What You Need to Know About the COVID Vaccines—Sarah Hiner Talks to Dr. Max Gomez of CBS-TV NY

Max Gomez, PhD

Dr. Max Gomez is an award-winning broadcast journalist and a medical reporter for WCBS-TV. He has received seven New York Emmy Awards, two Philadelphia Emmys, a UPI honor for Best Documentary for a report on AIDS, and an Excellence in Time of Crisis Award from New York City after September 11. He was named the American Health Foundation’s Man of the Year and was a NASA Journalist-In-Space semi-finalist in 1986.

Previously with WNBC-TV, Dr. Gomez joined the network in 1997 after serving as the medical reporter/health editor for WCBS-TV from 1994 to 1997. Prior to that, he was the health and science editor for KYW-TV in Philadelphia and the health and science reporter/editor for WNEW-TV.

A native of Havana, Cuba, Dr. Gomez graduated cum laude from Princeton University, with a PhD from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He was also an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow at New York’s Rockefeller University.

You can learn more about Dr. Gomez at NewYork.CBSLocal.com/personality/dr-max-gomez. And watch his “Max Minutes” at NewYork.CBSLocal.com/tag/max-minute.

00:00 00:00

With the promising test results for COVID-19 vaccines, we’re finally seeing some hope for a return to normalcy. But there still are many important questions that the headlines don’t answer about the safety and efficacy of vaccines being created at “warp speed”…and the thorny ethical issues of who should get vaccinated first.

In this edition of the Bottom Line Advocator Podcast, Dr. Max Gomez, nine-time Emmy Award–winning medical journalist with New York’s CBS-TV, joins Bottom Line President Sarah Hiner to break down the crucial details we all need to know when considering the new COVID-19 vaccines.

Topics covered include…

Surprisingly quick progress…but lots of future challenges (4:41 – 8:11
What’s different about COVID vaccines (8:11 – 11:40)
How the “coronavirus” got its name(11:40 – 12:20)
Why COVID can also cause strokes and other nonrespiratory problems (12:20 – 13:04)
The coronavirus’ “genius” for infiltrating our cells (13:04 – 14:11)
What allows COVID vaccines to be produced so fast? (14:11 – 19:29)
Do COVID vaccines protect people at highest risk? (19:29 – 22:20)
Unusual dosing with the AstraZeneca/Oxford trial (22:20 – 25:07)
The ground-breaking technology used in Pfizer and Moderna vaccines (25:07 – 32:48)
Is immunity long-lasting from COVID vaccines? (32:48 – 34:15)
The safety of genetically modified vaccine materials (34:15 –38:05)
Adverse effects detected so far (38:05 – 38:34)
Will Dr. Max get the vaccine? (38:34 – 39:20)
Transparency of research data during FDA review (39:20 – 40:27)
Higher-than-expected efficacy results (40:27 – 41:50)
Dangers of zinc and vitamin D deficiency with COVID (41:50 – 44:46)
Storage considerations with COVID vaccines (44:46 – 49:31)
Can people choose the vaccine they get? (49:31 – 51:01)
Consumer cost and availability of COVID vaccines (51:01 – 53:59)
Is there a clear winner among the three vaccines? (53:59 – 54:57)
When to worry about adverse effects from a vaccine (54:57 – 57:45)
How encouraged should we be? (57:45 – 1:01:07)
Numbers needed to reach herd immunity (1:01:07 – 1:04:44)
Who should get the vaccine first? (1:04:44 – 1:07:58)

You can learn about the many things that Dr. Max does at DrMaxGomez.com. And watch his “Max Minutes” at NewYork.CBSLocal.com/tag/max-minute

You can connect with and stay in touch with Sarah at her website www.bottomlineinc.com! Find Bottom Line on Facebook @WeAreBottomLine and at Bottom Line Inc. on www.linkedin.com.

And if you enjoyed this podcast, please share a review so that more people can benefit from Be sure to subscribe to the Bottom Line Advocator Podcast with Sarah Hiner on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.