With this pandemic, we are learning something new
about this virus every day.
She's literally written the book on the new normal.
I say to myself all the time,
"I don't want this to be the new normal"
and there is nothing normal
about the life that we've been living
for literally a year now on our end
but I'm sure she's going to break it down for us.
It is a roadmap is the subtitle.
It is a roadmap to resilience in the pandemic era.
Please welcome Dr. Jennifer Ashton.
Hi, Rach, how are you? I'll make a house call.
Hi, please.
First of all, is it normal to not care for the term,
"the new normal?"
I mean, Doc,
Yeah.
This isn't normal, right?
This isn't new.
Correct. You're right.
It's not new anymore, 'cause it's been a year
and it's not normal, but the reason I wrote this book
and called it "The New Normal" is because after being
and living all things COVID for the last year plus,
day in, day out,
speaking to the country's top public health officials,
Tony Fauci is on speed dial on my cell phone, et cetera.
Aww.
I love that man.
You know, I heard from viewers, I heard from my patients,
I heard from friends and family that they wanted more
than like the two-minute television segments.
Yes, tools, right!
(cross-talk) So I wanted to help people think
like a doctor.
And give them tools, right?
Yes.
I am always listening and trying to learn
but the problem with the way it's digested
and you and I do this for a living,
we have to talk and snippets and soundbites and snippets
and pieces.
Right.
You never get the answer.
You never get to, what do you do?
Not recognizing the problem, and I hear you, but now what?
Totally, and the thing is that with this pandemic,
we are learning something new about this virus every day.
So I didn't want to just put together a bunch of facts
that tomorrow might be out of date.
You know, we have to learn how to think like doctors
to avoid the medical headline whiplash.
And so really everything about thinking like a doctor is
in this book so that it can help you navigate
those headlines and make the best decisions
so that we can get on with life.
We can't get on with life if there are entire states
in our union that are hesitant or completely reluctant
to vaccine.
Right.
So can you discuss that for me and help me
and hopefully help some people?
Let's walk through that, okay?
First of all, fear, questions, concerns,
that is not only normal, it's appropriate.
And in science, when you stop asking questions,
you stop learning, okay?
So I encourage that, and any doctor
who is a good doctor will always encourage questions.
You know, I got both doses of the vaccine
when it was my turn at my hospital to do so.
I have a history of serious allergic reaction
and I went with the science.
I went with the numbers.
What was my chance of having an allergic reaction
at that time?
It was one in 90,000 versus my chance of getting COVID.
And then, you know, over a year ago, Rach,
I was down at the NIH vaccine development lab
with Dr. Fauci, where they were working
on the coronavirus vaccine.
This was again, February of 2020, so you can see,
I think we have video of it. Wow.
I'm not wearing masks,
he's not wearing masks.
I asked him that day.
Oh, because it, right, because it was literally.
Yeah, that's right.
I just got chills, like an electric shock.
Right?
To see you guys without masks together.
Same, but when you talk about the vaccine,
vaccines have such a safe track record, no corners were cut
in terms of safety in the development of these vaccines.
And you know, I also tell my patients, Rach,
we have to remember pharmaceutical companies are
in business to make money, and the worst thing
for their bottom line would be producing a vaccine
that was dangerous.
So I believe in the science.
I believe in it for myself, for my family, and I think
that's going to be a major, major way we get control
of this pandemic.
(windchimes ring)