Welcome to the Tweetsw Today we're going to talk about vaccinations and immunizations with Dr. Warren Jones. Let's get started. Hello and welcome back to Tweetsw.
Today I have a guest with me and it's my personal back pocket doctor. Whenever I have a question, I reach out to my father-in-law. This is Dr. Jones.
I have him on the show with me today. Hey, how are you, dear? I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to have you here and I'm just so tickled because I wonder sometimes when you see my name pop up on your phone, if you're like, oh goodness, let me pull out my doctor's hat because he's got some question.
The only thing I pulled out is my heart to make it larger and to go boop boop boop boop because I love it so much. I enjoy talking with you because it brightens my day. That's so sweet. Oh my goodness.
Well today, because this is cold and flu season, I wanted us to get together and have a little chat about vaccinations and the different things out there that maybe some people aren't thinking about that they should kind of have on their radar. One thing in particular, I know you remind me all the time whenever I'm being extra mental with our daughter and who she gets to hang around and what she gets to do about how many different strains of flu virus out there. It's a difficult thing for parents right now because over the last four years, we've heard so much about viruses that main people killed them and altered their lives. So parents want the natural thing, which is to protect their children as best they can.
Something that didn't happen when you were a child, of course, we didn't have social media. When I was a child, we didn't even have paper. They were still chiseling on a stone. But one of the problems we have with making decisions about our families is the amount of disinformation that you have to sift through.
So the one thing I love your listeners to know is that they've got to find a trusted source of information around health care, about issues as you and I have established. Just so your audience will know, you ask me a lot of questions that I don't necessarily know the answer to. My answer is I'll find out and get right back to you. And that's what you want to have someone in your corner that has the ability to do that.
So I'm talking about viruses this season. When you're talking about the children, there are a few things that you want to keep in mind. Viruses protect children by helping to generate antibodies in their system. First of all, we don't have anything that can kill a virus because a virus unlike a bacteria, when it gets into your body, it gets integrated into your cell.
The only way you can kill that virus is to kill that cell and you can't live like that. And we have some, so what we do is we help the body's own immune system to fight off that virus and not get affected. And the way that that works with vaccines is you get a vaccine, your body, it's a mild vaccine, your body recognizes it as something potentially harmful and it builds its own defenses around it. And is that antibody defense that leads you to protect, leads you to protection down the road.
So for parents, please don't let anybody tell you that your children don't need protection from viruses because they do. Now here's the other thing. I didn't play with other children in their classrooms and I call those little petri dishes because if you dishes what you use in school when you want to grow bacteria and virus because they're all getting their exposure to viruses at the same time and at the same time, but different situations. And so when they come, they're exchanging viruses.
So how do we help you to keep your baby and other babies healthy? First of all, check with your doctor or your usual source of care to make sure that your child does not have anything that would prevent them from being able to take their vaccines. They don't have energy that certain vaccines are grown on eggs. Some of them are grown in other environments to make sure that your child does not have something that would preclude their being able to get a vaccine.
And if that does not exist, I'd recommend you go with the whole spectrum of vaccines that are available. But there's certain viruses out there that are life threatening. Let's talk about some of those for a moment. One of them is the flu and children can get flu and can get very sick.
But more importantly, children can bring flu to other members of the family who might be was called immunocompromised. If a five-year-old or a three-year-old is outplaying and they have not had a flu vaccine and they get the flu, it may be very mild on them. But when they come in the house, they may pass it to mom, to dad, and a grandpa lives there, then they may get it. The problem is, grandma and grandpa may be what we call immunocompromised, but it may have some weaknesses in their internal defense system and it can kill them.
There's something else about the flu vaccine. If someone is older and they have heart disease, there's some things about the flu vaccine that are called cardio-protective, meaning they help to protect your heart from having severe outcomes with a flu infection. So, I don't like that you help decrease the likelihood of the flu, but you also decrease the heart-related bad outcomes because of the cardio-protective nature of the flu vaccine. And I've got to make you laugh.
I did the military for 28 and a half years. And many times in the military, I didn't get a flu shot because sometimes I get a reaction. The minute I got out of the military, I said, I haven't been doing it all these years. So, the very next year, I got the flu and had to be hospitalized, but a flu generated pneumonia.
And I have not been able to get the flu since that and that's been 22 years, okay? So, it's serious if you're an adult and if you're an older adult. Okay? So, the children can be protected and they can help protect the rest of the family.
Well, you know, so I was going to ask about that because I've heard a lot of people say that they don't take the flu vaccine because every time they take it, they end up catching the flu. But I know from talking to you that the vaccine that they took may have covered a different strand of the flu than the one that they got. Therefore they were still susceptible to getting the flu, just not that one. I guess that's a point.
I'm going to patch you on your back so you can't reach your own back. It's interesting. The flu vaccine that we derive for the season, many times is only 60% effective against all the potential flu strains out there. But if I've got 60% protection as opposed to zero percent protection, I'll take 60 any day.
Yes. But if you don't get the flu shots, you've got zero percent protection. They're worse odds on the lottery and people will play that quicker than they'll go get a vaccination. So I reckon it's been the same.
