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Lt. Gen. R. Scott Dingle, U.S. Army Surgeon General and Commanding General, U.S. Army Medical Command, hosted a panel with invited press on topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic on Oct. 14, 2020. Dingle was joined by John J. Resta, Director, U.S. Army Public Health Center and Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, Director of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Dingle praised the Army’s comprehensive response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was critical the Army maintained healthy Soldiers, healthy communities, and a healthy nation during the COVID-19 threat, he said. He cited the work of Army Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force teams in civilian hospitals as a great asset for the nation.
In the United States, Dingle said, the virus has sickened more than 7 million people and more than 200,000 have died.
“The Army is working with interagency partners,” Dingle said, “including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Operation Warp Speed, Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense COVID Task Force, as well as U.S. Public Health Service, the Department of Defense Military Health System – all being supported by the Army Public Health Center.”
The U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command supports a whole-of-government approach to accelerate development of a COVID-19 vaccine, providing unique laboratory skill sets and facilities, regulatory support, vaccine clinical trial expertise, and a global clinical trial network. Army Medicine professionals have also supported civilian hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dingle said.
Force health protection is our top priority, said Dingle. Protecting the force includes mitigating the spread of the virus by following preventive measures recommended by the CDC, such as wearing cloth face coverings, social and physical distancing, and frequent hand washing.
Our senior commanders have the flexibility to implement force health protection measures needed to protect the health of the force, said Dingle.
Key questions among the press was progress on a vaccine and keeping ahead of the virus with surveillance of Soldiers.
Regarding the timeline for clinical trials, Dr. Modjarrad, said “we are currently in clinical trials of our vaccine candidate. We have move from small animals to large animals, and we anticipate starting a phase 1 clinical trial in the winter of this year.”
With regard to keeping Soldiers safe, Resta said “We within the Army have a very aggressive diagnostic and surveillance program for testing. We test all of our symptomatic patients who present for care in our healthcare facilities.”
Army Medicine has an aggressive surveillance program for training programs—basic training and advanced individual training—where we test all recruits on the day they enter, Resta said. Movement of recruits is restricted to prevent exposure in the community, and recruits are retested before they are released to larger unit training.
“With this approach,” Resta said, “we are able to keep our rates [of infection] lower than the surrounding communities.” He added that Army rates of hospitalization are very low compared to the civilian community and that issues such as the wearing of face masks or hand washing have not had much effect on training.
Modjarrad said the Army is involved with phase 3 trials as well. “We have an expansive network of mature clinical research and clinical trial sites” both in the U.S. and internationally.
“Most of the work we are doing to support the clinical evaluation of the vaccine candidates that are being prioritized within Operation Warp Speed are being considered for evaluation at Army sites within the U.S.,” said Modjarrad.
The Army and the DoD have many subject matter experts that are advising as part of Operation Warp Speed and providing technical input into the preclinical, clinical, and policy and distribution efforts for the vaccine candidates, Modjarrad said.
“At the same time we are developing our own [vaccine] candidates, Modjarrad said.
Dingle also said Army Medicine is evaluating behavioral health impacts on Soldiers and their families. Commanders are being advised by subject matter experts on behavioral health issues as part of protecting the health of the force.
“The U.S. Army has doctors, nurses, scientists and Soldiers working on the front lines to help mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic across our nation” said Dingle.
Dingle said he was proud of the unsung heroes and their “priceless” service at every installation running laboratory tests and doing screening as well as the frontline workers handling COVID patients.
Dingle concluded by saying “Soldiers run to the sound of the gun in battle.” Soldiers and medical professionals today are running to the sound of the “silent gun” of the COVID-19 pandemic — showing “no fear as they expose themselves daily to protect and treat those that are ill,” he said.
“I am extremely proud of the whole-of-government approach and that Army Medicine is right at the forefront helping to find the medical countermeasures so we defeat this pandemic,” Dingle said.
| Date Taken: | 10.14.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 10.19.2020 08:38 |
| Story ID: | 381175 |
| Location: | VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 117 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Army Surgeon General Hosts Press Panel on COVID-19 Issues, by Ronald Wolf, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
