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Craig Spencer MD MPH Profile picture
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22 Mar, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Excellent news for the AstraZeneca vaccine! It works, it’s safe and it’s easy to store - just normal refrigeration temperatures!

Importantly, it’s cheap! That’s crucial for getting the 🌍 vaccinated.

What else would help speed the global vaccination? 🧵
nytimes.com/2021/03/22/bus…
Right now wealthy countries like the US are sitting on millions of doses of this vaccine.

It’s not even authorized for use in the US, and won’t be for weeks.l at best.

A few days ago the US announced it would loan millions of doses to Canada & Mexico...
npr.org/2021/03/19/979…
But we’re still sitting on millions of doses. And have ordered 300 million doses. Yes.

When the president pledged there would be enough vaccine for everyone eligible by the end of May, the AstraZeneca vaccine wasn’t even considered in the calculation.
It’s time for the US to donate these doses to countries who otherwise won’t see widespread vaccination until 2023.

Call it vaccine diplomacy, call it charity, or call it building protection against variants emerging overseas.

However we sell it, it’s time to give it away.

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More from @Craig_A_Spencer

Craig Spencer MD MPH Profile picture
22 Mar
Nearly a month ago, I wrote that the next phase of the pandemic would hinge on vaccines, variants, and doubling down on protective measures.

Let’s take a look what’s happened since then and what that means for what’s next:

link.medium.com/MzyVoTK0Oeb
First, vaccines.

The pace of vaccination has sped up dramatically in the past few months. We’re now averaging 2.5 million per day. And over 3 million vaccines were administered just today. 🎉

That’s incredible.
BUT we’re a huge country and even vaccinating 1% of the population in a day means it’ll take months to get everyone protected.

Only 42% of those >65 years old are fully vaccinated.

And only 13% of the US is fully vaccinated.

The majority of the US is still vulnerable to COVID.
Read 12 tweets
Craig Spencer MD MPH Profile picture
15 Mar
In the last year I’ve done hundreds of TV interviews and lectures.

But yesterday a friend asked me to join her family’s Zoom call to answer questions and concerns about COVID-19 vaccines. It felt like the most important and impactful hour I’ve spent to date...
There were people from all over the country on the call. And they had such insightful and nuanced questions about the vaccines, but we’re struggling to separate the science from the misinformation on social media.

I completely understand why so many are still so uncertain...
But I could tell everyone felt much more reassured after our talk, especially when I shared how effective the vaccines were against getting severely ill, being hospitalized or dying from Covid. And also how excited I was to get my family vaccinated as well.
Read 4 tweets
Craig Spencer MD MPH Profile picture
13 Mar
A great step but we need to do more.

The US has ordered 2x the amount needed to vaccinate every American.

It’s like we prepared a huge feast. And we’re holding another feast in the fridge in case we’re still hungry after.

While everyone else starves.
nyti.ms/30E9YNf
What does ‘doing more’ look like?

We need more clarity on what we’ll do with our huge surplus, and when. Sure, keep some for boosters, variants etc.

But we’re holding onto tens of millions of doses that we haven’t even authorized for use - and may never.
reuters.com/article/us-hea…
What would I like to see?

Right now we’re sending out ~16 million doses weekly. That number will grow when more J&J is added at the end of the month and as capacity for the others picks up.
Read 8 tweets
Craig Spencer MD MPH Profile picture
6 Mar
Here’s a roundup of the weekly #COVID19 pieces I’ve written as a @Medium contributor.

My first piece in early February set my intentions for this project:

“My goal is to explore the stories and issues that are critically important, but under-reported”.

link.medium.com/rnNMsJdCpeb
This ⤵️ examined the inequities of the global #COVID19 vaccine rollout. Wealthy nations need to help the rest of the world get vaccinated - not just for moral and humanitarian reasons, but also to tamp down variants and soften the global economic impact.

link.medium.com/XkTnoweCpeb
This ⤵️ outlined the precarious place we’re at in the pandemic. The next phase will depend on vaccines, variants, and how well we adhere to public health measures.

The recent lifting of restrictions & mask mandates may unnecessarily prolong the pandemic.
link.medium.com/wCfDk8eCpeb
Read 4 tweets
Craig Spencer MD MPH Profile picture
6 Mar
Learning the lessons from disease outbreaks is critical to improving response.

In our commentary for @TheLancet, @syramadad and I reflect on the lessons the U.S. learned responding to Ebola and how they could’ve better informed our #COVID19 response. 🧵

thelancet.com/journals/lance…
The key takeaways:

1. Outbreaks always expose the shortcomings in health-care systems.

2. Protecting the health-care workforce should always be a top priority.
3. Having a coherent national plan and collaborating with national and international partners are all vital to combating a pandemic.

4. Health experts must be placed at the forefront to educate the public.

5. Training and hands-on, real-life experience are critical.
Read 4 tweets
Craig Spencer MD MPH Profile picture
26 Feb
“The next phase of the pandemic hinges on vaccines, variants, and doubling down on protective measures.”

Read my latest for @Medium and @elemental.

Here’s a short teaser 🧵:

link.medium.com/qwp4uFe6aeb
In the last month, Covid cases in the US have dropped precipitously. Not long ago we saw > 300k cases a day. Now it’s closer to ~70k.

Hospitalizations have plunged as well. 🎉🎉🎉
And after a slow start, vaccination has picked up significantly.

We now administer 1.5 million doses per day, vaccinating more Americans in 8 hours than will be diagnosed with Covid in a week.

Most importantly, targeting vulnerable populations early on is already saving lives👇
Read 16 tweets

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