by Tony Cusano | Aug 29, 2026 | Public
We’ve fielded many questions about the latest COVID booster vaccine, as well as the RSV vaccine, the Shingles vaccine, and now, even the Measles vaccine. There is some evidence-based information regarding the benefits, risks, alternatives, and unknowns of all vaccines for protecting individuals and for protecting our loved ones, friends, and communities. The short-term benefits and risks favor vaccination if you are in a high-risk category, based on your age or chronic conditions. Your doctor can help you discern whether that applies to you. However, the full science for vaccine benefits and safety remains incomplete because the long-term data collected to date do not include many randomized controlled trials that represent the gold standard in Medicine for testing treatments, preventive or otherwise.
The long-term benefits, risks, and alternatives of vaccines remain somewhat unclear because there are few high-quality clinical trials with enough subjects and time to gain the information needed to discern all of those. Vaccines are all remarkably safe and effective, but the science is still not fully elucidated. While getting vaccinated is a personal risk-tolerance decision that each of us makes, it’s also an act of giving our best to our communities. Vaccines can only work if the immunity they confer is shared widely so the microbes they are designed to prevent from infecting us don’t have a place to hide within the population. None of us would be here if others before us did not take enormous risks at one time or another, so besides the personal healthcare decision that vaccines represent, they are an expression of our communal values and beliefs.
To illustrate the complex questions doctors and patients face, I’ve included a link to a new preliminary study that raises questions about the post-vaccination syndrome for the COVID-19 vaccine. By carefully listening, documenting, and comparing just a few patients with the symptoms of post-vaccination syndrome, the authors have initiated a strong probe into the information we need to learn the best answers.
We would be happy to help you sort out the science behind vaccines in general, and any vaccine in particular for those who want a better understanding to help them make a good decision. Contact us at ajc@operamhealthcare.org
https://news.yale.edu/2025/02/19/immune-markers-post-vaccination-syndrome-indicate-future-research-directions
by Tony Cusano | Jan 30, 2025 | Public
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by Tony Cusano | Apr 10, 2021 | Public
This recent report about the neuro-cognitive effects in some victims of COVID-19 highlights a stark fact; the human body is really a mind-body. Our minds and bodies seem to operate independently, but they cannot be separated.
Post-COVID and long COVID are as real as phantom limb pain (where someone feels pain in a limb that was amputated). And anyone can experience the underlying connection to help understand why.
Hold your thumb and first finger apart like you’re holding a lemon wedge. Now imagine you’re holding the wedge – really see it. Now bring it to your lips and imagine you’re biting on it.
Now you’re salivating.
That’s an automatic reflex to tasting a lemon wedge in your mouth.
But there’s no lemon, except in your mind. And you can’t stop the saliva from flowing as long as you are visualizing the lemon.
The cognitive and neuropsychological sequellae of COVID are just as real as the saliva we make for an imaginary lemon, even if our imaginations are the only real stimulus.
Next time you say something is just in someone’s head, remember, that’s where all biological reality flows.
And PS – when you feel overwhelmed, imagine that lemon, let the saliva flow, and enjoy the moment (Put a little sugar on it if that makes it easier).
It’s a reflex that is mediated through the vagal nerve, and so the experience is powerfully calming if we let it be.
If you would like to learn more about the mind-body connection, and how you can use it to collaborate with your doctors and take charge of your own healthcare, call us at 203-692-4422, or email ajc@www.operamhealthcare.com.
by Tony Cusano | Sep 13, 2020 | Public
We encourage collaboratively sharing in medical decisions with your doctor based on a rigorous review of the benefits, risks, alternatives, and unknowns of all diagnostic or treatment plans.
The recent FDA announcement that a strong clinical trial it had ordered as a condition of its approval of Belviq for weight loss revealed an increase in cancer risk highlights the reasons for our collaborative philosophy of medical care. The FDA had ordered the trial to measure to any possible cardiovascular toxicity because it had found such toxicity after it approved prior weight loss drugs. Instead, it found an unexpected cancer risk.
While the risks of obesity are high, and the benefits of weight loss for that condition are also high, and the alternatives to medications like Belviq are also risky, finding a potential cancer risk reveals why using a treatment with so many unknowns should be approached with great caution, even after a long period of experience with the treatment by many doctors. You should have a say in deciding how such risks fit into your own goals and values.
It also reveals why even drugs considered to be “safe” based on their long term use warrant careful consideration each time they are prescribed. How long would it have taken for the cancer risk signal to have been discovered for Lorcaserin had the FDA not ordered a rigorous trial for a toxicity completely unrelated to the one it discovered? Few approved drugs receive such an order for more rapid rigorous analysis.
Take charge of your medical care by collaborating with your doctor. We can help educate, coach, and advocate to help. Call us at 203-692-4422, or email us at ajc@www.operamhealthcare.com for an introductory consultation.
by Tony Cusano | Jul 19, 2020 | Public
We most certainly agree that as with any medical decision, the decision to get vaccinated against influenza must be made in the context of a full understanding and evaluation of the benefits, risks, alternatives, and unknowns.
This year, that analysis is even more fraught with importance. Please carefully consider getting vaccinated early against influenza.
This year, Operam Healthcare is offering free consultation to those who wish assistance in making their decision regarding influenza vaccine. If you would like such coaching, please email or call, or check out our website for further information.
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