CP 2020: Interview #1 - Lindy Mcgee

Lindy Mcgee
Pediatrician/Previous Board Chair of the Immunization Partnership
Saturday, April 18th, 2020 at 9:30am
Zoom Meeting
        My first interview for my 2020 Challenge Project on "Is Houston Prepared for a Pandemic" was with Lindy Mcgee, a pediatrician and previous Board Chair of the Immunization Partnership. I interviewed her last year for my 2019 Challenge Project regarding vaccinations and learned so much about her work at the Immunization Partnership, the significance of vaccines in society, and her job as a pediatrician. Since she is part of the medical world, I figured she would be the perfect person to share with me some insight on how I can be part of a solution and what information I might consider including in my flyer.
        After discussing how mandatory social distancing has changed the way she is able to meet with patients, she shared her thoughts regarding national preparedness for the outbreak. She was shocked to discover the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and how the government had not been preparing during the months prior to the outbreak in the United States. Every class she had ever taken to become a doctor had taught her that she was eventually going to experience an outbreak, likely from China or a country with close contact with live animals. Thus, she assumed the United States had been collecting PPE in the event of a pandemic. Due to the fact that this "stockpiling" of PPE failed to occur, states are now needing to compete for PPE. While she feels that nationally the "action plan" is very uncoordinated, she says that locally, Houston is thriving. The top doctors and CEOs at Methodist, Texas Children's Hospital, and Baylor College of Medicine are extremely coordinated and this is something the city of Houston should be proud of. 
       We then discussed the media's role in a pandemic. She feels like media sources such as 24/7 cable news frequently share false and inaccurate information, thus are responsible for the loss of many lives. While she personally gets her most valuable information from a private Facebook page for physicians, she recommends credible media including NPR, print sources, and podcasts (specifically a podcast called "Epidemic"). I want to highlight these credible media sources in my flyer. 
We then transitioned into a discussion about the Immunization Partnership. This non-profit organization is continuing to work on the immunization registry to learn who is and who is not vaccinated. It was interesting to learn that the anti-vaxxers movement has strengthened during the pandemic, believing that Bill Gates created COVID-19 in hopes that a vaccine would be created and everyone would be vaccinated. Despite continuing arguments with this movement, she believes that this outbreak will shine a light on how critical vaccinations are to public health and how they are the only way society will return to normal.
We also talked about vaping and its correlation to COVID-19, what age groups are the most rebellious towards social distancing, and the importance of masks. She said the most helpful thing I can do is to make wearing masks a social norm. After all, masks only work when everyone wears them. She believes that, if we return to school in the fall, we will likely be wearing masks.
In summary, here is what I would like to include in my flyer based off of what I learned from this interview:
  • List credible media sources 
  • Promote wearing masks
  • Highlight Houston’s local success in battling the pandemic
  • Possibly tie in the importance of vaccinations with information on the Immunization Partnership. 
  • Target age groups who are most rebellious towards social distancing.


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