TOLEDO, Ohio — The University of Toledo hosted a virtual town hall Thursday featuring infectious disease and virology experts, who focused on the facts of COVID-19 and shared current research and treatment initiatives underway.
"Our goal tonight is to get solid, reliable information out to our community that you can trust," Dr. Christopher Cooper said.
The University of Toledo and UTMC have been working on multiple fronts to help end the pandemic.
"It's extremely important that we put a local face on the information that we're presenting," Dr. Joan Duggan, professor and physician at University of Toledo Medical Center said.
Topics included the latest on the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines with questions about how well they'll work and last. Duggan said a vaccine is the best tool to end this pandemic.
"Just think about historically, to other infectious scourges, polio, smallpox, measles, they've all been virtually ended by vaccination," Duggan added.
Experts also addressed herd immunity, and the dangers of not curbing the spread of the virus.
"The problem with this is that if we wait for that to happen, there is going to be a lot of deaths in the meantime," Duggan said.
She said that the virus is still so new and health officials continue to learn new things every day. So people have to stay up to date on the latest research, and information events can help.
"You give your best shot right now with what you've got, but you have to constantly be examining the truth, reporting on it and giving people the best advice you can," Duggan said.
Duggan explained that rigorous research and facts have led us to a vaccine, which will help lead out of this pandemic.
