WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — As the Food and Drug Administration is preparing to amend its emergency use authorizations for the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to allow people with compromised immune symptoms to receive a third dose, a South Florida doctor has a message for those who may skeptical.
Dr. Leslie Diaz, an infectious disease specialist at Jupiter Medical Center, said among the hospital's vaccinated patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, not a single person has died.
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"That tells me that the vaccine works," Diaz said Thursday afternoon during an interview with WPTV anchor Chris Gilmore.
Examples of immune-compromised individuals would be transplant patients, diabetics and those with progressed HIV, Diaz said.
Considering all the variants that are out there, Diaz said it's only a matter of time before someone who isn't vaccinated gets the virus.
"Let me tell you what I say to every unvaccinated individual that I meet on a daily basis -- it's not if you're going to get COVID, it's when," Diaz said. "So it's almost a for-sure thing."
Diaz also debunked the rampant social media rumors about side effects of the vaccine, calling them "baloney." She reiterated that the FDA's emergency use authorization is just as safe as any drug that receives full approval.
"If you think that the vaccine is experimental, well, come into the hospital, get COVID, come into the hospital, get sick and let me give you the protocol of medications that I give to my patients," Diaz said. "That's experimental."