There is No Back to Normal

they not going to be widely available? But before we get into that conversation with Jonathan, this breaking news has just come in, which is this. According to MSNBC, COVID nineteen has now killed about as many Americans as the nineteen eighteen nineteen nineteen Spanish flu pandemic. And let's just say this if you are unclear about where the number stands right now, is that right now, COVID nineteen has killed six hundred and seventy five thousand Americans. Think about

that for a moment. Six hundred and seventy five thousand Americans have lost their lives through this pandemic. We know that a large portion of those that lost their lives happened in twenty twenty, before there was a vaccine that was eligible, before we knew that we were going to have a vaccine, and we were still understanding how this

virus was working and moving. It's so hard for me to really think about where we were last year, when we were applauding healthcare workers, when we were sending encouraging notes and sending pizzas and cupcakes to hospitals, and now a year later, we're holding protests and taking horse hormones and doing everything and anything that we can to either deny the fact that COVID nineteen exists, to really trample on the memories of those who have lost loved ones.

And let me remind you, I am one of those people. Right. My family lost my step grandmother just a couple of you know, when you look at it, November will be a year. Right. She was a very healthy, vibrant, seventy something year old woman who got COVID and within three weeks was gone. There are so many Americans now that

have that story. Because when we think about the six hundred and seventy five thousand people that have lost their lives, how many families, how many friends, we are getting to a place where every single one of us will know someone close to us that will have been lost to this virus. And yet we still have politicians going on television spreading lies and we do nothing. They're not fine, they're not jailed, they're not called treasonous. It's just the

way of the world now. And what I want folks to understand two and this it will be part of the conversation that I have with Jonathan later, is the fact that there is no going back to normal. And I understand that that is an overwhelming thing to wrap our minds around, because to me, pre COVID life seems lifetimes away. It seems like I don't even really remember

what happened in twenty nineteen. I don't really remember what it was like to get on the train and not double mask, or to not want to sit next to people, or to go to large events. Now, of course, there are people who have been acting like nothing has changed over the course of the last nineteen months and continuing on with their selfish ways with life is normal. But

it's not. And no matter how many types of gas lighting that the Republican Party tries to throw our way, I mean, go and talk to your local mortician, Go to the local funeral home, Go to the local hospital, and not for a protest, but to talk with healthcare workers, right, who can tell you firsthand what they've been seeing and what they've been going through. Go sit down with one of the members of your community. I'm sure there are

many that have lost loved ones to the pandemic. This is something that I don't think that America is ever going to get over. And when we finally have some distance between us and this pandemic, I can't wait to see what is going to be written, because my assumption is that it's going to be the same kind of

bullshit that's written about slavery, or not written at all. Right, we're going to pretend that Americans were all together, and we're going to pretend that there wasn't divisiveness, and we're going to pretend that doctors and healthcare workers weren't being beaten up or threatened. Right, We're going to pretend that Americans were united and that we were patriots and that we face this problem together. That will be the fucking fiction that is fed to children generations from now, if

in fact the planet is still around. You know, because we also ignore the fact that climate change is ravaging this country as well as this health pandemic. You know, it's a troubling place that we are in, and what continues to come up for me is that this is just the way things are, and I feel that that's

what is getting my spirits down. And why I say to folks, we got to be very conscious of boosting our own serotonin levels, of creating protective boundaries around ourselves, around our loved ones, so that we don't allow these you know, joy vacuums to steal. You know, what goodness, what little bit of goodness does exist on a day to day basis, But it is our job to find that goodness, to find those silver linings, because there is just so many clouds around us everywhere that we look.

And so friends, you know, as we go through and have this conversation with Jonathan and unpack where we are currently, I will again reiterate that it is important for you to ground yourself in something other than misery. And I'm not telling you to not pay attention, but I'm saying to do so in sparingly ways. Protect your spirit, protect your energy, and protect yourselves so that you have the strength and the wherewithal to be able to navigate during

these hard pressed times. Coming up next, dear friends, is my conversation with our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel to unpack what is the latest and what we need to know with regard to COVID. The booster is, the FDA and the CDC. I am always so pleased to work through the apocalyptic present that we are living in with our friend, our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel,

the most patient man in America. Jonathan. One of the things that I wanted to talk to you about that happened at the end of last week was the FISER board voting against the booster shots, right the expansion of the booster shots outside of sixty five and up who have pre existing conditions, and the board deciding that now is not the time for that booster shot, but then coming back and saying that it's fine for those that

are sixty five and older. Can you talk about this voting and why they voted against the booster shot, and then why the administration initially came out and said everybody needs a booster and the boosters will be widely available in October, and now that is not the case, and because this back and forth, right, like even I was sitting at home with my family, My mother, because she

had brain surgery last year, would be eligible. My dad, no, he would He would not be because he doesn't have a pre existing condition and is not in the age range category, but they were. My mother, who is a retired registered nurse. It like everything just seems so confusing. And we're sitting there and we're very studied and like thoughtful people, and we're like, what the hell is going on?

