Media Coverage

“From an ethics standpoint, you don’t want to start studying a medication with vulnerable populations like children and pregnant women until you have proven safety and efficacy in the adult population,” explained Dr. Larry Kociolek, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and medical director of infection prevention and control at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

One of the site’s founders, Jaline Gerardin, said one goal was to offer residents Rt as a better way to gauge “how things are going” than the percentage of tests that come back positive, a commonly cited metric called the test positivity rate. Plus, she said, researchers wanted residents to get a better understanding of how the projections are made.

“Nothing changes after the vaccine. We will still need to socially distance and wear our masks. We should avoid our frail elders, because we just do not know the strength of their immune response to the vaccine and whether they have built up sufficient antibodies,” Northwestern Medicine geriatrician and professor Dr. June McCoy said.

Q: What if I can’t get my shot 21 days or 28 days after the first? A: People shouldn’t panic if they can’t get their second doses on day 21 or 28, said Dr. Michelle Prickett, an associate professor of medicine in pulmonary and critical care at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

For this study, researchers from DePaul University and Northwestern University focused on one particular trigger (mono) and a population that seems to get that trigger frequently (college students). Each student completed several behavioral and psychological surveys. They also provided samples of serum, plasma and white blood cells.

Pregnancy has been termed a window into the future of a woman’s cardiovascular health, said Dr. Sadiya S. Khan, an assistant professor of medicine and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “It’s nature’s stress test. And it is such an important time period for both mom and child.”

Mercedes Carnethon, the vice chairwoman of research in the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, however, says that she would be comfortable attending a wedding if she were vaccinated, even if others hadn’t had the vaccine yet. It’s a different story for her children, though.

Older people who aren’t tech-savvy are particularly worried about scheduling their appointments, said Dr. Eve Bloomgarden, an endocrinologist at Northwestern Medicine and a co-founder of the Illinois Medical Professionals Action Collaborative Team, which is a group of Illinois doctors and health care professionals working to address pandemic-related issues. This past weekend, the group started widely distributing on social media a list of places to get vaccinated.

“I approach this like I approach a Chicago winter,” said Dr. Michelle Prickett, of Northwestern Medicine. “If I’m going to be outside for a long time, I’m going to layer up.” Dr. Prickett said a double mask mandate is not necessary. Instead, she says, mask up according to your surroundings.

If you have tested positive for Covid-19 or been exposed to someone who has the illness, you should not go to the vaccination site to get your shot until your symptoms and isolation period have passed, said Dr. Michael Ison, a professor in the division of infectious diseases and organ transplantation at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.