Go ahead. You got better chances to not get the flu if you get the vaccine and what you have on winning the lottery. There you go. There you go.
But the important thing about what you're saying is that even if you get the vaccine and you get a viral set of symptoms, they're not nearly as bad. So you can go ahead and treat yourself with with with Tylenol or something like that or to treat your symptoms of cough and running nose. The main thing I'd advise you to do is drink lots of liquids and try to stay away from other members of the family and wash your hands as much as possible. Try to cough into your armpit and to cut or cover your face.
And there are lots of things that can help. But there are a couple of vaccines that I wanted to talk with you about that are really controversial for some families as they look at children's age. We know that we get the measles, mumps and rubella kits have to have that to go to school. There was a time when you only got that once in your educational career and didn't get it anymore.
In the 1990s, I was a part of a research effort that demonstrated that you had decreasing immunity over time and that you needed a mmor booster. So you get the mmor series when you're a child, young child, and then you get a booster out your high school age. That's critically important and it helps to keep you from getting that. An adult with the mumps or measles can have serious, serious bad outcomes.
Okay. So you want to protect it there. There's another called tetanus, previously called lock jaw. Okay.
I was just asked about this one the other day. He asked me if I, and I'm like, you know what, I'm going to say no because I can't say the last time I got a shot. But yeah, she mentioned tetanus. So tell me, please, would I need to know if I need to go back?
No, they didn't offer it. They didn't say, well, you want to get it while you're here? No, they just asked if I had it and kept it moving. If that is a situation one of your listeners is in, would be find themselves in, I'd recommend that they say, I don't remember when I've had it, but for protection, let me go ahead and get one now.
Okay. Because getting a second one will not hurt you, but you should get them every 10 years. Okay. So what happens is if you get a puncture wound, like you step on a nail, or you're swimming and you're, and you get a cut of your skin, the bacteria that can get in there can lead to tetanus or diphtheria.
And those are the kinds of things that can lead to problems for you. Okay. So that's why I would always tell my family members if you're not sure whether you've had a tetanus shot or not, get it. But there's a one that's really kind of controversial, especially in communities of color.
And it's called human papillomavirus or HPV. We studied for a long time, we being scientists much brighter than I am, tried to figure out what led to cervical cancer in women, cancer of the cervix. And they began to find out about 25 years ago that cancer of the cervix was caused by a virus that led to changes that went on to become cancer. About 15 years ago, they found out that, wait a minute, we have now found the particular virus, the strand of virus that can cause that, and it's a part of the human papilloma virus family.
So it's recommended that for boys and girls in adolescence that you get this vaccine. I guess you say why boys too, if it's cervical cancer. Okay. The reason it's boys too is because if a boy has sex and does not have a condom, he can catch, he can get the virus into his skin.
And then if he has sex with another person without using a condom, he can transfer the virus on to a woman or a female and who could be at risk of getting cervical cancer. And it doesn't show up right away. It takes time. And if you don't get your regular checkups and things of that nature, then you may miss the opportunity to find it before it leads to cervical cancer.
And my youngest daughter who's now 21 got to that 13 year old heart at that, now it's down between 10 and 12, they're asking, but to all the literature, and it was still 10 years ago. So the literature wasn't as clearly defined as it is today. And I said to my wife, we just need to do this to protect her. Families here's why.
If your daughter or granddaughter on your niece happens to be molested by someone who has this virus, then they could later end up developing cancer, cervical cancer. There's a protection for them against voluntary activities leading to a bad outcome and involuntary about violence. Okay. So that's why it's critically important.
I'm glad you touched on that because that was one that I didn't grow up with. Like you know, you hear about measles, mumps, rubella, flu, all of these other ones, they all sound real familiar, but that was one that is kind of like, okay, what is this about? And the question of why boys and girls, when you actually hear like what it's preventing, so that all makes complete sense. And then the added piece on there where you mentioned about any type of involuntary activity that may take place, that that's still another layer of protection to be able to process that when it's time because you go into the doctor's office with your kids and they ask you, what do you think?
Do you want to do this? And if you don't go in there, educate it, knowing what your kid is going to tell you, no, I don't want a shot. No, don't do it. They're going to be the person against doing the shots.
But if you go in there with the knowledge of what it is, why it is, then you can make better decisions. Thanks so much for tuning in to today's episode. Because it is an interview, you know, like I know, if you want to get the rest of the conversation, you have to head over to YouTube. You know where to find me at HEVAT.
That's at HEVETTE. And there you will find the rest of our conversation about vaccinations and immunizations. But keep in mind, this was only a conversation covering those topics as they pertain to adults and children. So there's still plenty more information that we can go over.
If there are any health topics that you would like me to bring Dr. Jones back on to discuss by all means, don't hesitate to reach out and let me know what you're thinking. Because what we want to do is we want to make the health information readily accessible to everyone. Everybody doesn't have a back pocket doctor like me.
So what I want to do is to share the resource that I have, and he's already agreed that he can come on more often and we can have these conversations about various topics. So let us know what you want to hear about. And next time, we'll see if we can't get that topic covered. Okay?
Until next time, I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing you back here next week.