Collection:LPB

Genre: Panel

Place Covered: Louisiana

Copyright Holder: Louisiana Educational Television Authority

Date Issued: 2020-12-18

Duration: 00:28:36

Subjects: COVID-19 pandemic | Public health | Coronaviruses | Vaccines | Filmed panel discussions

Contributors:

• Moreau, Andre Host
• Edwards, John Bel Panelist
• Kanter, Joseph Panelist
• Verret, Reynold Panelist
• Stefanski, Tina Panelist

Andre Moreau hosts a panel discussion on the newly available COVID-19 vaccine from the LPB studios in Baton Rouge on December 18, 2020. The panelists are: Governor John Bel Edwards; Dr. Joseph Kanter, the interim assistant secretary for public health at the Louisiana Department of Health; Dr. Reynold Verret, a pharmacist and the president of Xavier University of Louisiana; and Dr. Tina Stefanski, the medical director for Region 4 of the Louisiana Department of Health. They discuss: health care workers receiving the first COVID-19 vaccine doses in Louisiana; the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines; the clinical trials; how long the vaccines will remain effective; the state’s distribution plan and priority groups; the need for two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines; the importance of continued mitigation measures; the role of pharmacists in vaccine distribution; the side effects; the misconceptions about the vaccines; why people should get a vaccine; the reasons why the vaccines have become available so quickly; herd immunity levels; and the importance of continuing to wear masks and practice other mitigation measures during Louisiana’s third surge of the coronavirus.