Monica Gandhi MD, MPH Profile picture
Mar 1, 2021 19 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Let's put data on why vaccines reduce transmission all in 1 place: Beyond sheer biological plausibility that vaccine-mediated immune responses block viral replication in nose, through which you are most likely to spread the virus, as effectively as blocks elsewhere, data here:
Lancet preprint showed that health-care workers in UK swabbed every two weeks after vaccination had an 86% reduction in asymptomatic infection compared with unvaccinated individuals: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
Other data in Lancet - health care workers vaccinated had 85% reduction in infection (asymptomatic & symptomatic) 15-28 days after 2nd dose
thelancet.com/journals/lance…
Same data among health care workers in Mayo Clinic system (thanks for publishing this so fast!) showing reduction of 88.7% of symptomatic and asymptomatic infection after vaccination: medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
Study from Israel across a more general population (not health care workers) showed same finding of 92% reduction in ANY infection, even asymptomatic, with 2-dose vaccination:
nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NE…
Johnson & Johnson FDA data told us asymptomatic infection reduced by 74.2% after their 1-dose (you can tell if someone was infected by looking at nucleocapsid seroconversion instead of spike protein + asypmptomatic swabbing): fda.gov/media/146217/d…
Finally, 2 papers swabbed noses after vaccination (Israel, Pfizer), found - even if you are exposed and try to set up viral loads in your nose, nasal replication stopped early and you have low RNA, non-infectious. Be convinced!
medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
I gave you real-world data above. There is also table S18 in supplementary material of Moderna NEJM study that shows asymptomatic infection reduced by 62% and AstraZeneca paper showing asymptomatic reduced. Papers here:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
if okay (#covid19) I am going to add on all studies that show
vaccines block transmission onto the same thread so you have them in one place (hope this works, added to prior thread). Here is another nice study! authorea.com/users/332778/a…
Took HCWs UK as they were getting vaccinated & did asymptomatic swabbing: 4,408 (week 1) & 4,411 (week 2) PCR tests performed in HCWS "reporting well to work". Stratified analysis <12 days or >12 days post-vax since this was point when protection from symptomatic infection began
#covid19, Study showed 4-fold decrease in risk of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 amongst HCWs ≥12 days post-vaccination, and if you had asymptomatic COVID-19, lower viral loads. This real-world evidence verifies high level of protection against asymptomatic COVID-19 after SINGLE
dose of Pfizer vaccine and (gasp), this is happening despite predominant transmission of B117 variant and in a population with low frequency of prior infection. So, do I call this #vaxtransmission to indicate that more evidence on top of the string of papers before?
Losing track, but this is 8th paper that vaccines reduce transmission so trying to add it to previous thread. We asymptomatically screen people who come to hospital or need surgery for infection control purposes- did asymptomatic infection decrease academic.oup.com/cid/advance-ar…
after vaccination? Aymptomatic adult patients (n = 39,156) within large US health care system who underwent 48,333 pre-procedural SARS-CoV-2 PCR tests between 12/17/20-2/8/21. Primary exposure of interest was vaccination with at least 1 dose of an mRNA vaccine, so asymptomatic
infection compared to those vaccinated vs those not. Positive PCR tests in 42 (1.4%) of 3,006 tests performed on vaccinated patients and 1,436 (3.2%) of 45,327 tests performed on unvaccinated patients. Compared to unvaccinated patients, risk of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2
infection lower among those >10 days after 1st dose (RR=0.21) and >0 days after 2nd dose (RR=0.20 ) in the adjusted analysis. So, even after 1 dose of vaccine, 80% reduction in asymptomatic infection. Multiple papers show this from real-world studies, let's start incorporating
One more study (9th) on how vaccines reduce transmission. This press release from Pfizer Israel Ministry of Health data shows 94% reduction in asymptomatic infection from 1/17/21-3/6/21 after 2 doses of vaccine in general population. Are we convinced yet?
pfizer.com/news/press-rel…
Many studies that show this reduction in asymptomatic infection with vaccines, but, importantly, many studies showing a major reduction in viral load if you DO swab asymptomatic people after vax Image
And this thread goes over the studies that show reduction in viral load if you do swab those who are asymptomatic (or even symptomatic) after vaccination, which is why CDC doesn't rec testing asymptomatic after vax (different than asymptomatic before vax)

