Barry Baines

And, and with, you don't want to drive people crazy every two weeks by, you know, changing things around, but on a periodic and systematic way of doing it, it could be very helpful because you always want to be up. You do want to be up to date. That's for sure. So thank you all for just this really very interesting show as many of our shows are to me.

So thanks for being here and enlightening me a bit more on the community guide and, the Community Preventive Service Task Force.

Well, I guess when I went through our research, and Stan went through a very exhaustive list of vaccines that would have everybody really think that they're a pincushion if they got them all at once. But I guess how I like to break things down are the kind of vaccines that are sort of needed on what I'll call a seasonal basis.

In other words, we're getting into the flu season, and typically it follows a path where usually November to February, it just depends on, because all these viruses evolve. That's why, in fact, why we always need new vaccines because the viruses, even though they don't have a brain, it seems like they do because they evolve and they mutate and they change.

So what I always hear from my communities, and this is more friends as opposed to as patients, But this whole idea that because we have these phased-in illnesses that usually happen in the winter, there's a premium on several of them to get vaccinated against.

And, you know, COVID has followed a course where it still has its ups and downs, and it continues, and it's, you know, still here, even more than the way the flu has. virus stays with us from year to year. On the flip side, it seems like the new variants in COVID are a little less virulent, a little less lethal to the population.

That being said, the population ages, and if you have other conditions, even though the virus might not be as virulent for certain people with chronic conditions, that it could really knock them for a loop and they could die from COVID still. It's not like what we saw from three, four years ago for sure.

And so to me, the big three is COVID, flu, which we're not in the flu season yet, but we're getting there. And I see those as the top two. And then RSV is important for some populations is what I'm reading. And it seems like there's still a little bit of uncertainty about exactly who should be getting RSV and the effectiveness of the RSV vaccine.

So I see those three as the seasonal things that hit us every year, year after year. You should get ready for that. And then a lot of the other ones are either one time or two time, like in the Shingrix, the shingles vaccine. That's never... It's never an acute situation where, you know, shingles just comes up. It just is there all the time.

The hepatitis B vaccines, certainly the measles, mumps, rubella, you know, those kinds of things. I wouldn't say, I want to say that they were one and done, but because a lot of those diseases have left the population, this idea of herd immunity and people have antibodies to these things, which make it less likely that people are going to get those.

But those tend to be, you don't need them except on a multi-year basis. And some like shingles vaccine, hepatitis B, once you go through the series, you're done. Or at least as of now, as you know, one of the things with science and research is that we find out new things that always change our hypothesis or change our theories about what is the best practice. And so I think

it's sort of those two lumps, the, the, what do we have to get like now for this season and then other ones that are important. And, and that, so there's like two priority lists in my head. That's how I divide it out. Clarence, does that make sense? Wait, it does.

Well, number one, I certainly don't have all the answers. I do have some ideas and thoughts on that because actually it's very interesting. I was just going to try and, well, I guess pun intended, inject a little sunshine into this conversation. So not with my doctor hat on, but as, you know, like a human, just a person. Okay.

I'm amazed over the, and it's since COVID, how available and typically free you can get vaccines today. Right, right. I mean, everybody probably lives within a few blocks of someplace where they can go and get a vaccine, you know, certainly for again, you know, flu, COVID, you know, the big three are, you know, RSV and cost does not become an issue.

There has been an impact in doctor's offices as we have that really started with COVID with staffing issues. So like the clinic that I'm at, that I go to because, you know, I like to go to my clinic when I need to.

And as soon as you say the word vaccination, they say, well, just, you know, we're so backed up that it's going to be weeks and weeks till we can get you in to just get a vaccine from a nurse or nursing assistant, you know, whoever's going to administer it.

And they recommend, you know, go to, you know, Walgreens or CVS or the Hy-Vee or, I mean, because they say, because you can get in like tomorrow, you know, to get it. So the barrier isn't access, which as we know from a number of topics that we've talked about, access is a big problem. Now, just like there were food deserts in certain neighborhoods, I'm sure there are

CVS Walgreens deserts as well, so that certain communities don't necessarily have that same kind of access. But access, I think, is much, you know, much bigger. And, you know, certainly when I go in for, you know, just a regular exam, you know, my yearly, you know, my doc always covers all, you know, goes through my vaccination list and and goes through that.

And I think that continues to get, you know, to get done. But I think this is not as much a medical issue as some of the other things that we've talked about. And then mostly it's been politicization in our society and that where you stand on vaccines almost becomes like a code word or a code for what party what ideology you support.

And the other piece, and this is not what doctors can do, and then I'll kind of keep it short here. One of the things about, you know, everybody seems to think that if you change your mind about something, that you're a flip-flopper, you know, and that that's a bad thing. And the fundamental parts of science are you have a hypothesis and