COVID-19 Update: Variants and Vaccines

This episode of Fight Back is an all-encompassing update on the COVID-19 pandemic. Our guest is Dr. Linda Halderman, a board-certified general surgeon with over 20 years of experience. Her interest in medicine and public health began after high school when she volunteered at an HIV clinic and hospice during the 1980’s AIDS pandemic. Dr. Halderman had her first experience treating a deadly virus in 2009 when she provided medical relief for three months in the U.S. territory of American Samoa during the H1N1 influenza pandemic. Since March 2020, Dr. Halderman has studied the SARS-CoV2 novel coronavirus, providing public education on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19. During one of the surges, she served as a relief physician at a COVID-19 field hospital and antibody infusion center set up by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She continues to volunteer at mass vaccination sites in southern Nevada and rural communities.

As we enter the third year of the pandemic, Linda will review what we have learned about the biology, prevention, and treatment of COVID-19, including how it mutates into new variants like Omicron, the monumental success of the mRNA based vaccines and why they are the primary weapon to defeat the pandemic, the development of new treatment options for those infected with COVID-19, and more.