1/n Long thread, but of crucial importance. The COVID-19 situation in India is as dire as can be. And it is not just THEIR problem, as long as virus circulates in the world, it becomes EVERYONE'S problem. We live in a global society; viruses don't respect national borders.
2/n This is, or was, a moment of historic importance for the US/ Biden administration to show leadership and solidarity. Recall the legacy of WW2 that established America as a world leader. Compare that to the leadership today.
3/n Now, let's get practical. I've spoken to several people on the ground in India, and here are the immediate needs in terms of priorities. Several field hospitals are being set up, but there are dire infrastructural needs.
4/nThe most immediate requirements are: 1. Liquid oxygen in tanks. The requirement is about 40-50,000 metric tons temporarily. Some of it has been procured from Germany, Japan and the M.East. There is a govt. tender to procure these from any supplier, including ones in the US.
6/n 3. Dexamethasone and inhaled steroids are apparently in supply. But we are checking to see if adequate supplies are available in pharmacies.
7/n 4. Vaccine raw materials. The US needs to approve a "waiver" so that vaccine manufacture can continue. Leadership counts. Send letters, pleas, to whoever you know. India manufactures the bulk of vaccine for the world. A vaccine holdup in India has ricocheting consequences.
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1/n May I propose a solution to this standoff? Maybe for every peer-reviewed article in a widely read publication (Nature etc.) there should be an online commentary by a historian, sociologist, anthropologist scientificamerican.com/article/the-co…
2/n I did not understand some things about this piece (my fault). No one that I know extrapolates from ants to humans. But to demolish the entire field of behavioral genetics as "racist" seems an equal and opposite sin scientificamerican.com/article/the-co…
3/n And so a commentary AND CRITIQUE from a historian, anthropologist etc. on a paper might help. There's no dearth of online space, and assigning such a critique might equalize the weighing scale of authority of any one piece.
2/n The mystery begins because mutations in splicing factors (SF3b1) cause a blood disease called Myelodysplasia.
3/n But what could splicing have to do with MDS ? Previously, we published a paper in which we made 7 blood-like cell lines, using Crispr, which were ONLY different in possessing the mutation (or not).
1/n It might be an interesting idea to create a SUBGROUP of researchers to study the B1617 (Delta) SARS-Cov2 variant that dominated the Indian wave of the pandemic and caused such enormous lethality
2/n What do we know about the "real world" effectiveness of the current vaccines against this variant? How many fully vaccinated people got SARS-C2-Delta after being fully vaccinated?
3/n Do vaccinated people (which vaccine?) have milder disease and fewer deaths/hospitalizations?
1/n The anecdotal stories about the number of people in India getting COVID after AZ or Covaxin need to be addressed.
2/n Either it’s a question of the denominator. Even with 90 percent effectiveness, 10 percent breakthrough in a country of 1.3 billion is a HUGE number. So maybe the anecdotes are that 10 percent
3/n Or the true effectiveness of the vaccines in the field are substantially lower. In which case, we need to measure that... it’s crucial to drive policy
1/n Please pay attention, please. I'm afraid that we are falling behind in this COVID race. There are at least 4 variants of concern: variants arising in London, Manaus, Japan and South Africa.
2/n The London variant is more contagious. The Manaus and South African variants may -- MAY -- cause repeat infections.
3/n I cannot see any way forward except: 1. detect the frequency of the variants in the USA and isolate and confine them.