1/5: In 2021, I've written a series of articles describing the globalization of antivaccine/antiscience movement that rose out of Texas in 2015, now a triple-headed monster: 1) Far right extremism/white nationalism 2) Organized and funded US groups, 3) Russian disinformation
1/10 Many thanks @chrislhayes for hosting me tonight @allinwithchris on the very important problem of Covid vaccine immunogenicity and takes on people receiving immunosuppressive Rx or with immune deficiencies.
2/10 it’s now a significant % of US population as much as 3-5% and increasing annually
3/10 includes those with 1) primary immunodeficiency, 2) leukemias lymphomas, 3) solid organ malignancies and chemotherapy, 4) bone marrow transplants, 5) solid organ transplants, 6) B cell mab Rx, 7) corticosteroids Rx, 8) CAR-T Rx, 9) splenectomy, 10) primary immunodeficiency
80 million doses is a "drop in the bucket," and the U.S. should pledge to manufacture and export 4-5-billion doses by the end of the year, Peter Hotez, professor of pediatrics and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor Coll Med, told CNN. axios.com/wealthy-countr…
Equally important, I also said that this should be done in an overarching frame work of coherent US foreign policy around vaccine diplomacy. We're not getting that out of Foggy Bottom (State Department).
Of course, I understand State Dept is up to its eyeballs this week in Middle East issues, but somehow we need to advance a foreign policy and approach to vaccinating the world with the following elements....
Talk about great men: I’ve gotten to know @drsanjaygupta even pre-pandemic. Honest to god, there’s no one who has worked harder and tirelessly to get it right and speak to the American 🇺🇸 people, a true tzaddik
But there’s so much more: truly great ones: @DrLeanaWen who has put herself out there articulating the complexities of the pandemic, I’ve learned so much
And @celinegounder and her years of infectious diseases experience who takes care of complex patients, I’ve learned so much
Many thanks @AlisynCamerota @VictorBlackwell for hosting me with @celinegounder on new mask rules, based on 1) steep declines in virus transmission, 2) vaccine availability, 3) the science showing reductions in asymptomatic transmission and virus shedding
It shows vaccinations also reduce virus shedding in asymptomatic individuals, it means that vaccinated parents need to worry less about transmitting virus to their unvaccinated kids
That’s ridiculous @joshrogin I never said it doesn’t matter. I said we need an international team to investigate the origins in Hubei Province, collecting samples of blood from local animal reservoirs, people across a wider area. Also I said...
Also I said after the first pandemic CoV emerged from Southern China in 2002, we and others in the scientific community began working on coronavirus vaccines, because we knew this would not be the last. And we were right
The point is China is the perfect mixing bowl of animal reservoirs and dense human populations that gives rise to coronaviruses and influenza viruses, something known for a very long time
For me one takeaway from this morning’s testimony: the US Govt has no overarching coherent COVID19 vaccine policy for global health: a few million dose donations here, some patent waiver action, but no comprehensive roadmap for vaccine diplomacy
Also I’m not hearing much of a plan for how to best combat vaccine refusal in order to reach the last mile and get the country fully vaccinated
I thought @US_FDA did a good job articulating how they worked to approximate the BLA during the emergency use process