COVID-19 and medicals

MacFly said:
APPROVED vaccines.
Click to expand...

If the FDA has approved it, even under emergency authority, why would it not be an approved vaccine?

The only worry I can see is that mRNA vaccines are not well tested, so there might be long term consequences that we're unaware of right now. That is what you should be judging risk around, not whether or not the FAA is going to slap your hand for taking an approved vaccine.
 
bflynn said:
If the FDA has approved it, even under emergency authority, why would it not be an approved vaccine?
Click to expand...
You'd think so, wouldn't you?...and of course, the Federal Government always uses such impeccable and readily apparent logic in its regulatory decision-making and enforcement.
 
Palmpilot said:
I've already read that thread. I haven't seen any of the threads on this subject address the problem of how pilots are supposed to know what the FAA expects in relation to vaccinations, approved or otherwise.
Click to expand...

Correction: I just reread that thread, and the subject DID come up (although it wasn't definitively resolved).
 
I'll just say this: if the FAA tries to deny pilots after they get a vaccine that's being pushed by the health authorities and has emergency authorization, said FAA will likely find themselves on the wrong end of multiple lawsuits as well as action by elected officials. It's a deep state until those that are elected decide to make the pool more shallow.
 
Palmpilot said:
What answer did you receive?
Click to expand...
That would be just adding to the rumor mill. Suffice it to say that I was pretty skeptical about COVID vaccination anyway just based on the science (or lack of it). The FAA did nothing to add to my comfort level.
 
MacFly said:
APPROVED vaccines. And yes.....only rumor and speculation AFAIK. If you don’t buy it then you shouldn’t let it deter you. The FAA’s supposed stance on your pilot’s license and experimental vaccines shouldn’t be a factor in your health care decisions and whether or not to get vaccinated.
Click to expand...

Dr. Chien also said that the issue is with vaccines that are not yet approved:

https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...cine-trials-and-medicals.127970/#post-2968999

In another post, if I understand it correctly, he implied that the FAA's position has been promulgated to all AMEs electronically:

https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/com...cine-trials-and-medicals.127970/#post-3006737

That still leaves it likely that the first time most pilots will learn of this is when they are in the AME's office, and by then the damage will already have been done. Threads like this one only reach a tiny percentage of pilots, IMO, and I doubt that it will occur to very many pilots to ask their AMEs before they get vaccinated.

There still appears to be ambiguity around whether an emergency-use authorization makes it an approved vaccine.
 
I guess it never occurred to me to report vaccines...

One time I mentioned an anti-malaria drug I took while I was in Africa, but was no longer taking. The AME said, "they don't care about that".
 
Everskyward said:
I guess it never occurred to me to report vaccines...

One time I mentioned an anti-malaria drug I took while I was in Africa, but was no longer taking. The AME said, "they don't care about that".
Click to expand...
Anti-malarials have virtually nothing to do with anti-viral vaccines. That said, I've never mentioned influenza nor any other vaccine that I've ever had, or routinely get. Of course, those are all FDA-APPROVED vaccines. Not part of a trial, not experimental, and not approved under an Emergency Use Authorization.
 
MacFly said:
Anti-malarials have virtually nothing to do with anti-viral vaccines. That said, I've never mentioned influenza nor any other vaccine that I've ever had, or routinely get. Of course, those are all FDA-APPROVED vaccines. Not part of a trial, not experimental, and not approved under an Emergency Use Authorization.
Click to expand...
I can understand the FAA being skeptical if you were part of the trials, but once it's release to the general public, I think it's approved, by default. People seem to want to look for trouble...
 
Everskyward said:
I can understand the FAA being skeptical if you were part of the trials, but once it's release to the general public, I think it's approved, by default. People seem to want to look for trouble...
Click to expand...
Certainly the FAA has given ALL pilots a reason, many reasons, to be wary of their entire Aeromedical process. I don't think it's "looking for trouble", I think it a prudent concern on the part of anyone who values their medical certification to fly an airplane.
 
I feel an FDA EUA for a COVID vaccine is like using the "other approved data" clause for conducting a repair on a plane. For some perspective, the number of people involved in the Phase 3 vaccine trials for the top few vaccine candidates is on the order of 25% of the number of certificated active pilots in the US. It is insane if FAA Aeromedical thinks they have the expertise to even have an opinion on this. Wouldn't be the first time they decided to try to practice public health policy on pilots.
 
Strikes me that this is EXACTLY the kind of issue that AOPA, ALPA, and EAA should be working on. Stat.
 
Everskyward said:
I guess it never occurred to me to report vaccines...

One time I mentioned an anti-malaria drug I took while I was in Africa, but was no longer taking. The AME said, "they don't care about that".
Click to expand...
The FAA doesn't care about half the stuff people here get twisted about.

I don't know in what space on the medxpress form you'd report receiving a COVID (or any other) vaccine, even if you wanted to.
 
