COVID-19 infections 'rivaling' what happened in winter 2020: Doctor

Dr. Jabraan Pasha, internal medicine physician at University of Oklahoma Medical Center in Tulsa, joins the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the latest COVID-19 developments

Video transcript

SEANA SMITH: We want to continue the conversation with Dr. Jabraan Pasha, University of Oklahoma Medical Center in Tulsa. And Dr. Pasha, it's great to have you on Yahoo Finance. I don't know if you caught what Angelie was just talking about. But she was walking through the fact that we're expecting the meeting tomorrow on COVID booster shots. We know the Biden administration has put forward that September 20 date. When you take a look, I guess, at the mixed messaging that we have received over the last couple weeks, I think there's lots of confusion out there about what's necessary, what we should expect going forward.

I guess, help break down exactly your point of view on this, and how important booster shots are at this point in the pandemic.

JABRAAN PASHA: Yeah, thanks for having me. I think the first thing to say is that it's not terribly surprising to hear what we're hearing from the FDA. If we think about the fact that it was about nine months before we actually got FDA approval after the first COVID vaccine was given. Their processes just take longer. And I think that's appropriate. That doesn't mean that the booster isn't safe and that the booster isn't necessary.

We know very well from all of the data is that the antibody levels go down with time. And eventually, there's going to be a threshold in every person in which their antibody levels are not enough to keep them from catching COVID. And so at some point, every individual is going to benefit from receiving a booster shot.

SEANA SMITH: And doctor, I guess how big of a difference do you expect this to make? And how critical is it at this point in the pandemic when we see Delta and the number of cases continuing to remain high nationwide?

JABRAAN PASHA: I think it's really important. I think we're at a very critical turning point. And as we see that some parts of the country are starting to plateau a bit, we are not far away from this taking off again. And I think it's really important for people to understand that it may not be the thing to do to wait for FDA approval where most of us didn't wait for FDA approval to get the COVID vaccine in the first place.

SEANA SMITH: Doctor, you're currently based down in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The state I know has seen a rise in the number of cases, like many other states. ICU beds are of a concern. Just give us a better picture of what's currently going on on the ground down there.

JABRAAN PASHA: Yeah. We're seeing numbers that are rivaling what happened in the winter in November and December. There are some critical differences in what we're seeing, though. We are seeing a population that is much younger and anecdotally much sicker. And it is almost uniformly unvaccinated individuals. We know that about 90% of hospitalized individuals are unvaccinated. We know that about 95% to 96% of individuals who are either in the ICU or intubated are unvaccinated.

And so because our elderly population did a really good job all over the country are getting vaccinated, we're seeing much younger people sick in the hospital. And we're talking 30s to 50s.

SEANA SMITH: And we heard President Biden put forward the vaccine mandate plan, or at least for employers who employ 100 or more workers, or at least have a weekly testing plan. Is that something that's necessary in order to get to the other side of this pandemic?

JABRAAN PASHA: I hope it's not necessary because I think it's really going to be difficult to get everyone on board. But it surely is going to help. We can see that in states like Oklahoma where the vaccination rates aren't where we would want them to be, we're struggling. And we can look at other states where they've had much more success at getting their folks vaccinated. They're doing better. And so I'm of the mindset the more people we can vaccinate, the better. And sometimes, you have to do it in ways that not everyone is going to be happy about.

SEANA SMITH: And doctor, talk to us just about some of those ways and the different avenues that you are exploring. Because you're right, Oklahoma isn't up to par I guess with some other states just in terms of their vaccination numbers. So what messaging needs to happen? Or I guess, how do we change our strategy in order to reach the people that haven't been receptive yet?

JABRAAN PASHA: Yeah, I think first and foremost, we really got to work to depoliticize this. I think the politicization of this has led to us being in the situation that we are. I think that's priority number one. Priority number two is really combating the misinformation that's out there. We know that these vaccines are safe and effective. And they are keeping people from dying. And so those are the things that we have to stand on. And it is our role as healthcare providers to really get that information out. And I think we're doing our best. But in some situations, it feels like we're losing that battle at times.

SEANA SMITH: And of course, it brings up-- this is so critical right now because we have millions of students, young children, who are back in school, many of them not eligible for a vaccine yet. I'm curious just from your perspective, or what you're seeing on the ground, are you seeing more and more children come in that are infected with COVID? And what are their symptoms like?

JABRAAN PASHA: Yeah. The data is showing that more kids than in the winter are getting COVID. Some of that is because those under 12 can't be vaccinated. But we're seeing about 20% of the cases are children. And that's much more than what we had seen at the end of last year. We know that Delta is making adults and children sicker than what we saw last year. And that's mainly because of the high viral load that we're finding with Delta. Kids still are faring well with COVID. But we are seeing kids get sicker than what we saw.