The74Million - “Until you get upwards of 80 percent of children vaccinated, you’re going to have a hard time going back to pre-pandemic practices without some risk of illness and death,” Jeremy Kamil, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport, told The 74.

KTBS - Dr. John Vanchiere, lead investigator on the Pfizer vaccine study at LSUHS said, “The vaccine is effective at several things. Number one, reducing people from getting sick from COVID and spreading it to other people. Big time important is that vaccination reduces hospitalization and death.”

CNN News 18 - India recorded on Monday 3,52,991 new Covid-19 cases and 2,812 deaths in the last 24 hours. The country saw 22.5 lakh new infections in the last one week, the highest ever the world has seen, pushing India’s health infrastructure to a brim.

“LSUHS is adjusting our strategy to accommodate more folks,” Dr. John Vanchiere said. “I would like to see longer lines and more people there getting vaccinated. And we have (the) capacity to vaccinate more than 2,000 or 2,500 people per day.”

NBC CT - LSU Health Shreveport Virologist Jeremy Kamil told NBC Connecticut Investigates that halting their spread will require other measures. Kamil was among a team of researchers that discovered seven new COVID-19 strains, known as "variants," aside from the variants first identified in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil. 

We are proud to announce that on February 24, 2021, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EST Dr. G.E. Ghali, Chancellor for LSU Health Shreveport has been invited to be part of a panel of four people on one of the Town Hall Sessions on the topic of Building Bridges between Public Health and Healthcare Systems to Ensure Equitable Vaccination.

Governor John Bel Edwards visited Louisiana’s first mass community vaccine clinic to see firsthand just how well the community effort involving LSU Health Shreveport faculty, students and staff, Region 7 Office of Public Health, Louisiana National Guard, BPCC nursing students, CHRISTUS Shreveport-Bossier Health System and Willis-Knighton Health System is working

Shreveport Times - Dr. John Vanchiere, professor and chief of pediatric infectious diseases at LSUHS, talked about the benefits of getting the vaccine and its safety. “We know that early on when people get infected with COVID-19, most people have no symptoms at all and that is one of the very critical features of this type of infection compared to influenza."

KTBS3 - While most Americans are still waiting to get the COVID-19 vaccine, some moms-to-be are worried about possible side effects to their unborn children.

KTBS 3 - “The quicker that people get vaccinated, the less chance of any virus being around and given the opportunity to mutate,” Dr. Ghali, LSU Health Shreveport Chancellor explained. “The longer a virus is around, the longer they're going to be able to mutate. It's a natural course in the development of the virus.”

This week LSU Health Shreveport took a historic step towards stopping the spread of the coronavirus. In addition to continuously testing for COVID-19, the Emerging Viral Threat Lab has now organized the distribution of the vaccine to individuals age 70 and up. On the first day of testing, over 1100 seniors were able to get the vaccine from the safety of their vehicles.

As it relates to COVID, each of us will make a choice about the vaccine. I choose to be vaccinated because I have seen the complications of COVID close up and have great faith in the scientific trials supporting this vaccine.

KSLA 12 - Dr. Robert Rhoads, professor and emeritus chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at LSU Health Shreveport, developed key components of the mRNA over years of work. The vaccine uses messenger RNA, or mRNA, which essentially provides instructions to the body on how to fight the novel coronavirus.

KSLA 12 - “It is gratifying to see LSU Health Shreveport’s contributions to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine through licensing of a LSUHS patent to BioNTech for mRNA-stabilizing cap analogs and in serving as the only north Louisiana vaccine trial site. Additionally our numerous COVID-19 clinical trials are providing access to novel therapies reflecting the benefit of having an academic medical center in our community,” shared Dr. G.E. Ghali, Chancellor of LSU Health Shreveport.

LSUHS is expanding enrollment in the Pfizer-sponsored COVID-19 vaccine study for the next two weeks to include individuals ages 16-18 and those older than 85 years of age.  Those interested in participating in this important vaccine trial should sign up as quickly as possible.  

KTBS 3 - LSU Health Shreveport announced this week that it is participating in the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine study and is currently enrolling people to participate.