If you guys want to resolve this vaccine question quickly just talk to some busybody reporters about how the FAA Medical process is discouraging pilots and aircrews from getting vaccinated for COVID-19. Just imagine an airline oriented public receiving that scare story on the evening news... fear of air crews infecting them and another point of legitimacy for the vaccine skeptics.

The FAA will be tripping over it's self to clarify their policy and the bottom line will be it's all fine please get vaccinated.
 
MacFly said:
Or...you could just call them on the phone.
Click to expand...
That's got to be the most foolish way to get an answer. There's a multitude of reasons, but top of the list has to be that you won't get an official answer, so anything they tell you can only hurt, not help, you.
 
MacFly said:
Certainly the FAA has given ALL pilots a reason, many reasons, to be wary of their entire Aeromedical process. I don't think it's "looking for trouble", I think it a prudent concern on the part of anyone who values their medical certification to fly an airplane.
Click to expand...


Mac, I have a two-word recommendation for you: Basic Med.

Do it now, and if everything else goes to crap you’ll still be able to fly. Just don’t renew your 3rd class until all this gets resolved.
 
Half Fast said:
Mac, I have a two-word recommendation for you: Basic Med.

Do it now, and if everything else goes to crap you’ll still be able to fly. Just don’t renew your 3rd class until all this gets resolved.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's a good plan. My Class III isn't due for another 18 months....Basic Med is on my list of things to do in that interval....
 
So which vaccine is it that injects a tracker into your bloodstream that gets activated when you pass a 5G tower?
 
To The OP : get some common sense. and don't fly until the negative test after 14 days.
Do you really want to get hypoxic stupid- Covid is a LUNG infection!.
 
bbchien said:
To The OP : get some common sense. and don't fly until the negative test after 14 days.
Do you really want to get hypoxic stupid- Covid is a LUNG infection!.
Click to expand...
I'm the OP. It's been over a month, recovered but for loss of taste and smell. Most concerned and the loss of smell affecting medical status going forward. My noise coming from the FAA on long term loss of smell?
 
Lindberg said:
So the FAA's official position (as reported by avweb) is that it doesn't have an official position. That's quite different from the claims here that anyone who gets the vaccine will lose his medical.
Click to expand...
What should scare you, if you're a pilot, is that lack of official position. It means that your choice might still be either EUA vaccine or loss of your medical.

You should email the FAA and remind them of 14 CFR 61. I hope that isn't all you have though...apparently the FAA isn't impressed with what you think are existing regs covering this issue.
 
MacFly, the FAA hasn't yet reviewed Pfizer nor Moderna's data because it's not released from HHS until the FDA review is done. Astra Zeneca, not so much.
 
Larry Korona said:
I'm the OP. It's been over a month, recovered but for loss of taste and smell. Most concerned and the loss of smell affecting medical status going forward. My noise coming from the FAA on long term loss of smell?
Click to expand...

Don't infer requirements that do not exist. No where in question 18 does it ask about loss of smell or taste.
 
Larry Korona said:
I was inquiring about what to do after a positive test, specifically the impact of not recovering sense of taste and smell, not about the vaccine. Unfortunately the vaccine is not going to be of much help to me at this point. Not even sure if I'm going to get it when it does become available.
Click to expand...
This is NOT official, this is from "Yours Truly": obtain a full sensitivity PCR and thus determine if you are still producing virus!. I think you want to know if you are going to have a "long haul" consequence, or not. I sure would.
 
MacFly said:
I'm wondering about the various COVID vaccines....
  • I work in a hospital in direct patient care and will get priority access to vaccination. I wonder if that hospital will require me to get a COVID vaccination
  • I wonder if an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA will be accepted by the FAA as FDA "approval" and they won't pull my Class III medical if I get the vaccination. Assuming I decide to get the vaccination...(I haven't decided yet)
Click to expand...
Work or fly ... I was forced to either never cover a specific surgical facility in early October prior to our (El Paso's) huge Covid outbreak or take the flu vaccine (I usually don't as I never get the flu). I'm a contractor and not an employee, but the employees of same facility were told at minimum they would remain masked permanently if they refused the flu vaccine. We were having an H1N1 problem here simultaneously with the Covid outbreak ...
 
danhagan said:
Work or fly ... I was forced to either never cover a specific surgical facility in early October prior to our (El Paso's) huge Covid outbreak or take the flu vaccine (I usually don't as I never get the flu). I'm a contractor and not an employee, but the employees of same facility were told at minimum they would remain masked permanently if they refused the flu vaccine. We were having an H1N1 problem here simultaneously with the Covid outbreak ...
Click to expand...
The "flu vaccine thing or mask" thing seems common. Bryant Healthcare, in previous years, had their employees mask up if they chose not to take the flu vaccine that year.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 365 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.
Back
Top