I'm joined now by our medical expert,
Doctor David winner from
Baylor Scott and White Health.
Good morning to you, Doctor winner.
So, OK, just tell us about it,
give us the news. What is up with
this new variant of interest?
Well, there's a new kid on
the block, that's for sure.
Now, the predominant strains in
America and around the world
will still be a four BA 5.
So this is brand new,
doesn't look to be more contagious,
doesn't look to be more dangerous as of yet.
We need to keep an eye on it.
We don't know a lot about
this one quite yet, Sonya.
OK. And doctor Winter,
you and I have talked about
this new bivalent booster.
Was promising, right?
A lot of people were
interested in getting it,
but how hard is it to find
at this point because some
pharmacies are apparently
already reporting shortages?
Yeah, I haven't seen that in North Texas yet.
No reports about that.
But Modernas apparently in
short supply in some areas.
They're pushing to get more out.
There's plenty of Pfizer out there.
We're told most of the major pharmacy
chains have these right now as far
as who should get this. You know,
I want to make the analogy to influenza.
Every year the influenza various,
the virus changes, it mutates,
a new vaccine comes out that targets that.
We're seeing that now with coronavirus,
with COVID.
So I think we're going to get a new
one this year and the next year.
Another one and another one.
So I think it's the new normal.
We need to get a flu shot and a coat
COVID shot every fall if you want
to keep yourself well protected.
Yeah, good reminder about that flu shot,
because we are coming up on flu
season right now. Doctor winter.
There's new guidance out that all
adults need to be screened for
anxiety when visiting a doctor.
So how and why did this
become a recommendation?
Yeah. The new report that I've just read,
Sony is at 42% of Americans have
some anxiety in their adulthood.
This is surprising to me.
Don't see this much,
but the US preventive task
force is trying to consider.
They haven't passed this yet,
but they're considering to make this
another recommendation for screening.
So we asked patients about depression.
We get them screened for colon cancer,
breast cancer, maybe you have screening
for anxiety also hasn't been approved yet.
So we'll see what the US preventive
task force says in the coming weeks.
Yeah, this is a big.
Conversation in Pediatrics
to screening kids for things
like this and mental health.
So when it comes to cancer deaths,
total cancer deaths in America,
there has been a steady decline
over the past two decades,
even more so recently.
So doctor Winter, I'm wondering,
do you attribute this to screening
research early detection,
a little bit of all three?
Yeah, a little bit of all that
this is really, really good news
because cancer deaths have declined
significantly in this country,
not all around the world by the way,
but in this country we're
screening more people. For example,
we know if we catch an early colon cancer,
early breast cancer, much easier
to cure than when it's late stage.
So screenings are important.
A lot of new drugs are out right now.
You see these on the advertising,
on the, on the on the media TV,
lot of new drugs and they work very,
very well in many cases.
And then we found new ways
to treat the immune system,
making immune system a little stronger.
So three different ways
we're fighting cancer,
and the results are working.
This is actually science in motion,
and I'm delighted to say we're
making good progress there.
Yeah, our privilege certainly
shining through here in this country.
And finally, Doctor Winter and
new studies suggest adequate
sleep improves our immune system.
Less than adequate sleep
impairs our immune system. Look,
I think a lot of people hear that and go,
yeah, I could have told you that.
I feel that. Right.
Tell me more about this report.
It does make sense to me.
It makes sense to me.
2 minutes. Interesting study.
So they took people who agreed to be
sleep deprived for six weeks that had
blood samples before and after and several
different cells in their blood chains.
These are the cells that
influence your immune system.
Make it stronger.
And they found that they got weaker
actually when you were sleep deprived.
So this study needs to be
confirmed with other studies.
But it makes sense.
Sleep is definitely good for you, Sonia.
Alright, doctor winter.
Well, it is good to see you.
I hope you get some good
sleep this weekend.
I think he was always.
Great. Thank you.