So can you walk us through the decision by Fizer, then the voting of no, then the voting of yes, and how it is in contrast to what the administration had said, which is then in contrast to what the CDC said with regard to the booster shot. Well, it's

certainly confusing, and I understand that people are confused. I mean people have to realize, first of all, this is happening in real time, right, It's we're what are we It feels like nine thousand years into this pandemic, but it's pretty much really it really is, like you know it's so but you know, it's going to take us ten years to figure out what exactly the right thing is to do here, I will say, and you you can. I feely feel pretty strongly that what's going to happen

here a couple things. First of all, boosters are going to become much more than norm. I think the problem was the file that was given to the FDA had just a very low number of cases, so it wasn't convincing data from a kind of mass population standpoint to justify everybody getting a booster, and so I think they were rightly skeptical because what's called the end the number of people who who were in the study was just not high enough to know what's the benefit of this.

But there is a lot of research happening in places like Israel where boosters are very widespread that I think is showing that the boosters increase antibodies, they increase defense as they give you probably another six months of protection, and things like that. So I do think that's where we're going. The issue is though, that now the whole world needs to get vaccines, and so as we move toward I mean, this was just the beginning of the

decisions about boosters. Again, I'm very certain that boosters are going to become the norm going forward, because they work. I mean, the study is in Israel, for example, and a Jay and Jay study that came out today showed a real significant benefit at least in the short immediate term from boosters in the face of what we're finding to be waning efficacy unfortunately from the vaccines over time.

But the issue is also going to be a supply issue, because more important than boosters are getting everybody in Africa vaccinated, getting everybody in South America vaccinated. And so I think that we're going to like there's a moment now where there's just a lot of surplus in the United States. And I think the one downside of the way this is playing out is that boosters are going to become

more the norm as potentially supply goes down. And I think that's what I think, That's what I don't know, but I think that's what the Biden iministration was trying to do, is to push the boosters even as they obviously we're you know, we're giving a lot of buyers, a lot of vaccine to other parts of the world right now. Um, But so I think it's not the it's not the end of this story. It was just that the file that was given to the FDA didn't

have enough sample stuff. But again I don't I think that what was anticipated to happen will probably be happening pretty soon, because again, there was an eleven thousand person study in Israel and it did show that the vaccines we're kind of doing what what we thought. The initial you know, the boosters are are pretty helpful. So let me ask you this too, because again I'm I'm not a medical doctor, is what is the difference between a

booster and your second shot of the vaccine. So, for instance, if I'm concerned, right, I got my maderna shot at the beginning of this year, right, And so now we're moving into a place where I'm just like, am I

still covered? Right? I obviously live in New York, So we're wearing masks and you know, and you have to be vaccinated to be inside, and you know, and wearing masks even still and trying to stay outside for as long as possible until you know it's unbearable, and then I'll probably just go back into my Brooklyn bunker for

the winter. But what is the difference between a booster shot and me going into you know, one of the pharmacies and just getting another shot of the vaccine just so that people understand, like what is there a difference

and what you know and what that is. Well, I mean no, I'm just saying there's so much to say about this right now, and so part of the issue is so remember we were just saying that you have initially, you have your antibody response in your your blood, and then you have memory cells because you you can't have

too many. Like if you add antibodies to every foreign pathogen that you came across, you know, dirt and your neighbor's terrible music and all these kind of things you your you wouldn't have blood because you have so many antibodies. So your your antibodies are like your first line of defense, and then your your blood then also creates these these longer term kind of like a stockpile stored away somewhere of defense and so um. So boosters stimulate the antibody response.

That's why people after they get boosters applied for two, three, four weeks, they could walk through the valley of COVID and not get it, which isn't what they do long term, whereas the long term cells basically they you can get infected if you have not antibodies but these longer term cells. But the minute it's in your then they mobilize. And that's why people don't get as sick is because these long term cells won't let the virus take over your lungs,

for example, or other kinds of dramatic effects. And so there are like two lines of defense, and the boosters are just are just stimulating that in the face of what looks like potentially waning immunity from the vaccines. And so I mean TBD about how this is all really going to play out. I mean, I personally thought a couple months ago that the way the boosters were going to play out was we were actually going to get boosters that were specifically targeted toward the delta variant. But

