ABC Action News: Tampa Doctor to Speak before FDA Advisory Committee About Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine
December 17, 2020
Tampa pediatrician Dr. David Berger has been selected again to speak before the FDA Advisory Committee Thursday.
Last week he presented concerns to the panel regarding the Emergency Use Authorization for the Pfizer vaccine. Now his focus is on Moderna.
“The presentation that I gave last week, which I’m going to be building on is why people have vaccine hesitancy and what types of things can the FDA and the manufacturer do. What information can they provide to us, in order for people to look at this and maybe their hesitancy will change,” said Dr. Berger.
When comparing data from both vaccines, Dr. Berger says they are remarkably similar. However, he feels more studies need to be done about the side effects.
“We are going to see tens of millions, 20, 30, 40 millions of people getting this vaccine over the next couple of months. We are wanting to collect data as much as possible, so we can see if something is an association or a coincidence,” Dr. Berger said.
Dr. Berger now serves as the Senior Medical Advisor for the Vaccine Considerations Project.
The group collects data about the vaccines and puts it in one centralized location for anyone with concerns to make an educated decision.
“We all have to ask ourselves the most basic question. ‘What is the relative benefit compared to the risk?’ So, the more data that we have, the more doses that are given as people are getting it, we’ll be able to have different information a couple months from now, for other types of consideration and for people to weigh that pro versus con conversion,” Berger explained.
Original Source: https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/coronavirus/tampa-doctor-to-speak-before-fda-advisory-committee-about-moderna-vaccine
Copyright 2020 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Dr. David Berger (“Dr. David”), a Board Certified Pediatrician with over 20 years of experience as a clinician, has developed a national reputation in wholistic pediatric primary care. Dr. David is considered Tampa Bay area’s leading authority on medical cannabis for adults and children, and is one of the nation’s most experienced pediatricians using medical cannabis to help facilitate the treatment of children with chronic conditions.
Dr. David graduated from The Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1994 and completed his pediatric residency at the University of South Florida/Tampa General Hospital where he first began utilizing wholistic therapies. Dr. David has been in private practice since 1997 and in 2005 opened Wholistic Pediatrics & Family Care, his medical practice in Tampa, Florida. In 2010, Dr. David was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida College of Nursing. In 2016, he launched Wholistic ReLeaf to help qualified patients become certified to use medical cannabis.