We are happy to announce that the full QuistMD team has received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine, and we are scheduled for the second dose later this month. We are grateful to benefit from the impressive work done to develop this vaccine, and happy that our heightened immunity will offer additional safety to our patients, family and community.
We hope that the vaccine will become available to the broader community quickly, and that when your time comes, you will take advantage of it as soon as possible! This is the most important and promising pathway to returning to normal life. You may be wondering what it was like to receive this vaccine. Most of our team received the shot from a nearby pharmacist. Almost all of us experienced a very sore shoulder for a few days, and one team member experienced very mild flu-like symptoms the following day. The vaccine does not contain any live virus, and this type of reaction is a result of the immune system responding to and learning from the vaccine.
While we take comfort in having the vaccine, we are all continuing to take COVID safety precautions including mask wearing, physical distancing, hand hygiene, COVID screening at entry, and enhanced ventilation. We ask our patients to continue taking these precautions as well.
For more context on the view we are taking of the vaccine and our continued precautions, we recommend an informative recent New York Times op-ed: Underselling the Vaccine. It features views of prominent and well-regarded public health scientists on what the vaccine means for us going forward. We especially wanted to share the concluding sentences of the article as a concise summary of how we will be proceeding, inspired by President Biden and the top doctors and scientists working for our public health:
"We should immediately be more aggressive about mask-wearing and social distancing because of the new virus variants. We should vaccinate people as rapidly as possible — which will require approving other COVID vaccines when the data justifies it. People who have received both of their vaccine shots, and have waited until they take effect, will be able to do things that unvaccinated people cannot — like having meals together and hugging their grandchildren. But until the pandemic is defeated, all Americans should wear masks in public, help unvaccinated people stay safe and contribute to a shared national project of saving every possible life." - David Leonhardt
We will beat this thing together! As always, we welcome every opportunity to support your sports medicine and physical therapy needs. If we can support your fitness and wellness goals, please call us at 202-244-8222 or email us at info@quistmd.com.
Cheers,
Dr. Jeffrey Haggquist
