Bay News 9: Tampa Bay Doctor Urges Vaccine Transparency from FDA
December 17, 2020
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The FDA Advisory Committee on Thursday unanimously recommended Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, and approval could come as soon as Friday.
But the panel of 20 outside health and medical experts on the committee didn’t make that decision in a vacuum.
One of the doctors who weighed in was Dr. David Berger, a pediatrician in the Tampa Bay area.
What You Need To Know
- Dr. Berger has been practicing pediatrics in the Bay area for more than a decade
- He weighed in before the FDA Advisory Committee recommended emergency use authorization for both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines
- He’s calling for more transparency of information about the vaccines
- Read more about the recommendation to approve Moderna’s COVID vaccine for emergency use
Dr. Berger, who was also part of the advisory committee discussions on the Pfizer vaccine just last week, is now the doctor is calling for more transparency as a way to encourage more people to get vaccinated.
Board certified, Dr. Berger has been practicing pediatrics in the Bay Area for more than a decade. He told Spectrum News that many of his patients are posing a lot of questions about the COVID vaccine.
“We have heard a very large percentage of people, both in the community at large and even in the medical community, who have hesitancy about the vaccine for lots of different reasons,” Dr. Berger said.
As more pharmaceutical companies apply for the FDA to approve their vaccines, Dr. Berger said he’s urging the FDA to provide timely information for the public to review “because it seems like that’s what our country is looking for. Maybe we will find out over time that maybe one vaccine is more effective or one vaccine has more side effects but the only way we’re going to know is to compile this type of data.”
Dr. Berger explained that he’s very passionate about getting answers, especially for those like himself who would be considered high-risk.
“So I’m trying to look at it from both angles here,” he said. “Am I at higher risk because of catching the disease or am I at higher risk from potentially catching a vaccine reaction because that data is not out?”
Original Source: https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2020/12/17/fda-advisory-committee-moderna-tampa-bay-doctor#
Published: December 17, 2020, 5:55 PM ET
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.