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More from @MonicaGandhi9

Aug 30, 2023
HOW LONG DOES IMMUNITY LAST? To COVID vaccines or infection? We do not really know but there have been some really nice papers lately that give us more information. Please remember immunity divided into antibodies (which can come down & not work as well against variants)
IgA is one in the nose & mouth ("mucosa") that is raised by shots (vaccines) to certain extent but rise higher after natural infection; IgG is the one that is "humoral" or in the bloodstream. Many threads on here about cellular-mediated immunity: B & T cells cover all variants
This recent preprint is really important and summarized by @florian_krammer below in depth. Main take-aways: Breakthrough infections induce IgA (we knew) but protection from vaccine long-lasting even against former variants to severe disease/mortality
Read 8 tweets
May 3, 2023
RSV VACCINE FOR OLDER ADULTS: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) respiratory virus (most common after flu pre-COVID). 2 subtypes, A&B (1 dominates/season). Droplet; Recurrent infections. Most severe in neonates & adults >65; FDA approves 1st RSV vax today
msn.com/en-us/news/us/…
RSV vaccine 3 trials of new RSV vaccine, all published in the @NEJM recently so just to keep them straight- here is the vaccine which just got approved May 3 by the FDA for older adults. Remember our T/B cells so protection against severe disease higher!
nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
A single dose of the RSVPreF3 OA vaccine had an acceptable safety profile and prevented RSV-related severe respiratory illness by 94% in adults>=60 years (71% against RSV infection, likely to fall with time as antibodies fall but severe disease protection will remain)
Read 4 tweets
Mar 21, 2023
NASAL VACCINES: To explain nasal vaccines, we have to explain the immune system first.
IgA is an antibody that helps attack the pathogen and exists in mucosal surfaces (like nose/mouth)
IgG is an antibody that is in the bloodstream
bbc.com/news/world-asi…
Cellular immunity is fantastic, redundant (so even if one cell line down in immunocompromised, have other), generated by either vaccine or infection; Comprised of
T cells- so in breadth from vax - works even across spike protein with its mutations
And the 2nd type of cell produced by vaccines or infection -B cell- amazing thing about B cells is that - if see omicron or one of its subvariants in future- they make antibodies adapted to that variant or subvariant (aided by T cells); adaptive immunity
Read 15 tweets
Mar 15, 2023
PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY: Seem to be at reckoning phase of COVID response- what worked, what didn't. Which interventions will be used in future pandemic responses? Interventions asked of public need good medical evidence for them (e.g. RCTs preferably, systematic reviews) to impose
In our field, Cochrane reviews represent best way to sum up the medical evidence to date by performing meta-analyses or systemic reviews of currently-available data; here is Cochrane on masks & other interventions for respiratory viruses including COVID
cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.10…
Many asked past 3 years how CDC developed policies on masks (& age to mask), distancing (feet), ventilation, schools-> all non-pharmaceutical interventions. Originally theory-based. Now 3 years in, have data (RCTs highest level) to form policies from both US and other countries
Read 4 tweets
Mar 6, 2023
VACCINE DISCRIMINATION: We need to stop vaccine requirements for US entry like almost every other country. Am finishing COVID chapter for our ID "bible" & vaccines prevented transmission early on with alpha, but not enough now with current variants to justify such discrimination
Moreover, shame, stigma, blame (remember COVIDiots?), coercion, discrimination not good public health tools. When used for HIV, public health & ID physicians decried them but tactics used a lot in COVID. This book tries to explore & correct that for future
barnesandnoble.com/w/endemic-moni…
Concept of #harmreduction in pandemic responses means watching carefully if vulnerable people (like students, older people, low-income populations, migrants, sex workers, prisoners, those with disabilities, refugees, minorities) harmed more by response
nature.com/articles/s4146…
Read 4 tweets
Feb 8, 2023
FEAR: Some media & public health officials concerned Americans aren't fearful of COVID now. But the vaccines & therapeutics DO WORK. If we can't celebrate biomedical advances & imbibe their effectiveness (we have better tools for COVID than flu), what is point of developing?
In HIV medicine, when therapies came out, we didn't say to people- stay fearful; make this the controlling principle of your life. The book #Endemic I wrote (coming out July 11, 2023) hails these biomedical advances & the age we are in to fight pandemics to reassure the world
This is a rather brilliant summary of the issue from @benryanwriter
Read 4 tweets

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