I don't know. That seems to have cooled down a little bit, so we'll have to see what happens. I mean, I certainly think that. Remember we called the coronavirus like a million years ago, the novel coronavirus, right because it's band new, so no humans had any defense against it. And really, every time you get something like a shot, you're just you're just teaching your teach your body to

defend itself against this brand new threat. The hard part is there are vaccines, and we were hopeful this would be the case that stop a virus dead in its tracks, like the polio vaccine, for example. After years and years of trying, we found a vaccine that stopped polio dead in its tracks. But unfortunately, because covid is an airborne virus, it's just like there's too much of it kind of

floating out there in the air. And so part of the issue is the covid vaccine I don't think right now is ever really going to function like the polio vaccine where you just get it once and you're done and you're not going to get it or something like that. So this is this is a lot of kind of learning in real time right now, as like our economic and political systems, you know, stry to screare everything up. So I think, I mean, honestly optimistically, I hope we're

getting there again. I would follow places that have you know, politics aside, read that online newspapers of places that are doing a lot of a lot of boosters, just to see how they're reporting on it, Like I read arts the Israeli paper as often as I can um other places that are doing vaccine, that are doing boosters, like just seeing it, you can see for me it's no big deal. Just go get another shot at CVS or something like that. But but I think we'll have to see.

I mean the downside, and I apologize there's a lot of information at once, But the downside is we know that boosters shorten your immediate Boosters give you an immediate immediate defense, but we don't know a year from now. Yeah, so we're figuring it out. But again I would err on the side of boosters personally. Um so, but we just don't And and do we know for instance, um again, I was vaccinated at the beginning of this year. Do

we know the efficacy of the vaccine? You know now that it's been eight months, right, it's been seven or eight months since I was initially vaccinated. The efficacy of the vaccine, like how it is how long does it take for it to start weaning or not being as effective? Well, again, we're figuring that out. You're in good shape. You're in good shape because you've got the maderna which I think it's a higher dose of a shot than the visor.

And so again, the Israeli data was all from Visor and they found about six to eight months that that's when people started seeing like we didn't even know. Imagine over the summer, early in the summer, we didn't even know they were breakthrough infections. Remember how shocking all that was.

And what we found was they were breakthrough infections six months to eight months into it, and people weren't remember these people were getting infected because they didn't have antibodies, but then the memory cells were largely protecting them from severe illness. And so I think that the key question a high level of anti bodies is how long does that memory self protection last? And that's really the million dollars question right now? How long is that memory self

protection last? Right? But unfortunately, the issue is going to be there's not going to be a world except Tennessee on the party bus where we're not going to also have to be doing all the other stuff, right, So it's it's also going to be we're still going to be wearing you know, our favorite mask and you know, all those kind of things. We're still going to be doing that for a while. So this is people say it's the new normal. I think it's the new abnormal.

But this is the world we're living in right now. All in all, it's good to have a vaccine, you know, But I mean, I think, you know, the reality, the reality is stark, right. You know, we were kind of at the beginning of this pandemic, you and I were talking about the fact that well, the you know, the Spanish flu lasted for two years. Well we're moving into nineteen months, right of COVID being an exist on the planet, and because of Republicans, right, we're never getting rid of it, right.

And the reality is is that the desire to go back to normal normals seem so far from where we are right now. And I don't think that we're going back. I do think that this is the new normal. I think that getting regular shots, wearing masks are going to be like our future. I don't see twenty twenty two being any different than twenty twenty other than the fact that we have, you know, a vaccine and we'll have boosters.

But I don't see how it's really that different. And I guess that's my last question for you, is you know, I don't see there being much of a difference in twenty twenty two to where we are right now, or twenty twenty three or twenty twenty four. What are you thinking about as the calendar moves on and you know, and we're four months, you know, away from the new year. Well, think about those first months of pandemic here in New

York where it was NonStop sirens. I mean, that was that was about for our lifetimes as traumatizing a time as you can imagine. And so I just want to emphasize that we are in a much better place than we were then where we had no idea what we're doing and we had no treatment. So now we have a treatment and we also know. I mean, it just depends how you look at it. Like I'm I feel like, as I said before, there's an apex predator on our planet who's not us, But that apex predator has gifted

us the outdoors. Right, you can go outside. I'm pretty much not worry about COVID, So it lets us go outside and we have to probably get shots until we figure out a better long term plans. So for me, that's better than those first couple months of pandemic where everybody was dying like that was. That was horrific, and it's still happening in parts of the country. So on a medical and public health standpoint, we're a lot better

off than we were in the beginning. But the problem is now it becomes not just about medical treatment, it's

about functioning political systems. And our political system is so dysfunctional that it really is putting us behind the curve if you compare us to New Zealand or Iceland or you know, Fluto, pretty much anywhere else in the galaxy, because our political system is so fractured and becoming so much more fractured because you know, you can either you can engage with public health or you can weaponize public health, and it's just being weaponized way too much right now.

That is it for Today's Woke, a f daily podcast. To hear more from today's show, including my full interview with doctor Jonathan Metzel, support me on Patreon at patreon dot com Slash Woke AF Power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.