EXPERTS WEIGH IN

Emory experts were everywhere, from CNN to Facebook Live providing science-based information about COVID-19 vaccines.

"What I like to say is, vaccines don't save lives, vaccination saves lives." Dr. Walter Orenstein
"We are really in a race between these variants and getting people vaccinated." Dr. Kimberly Manning

“This is really as good a response as we could possibly hope for. This puts it in the range of other highly effective vaccines, like measles.” –Evan Anderson, Emory professor, infectious diseases,  School of Medicine, TIME. “We spend a lot of time training medical  students on the science behind vaccines.  We don’t spend a lot of time  teaching them how to communicate effectively about this.”  –Robert Bednarczyk, assistant professor, epidemiology, Rollins, AJC
“It’s not rocket science, but it is behavioral science, communication  science . . . It’s very important the federal government partner not only in getting vaccines to the states but in helping states administer the vaccine.” –Walter Orenstein, NPR  “In general, I’m recommending that my pregnant patients get vaccinated. But they should make sure all their questions are answered by their  health care provider, and that they’re comfortable before getting vaccinated.” –Denise Jamieson, chair of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory School of Medicine, Newsweek   “There is a myth that you will become sterile if you take the  vaccine. This has been propagated on social media, and in one blog in particular. It was supposedly based on a false claim that [one of the COVID-19 vaccines] had a protein that was similar to a placental protein. There is no truth to it, but it just keeps getting circulated.” –Denise Jamieson, Newsweek
“This is all good news, but we can’t rely on vaccinations alone . . . It’s true that cases and hospitalizations have been declining. But the threat of more transmissible variants is real, and we don’t want to squander the gains we’ve made. Now is the time to double down on masking and distancing and not let up.” —Sanjay Gupta, Emory neurosurgeon, associate professor, School of Medicine, CNN Health  “The virus that causes COVID-19 will continue to circulate but will mostly cause only mild illness, like a routine cold.” —Jennie Lavine, Emory virologist, Science

“This is really as good a response as we could possibly hope for. This puts it in the range of other highly effective vaccines, like measles.” –Evan Anderson, Emory professor, infectious diseases, School of Medicine, TIME  “We are currently in a race between variants and vaccines.”  –Carlos del Rio, distinguished professor of medicine and professor of global health, Facebook Live  “We spend a lot of time training medical students on the science behind vaccines. We don’t spend a lot of time teaching them how to communicate effectively about this.”  –Robert Bednarczyk, assistant professor, epidemiology, Rollins, AJC
“This is really as good a response as we could possibly hope for. This puts it in the range of other highly effective vaccines, like measles.” –Evan Anderson, Emory professor, infectious diseases,  School of Medicine, TIME  “There are so many ethical, operational, health care challenges that we as a country have never had to face before. This is a historic battle.  It’s going to require continued working together to conquer this foe.” –Jon Lewin, CEO Emory Healthcare, Marketplace