Share this page!

Kai Kupferschmidt Profile picture
Twitter logo
29 Mar, 5 tweets, 3 min read
Preprint suggesting a HIT-like mechanism for rare thromboses in some AZ vaccinees is out now.
Important for scientists to discuss the data.
For everyone else, not used to reading case reports: This sounds scary, but remember that this is very very rare.
researchsquare.com/article/rs-362…
ResearchSquare also posted this editorial note with it:
And story from @GretchenVogel1 and me that tries to put this in context as much as we can right now is here:

sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/r…
There is also this great lay summary from @COVIDSciOntario that I would urge you to read if you have questions. I really wish every country quickly produced documents like this:

covid19-sciencetable.ca/sciencebrief/v…
And this is the whole @COVIDSciOntario document on #vipit:

covid19-sciencetable.ca/wp-content/upl…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Kai Kupferschmidt

Kai Kupferschmidt Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @kakape

Kai Kupferschmidt Profile picture
28 Mar
Just a reminder that this pandemic, far from being over, is gathering steam once again globally with cases going up across the world.
Yes, vaccines are starting to help. Half a billion doses have been given. But we are a LONG way from vaccinating ourselves out of this problem.
While vaccines are being rolled out, we need to keep using the tools from the last year: #physicaldistancing, test, trace, isolate, etc.
Fatigue and new variants are making the job harder, immunity from vaccines is slowly making it easier.
We have to hold on.
In the meantime deaths keep rising.
At the current pace we will reach 3 million deaths in early May. If the trend continues we will reach that sad milestone in April already.
Vaccinating those most at risk around the globe equitably would do a lot to keep that number lower.
Read 4 tweets
Kai Kupferschmidt Profile picture
27 Mar
For the past two weeks, my colleague @GretchenVogel1 and I have been trying to understand what researchers know so far about the rare cases of serious blood clotting observed in people that got the AstraZeneca #covid19 vaccine.

Our story is up here:
sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/c…
@GretchenVogel1 I believe that this is an important story but it is also a complicated one, that is easy to misconstrue. So before you comment or share, please read the whole piece or at least the thread that I‘m gonna attempt later, after I finally get some lunch…
sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/c…
@GretchenVogel1 Okay, let’s do this. Let’s start with caveats:
This is ongoing research. There is a lot we don’t know yet. But as in all things #covid19 we're rapidly learning more.
The paper by Greinacher and others has been submitted to a preprint server but not yet published or peer-reviewed.
Read 23 tweets
Kai Kupferschmidt Profile picture
24 Mar
I keep hearing that loosening restrictions earlier this month in Germany was necessary because of “pandemic fatigue”.

I don’t think that is true.
And if loosening restrictions was supposed to make things better, it didn’t.
It made them worse.

So a brief thread about fatigue
Yes, I am fatigued.
So are the people around me.
Fatigue means you are doing something that is hard.
And what we have all been doing is hard.
But that I am fatigued does not mean that I want the government to give up fighting this pandemic.
Quite the opposite.
I want the government to acknowledge that this is hard.
I want them to motivate me by giving the reasons that we need to keep doing this.
I want them to make it easier for me to keep doing this.

And I want them to do what they can to make sure this ends as soon as possible.
Read 6 tweets
Kai Kupferschmidt Profile picture
23 Mar
Yesterday morning:
great results from large trial of AZ‘s #covid19 vaccine
Yesterday evening:
DSMB „expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that trial, which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data“
nih.gov/news-events/ne…
This whole pandemic is a rollercoaster I would like to get off, but AstraZeneca sure look like they are intent on sending us through a few extra loops and dips while we‘re on it...
AstraZeneca have issued a statement on the DSMB’s concerns now incl. this beautiful example of clear crisis communication:

"We have reviewed the preliminary assessment of the primary analysis and the results were consistent with the interim analysis."
Read 13 tweets
Kai Kupferschmidt Profile picture
22 Mar
“An estimated 1.4 million fewer people received care for TB in 2020, compared with 2019”, says @drtedros at @WHO presser, noting that it’s #WorldTBDay tomorrow and that #covid19 has disrupted services. “We fear that more than half a million more people may have died. "
@DrTedros @WHO “In January, I said that the world was on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure unless urgent steps were taken to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines”, says @drtedros. “We have the means to avert this failure. But it's shocking how little has been done to avert it.”
@DrTedros @WHO "Countries that are now vaccinating younger, healthy people at low risk of disease are doing so at the cost of the lives of health workers, older people, and other at risk groups, in other countries”, says @DrTedros.
Read 19 tweets
Kai Kupferschmidt Profile picture
22 Mar
The first day of what will no doubt be a busy #covid19 week, started with some good news for AstraZeneca.
Results from the large trial in the Americas show AZ vaccine has 79% efficacy at preventing symptomatic #covid19.
Story here, few thoughts to come:
sciencemag.org/news/2021/03/a…
Caveat first:
Like most early vaccine results in this pandemic this is based solely on a press release by the company.
There are some big holes in what we know so far and I am getting pretty fed up with the dearth of data reported in these releases.
Companies need to do better.
The good news:
This was a well-designed trial with more than 32,000 participants and it shows strong protection from symptomatic #Covid19.
"I’m thrilled”, @ashishkjha told me. “This is the vaccine that I had always assumed would vaccinate a large chunk of the world.”
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @kakape has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @kakape!

Read all threads by @kakape