By Carl Zebrowski
Editor

“This is a very timely topic, obviously,” Dr. Michael Greenberg told the Maimonides Society audience assembled in the JCC on May 4 for his presentation “A Conversation on Vaccines.” Consider that the anti-vaccine movement has been growing in recent years, and getting more boisterous, especially with the resistance to Covid vaccinations.

A public airing of the facts, the history, the evidence accumulated from studies, and the unsettled debates by an expert was very much due for the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley’s society of healthcare professionals. Greenberg, a pediatrician with long experience working in the vaccine field, currently for the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, did his part at the well-attended Brunch and Learn event.

“Vaccine hesitancy is not new,” Greenberg said. “This has roots in history.” When the first vaccine, against smallpox, was grown in cows in 1796, many feared it could turn them into herds of mooing and cud-chewing beasts. 

This story that does not include human-cows had a good ending. “In the 1980s,” Greenberg said, “smallpox was declared eradicated. It’s the only human disease that has ever been eradicated, and it was through vaccination.”

Greenberg walked his listeners briskly along the timeline of vaccine history, pointing out some highlights. Tuning into his audience, he offered a roster of Jewish “vaccine stars” from Pennsylvania. 

There’s Jonas Salk, developer of the first polio vaccine and a giant in the field. Then there’s Stanley Plotkin, who developed the first rubella (aka German measles) vaccine in the sixties, saw the disease declared eliminated in the Americas in 2015, and still sometimes weighs in on vaccine-related discussions. “He turns 93 in June,” Greenberg said, “and he’s sharp as a tack.”

Greenberg described the six types of vaccines given to trigger an immune response in the recipient: inactivated—a dead virus; live-attenuated—a weakened virus; recombinant and related—part of a virus; toxoid—an inactivated toxin made by the germ that causes the disease; mRNA—messenger RNA telling cells to produce a harmless piece of a virus; and viral vector—putting material from the virus that causes the disease in a different virus, modified to be harmless.

Since a person’s resistance to viruses weakens with age while “comorbidities” (existing medical conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes) become increasingly likely and can make viruses more deadly in older people, adult vaccination is important. It’s also important in protecting vulnerable groups, such as infants and people with serious illnesses, with whom an adult may spend time. Some vaccinations that older adults should consider are for flu, shingles, pneumococcal pneumonia, Covid, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), and MMR (measles, mumps, rubella).

One of the obstacles to vaccine programs is the anti-vax trend, which was already heating up before the Covid pandemic added fuel to the fire. Two of the three Covid vaccines available in the United States were mRNA. Greenberg emphasized that the skeptical reaction to mRNA was due more to its newness and therefore lack of long-term studies than to any evidence of harm. The risks, such as myocarditis (an inflammatory condition affecting the heart), are rare—and are more severe among the unvaccinated. 

Greenberg advised that healthcare professionals treat skeptics with empathy and present them with treatment suggestions based on evidence. Strong, confident recommendations, he said, will often persuade a hesitant patient.

With mRNA and other ground-breaking vaccine possibilities in the works, we head into the future. There are always plenty of vaccines in development, Greenberg said. The process is slow, typically lasting 10-15 years, with an enormous amount of money required for research and testing and navigating a course filled with regulatory hurdles. But there currently is much hope for vaccinations against HIV, Lyme disease, cancer, opioid abuse, and Alzheimer’s disease. 

As for the Maimonides Society future, summer break has arrived. Except for the very popular annual break from the summer break known as the Maimonides Happy Hour, 5:30-7 p.m. on Thursday, July 17, at the West End Taproom in Allentown. 

If you’re a healthcare professional and would like to consider joining the Maimonides Society, contact Aaron Gorodzinsky at aaron@jflv.org or 610-821-5500.