in three older adults choose not to get it. The numbers are similar for the pneumonia vaccine.
In Alachua County, the death rate from flu and pneumonia surpasses that of the state, according to data released by Florida Health Charts. In 2022, the last year for which data was available, the age-adjusted death rate per 100,000 population in Alachua County was 9.4 compared to 8.6 statewide.
Yet for those who seek to do so, it’s relatively easy to get vaccinated locally. Most pharmacies—Walgreens, CVS, Publix and other drugstores—offer free vaccines for young and old. For a time, some public health organizations offered vaccine incentives to those who attended their clinics, such as a $25 credit card to Amazon or Walmart, but the program has been discontinued.
Health Street, a UF Health community organization, still offers walk-in clinics where vaccines are offered once or twice a week at various sites around the county.
Those who work with seniors emphasize the need for immunizations. Gainesville’s Star Bradbury, CEO of Senior Living Strategies and author of the book “Successfully Navigating Your Parents Senior Years,” urged the elderly to stay up to date on all their vaccinations in a recently circulated e-mail.
“You may be sick and tired of hearing about various vaccinations, but the truth is they save lives,” Bradbury wrote. “Don’t get complacent please. Covid is still sending older people to the hospital and older frailer adults are more at risk. Plus, the new variants are smarter than ever and newer boosters will protect you.”
She didn’t stop with COVID, either.
“What about your flu, RSV, pneumonia, and shingles vaccinations? They are all important,” Bradbury wrote, citing life expectancy benefits and protection for those who cannot receive vaccinations. “Are you up to date with all of them? Check with your doctor if you aren’t sure if they are right for you or you have had a serious reaction. Space them out and my advice is to take them one at a time.”
Editor’s note: This article was written with the support of a journalism fellowship from the Gerontological Society of America, the Journalists Network on Generations, and the Silver Century Foundation. It is also part of our Aging Matters series sponsored by Elder Options.
First off, the fed ‘healthcare’ community has lost the respect of more than half the country. Second, the logic used that the new variants are ‘smarter’ is sorrowful. People that anthropomorphize something like a virus aren’t ones I can trust. And third – the revolving door between USG healthcare and ‘big pharma’ is frightening. Talk about major conflicts of interest.
Plus, who were among the major funding sources for the research that gave us this ‘novel’ corona virus in the first place? They’ve had more strikes against them than a full MLB season.
If the FDA claims there is no evidence of harm, maybe they could explain why they were looking the other way instead of searching for any evidence?
Trust is broken, and until there is an admission that public health and the medical establishment was wrong, along with a sincere apology and effort to restore that trust by NOT doing the same things over again, there are going to be a lot of people unwilling to trust the government and even their doctors the way they used to, pre-Covid. Elderly/”Aging” people, fine, get the shot if it makes you feel safer. But younger people, and especially children/kids and young adults should NOT GET THE COVID SHOT, and no longer continue to be guinea pigs when the risk-benefit ratio in no way justifies the risk. Our (Florida) surgeon general is part of a small and courageous medical and public health community that is really looking out for the health of their patients/communities.
An excellent and very important review of a matter that has been needlessly politicized . . . to the detriment of the health, even the lives, of us elderly. I just got over a bout of COVID 19 and am thankful that my vaccination record was up to date. The disease was bad enough as it was, but it would have been a helluva lot worse if my immunity had not already been built up. People my age are taking needless (and, perhaps, mortal) risk if they do not keep up their protection. Of course, one of the things that makes this whole matter confusing to many is the fact that the individual who bears the title of Florida’s Surgeon General is an anti-vaxxer. And he supposedly received his medical degree from Harvard and PhD in Health Policy from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences! Just goes to show that even the Ivy League can make mistakes.
The decline in vaccination rates in Alachua County is shocking. We’ve had both initial shots and five boosters. And we’ve not caught covid yet. DeSantis’ appointee as surgeon general is the banal face of evil, and we are leaving this cesspool of science denial and misinformation.
We are blessed in 2024 with the medical advances accomplished in the last century. One hundred years ago our life expectancy was much lower than today – people died of diseases from which vaccinations protect us now: diphtheria, measles, polio, flu, small pox, mumps, scarlet fever . . . and the list goes on to include Covid variations. Scientific studies reveal phony “cures” and bring us proven ways to battle the forces of nature that compromise our lives.