2) It’s critical to recognize that the #DeltaVariant is rising underneath the decrease of the #AlphaVariant#B117. Many have been complacent about this. But Delta is doubling every week now in 🇬🇧!
3) India 🇮🇳 doctors have been sharing concerns that #DeltaVariant is more severe / affecting more kids. Singapore 🇸🇬 MOH is also warning it is affecting children a lot.
4) Yet UK 🇬🇧 govt made a critical mistake of no masks in schools and no improvements in ventilation or air quality.
5) So what do we now do? Here is what this means for infection control of the new #DeltaVariant worldwide. Do not get complacent.
7) Here are the warnings from UK experts. The details of how #DeltaVariant has 2.5x higher hospitalizations risk than #AlphaVariant#B117 is detailed in the below thread 🧵
9) While the vaccines do mostly work on the #DeltaVariant, the main problem is that 1 dose simply just isn’t enough anymore. Here is the latest LANCET published study. It walks thru the evidence how 1 dose is so weak. 1 dose strategy countries (cough Canada 🇨🇦, cough) must adapt.
10) Because #DeltaVariant starts at a much lower neutralization, its efficacy drop when adding co-morbidities could be even more steep. See below how these two compound together…
11) for those who still don’t believe it… “show me the hospitalizations” you ask? Well here it is… exponential rise in hospitalizations in the UK 🇬🇧 now because of #DeltaVariant despite >70% one dose, and 42% full vaccinated… hospital numbers don’t lie.
12) So…. Is it surging in the US? Ummm, yeah. Really damn fast too. It’s the fastest growing variant currently, and #DeltaVariant projected by models to become dominant in the US by July… just like in UK’s footsteps. Hence let’s watch carefully what happened in UK and India.
13) In case the above graphic wasn’t clear… #DeltaVariant#B16172 is colored with magenta in the modeling of how dominant it will soon become in across many states.
14) There is also some concerns about reinfections… not definitive yet, but usually reinfection risks correlate with vaccine efficacy/neutralization changes
15) As Dr Fauci warned recently: “The problem you get into … is that a single dose only provides about ~30% effectiveness [against #DeltaVariant]—so that is really an issue you gotta be careful”, as Fauci tells @nehakhanna_07 on @IndiaAheadNews.
16) Here is the awesome full length 5 min video on the #DeltaVariant (threaded in 3 parts above) on YouTube by @VickiGSP of @IndependentSage. Hats 🎩 off to Vicki!
17) In case you need more data on the #DeltaVariant and kids in UK… this is the contact tracing of positive cases.
21) Bad - #DeltaVariant is now up to 91% of all #SARSCoV2 samples in the UK 🇬🇧. Total domination of the #B16172 is in sight. It replaced the previously fast #alphavariant but which is not fast enough anymore compared to Delta.
22) politicians often act too late. Scientists often too shy to shout from the roof tops early…. What you get is inaction by politicians and vocalization by scientists until too late.
So I’m here trying to raise the alarm— because there is a critical need for early action.
23) Cases are rising, especially in the unvaccinated. This is why we need urgently 2 doses + mitigation.
24) is it a coincidence that UK 🇬🇧 govt always falls behind in reacting to #COVID19 surges? No. It’s bad leadership.
25) look at this sharp takeover of #DeltaVariant in becoming dominant in the UK 🇬🇧 — we are rather certain it will happen in many other countries too. We cannot ignore this.
27) I keep staring at this table… 23 deaths among unvaccinated, while 12 deaths in fully vaccinated. Approximately ~40% of UK is 2-dose vaccinated (lower earlier)… but that is still a quite a vaccine breakthrough number… 12 vs 23. Have to keep eyes peeled on #DeltaVariant
28) I’m not the only one worried about these weird numbers with breakthrough cases with the #DeltaVariant. 30% among fully 2-dose vaccinated is a lot… granted that elderly are more likely fully vaccinated but then that points to waning immunity in elderly.
30) welp—The #DeltaVariant is soon going to take over Europe says WHO Europe chief, who just urgently issued a new warning. Delta is surging in the US as well now.
31) serious—Outbreak even w/ 2 dose of mRNA vaccines—🇨🇦 hospital—16 patients & 6 healthcare staff #DeltaVariant positive. 6/16 patients & 5/6 HCWs had received 2 doses of #COVID19 vaccine; 7 patients & 1 healthcare worker had 1 dose. 1 patient now in ICU. cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…
32) this #DeltaVariant emerging is why we need to still mask even if vaccinated. And there is suggested by top vaccinologist @PeterHotez that a 3rd shot booster is maybe even needed because of delta.
⚠️WORST FLU SEASON ever since 2002-2003 when we began to track flu (red, first graph). Worst hit this year are children ages 0-4 and 5-17. ▶️We also have significantly LOWER flu vaccine uptake this year, one of the lowest flu vaccine coverages (red 3rd graph). Indisputable facts.
2) I don't need to tell you that certain US states have vastly lower vaccination rates than others. See map (lighter green, less flu vaccination coverage), and which have higher (darker green)...
If you want to see details and demographics on which state has the LOWEST flu vaccine coverage rates... the data is here. cdc.gov/fluvaxview/das…
3) It’s not just the flu that is going around… Gaines County, TX, where the epicenter of the measles outbreak is, has one of the lowest measles vaccination rates too.
INFLUENZA REACHES EPIDEMIC THRESHOLD in New York—Influenza A (Unknown variety) positivity soars (yellow), while hospitalizations stand higher than past 3 years. The rise of unknown subtyping Flu A has led NY to issue new alert to subtype all Flu A immediately for bird flu.
2) This was the reason for the urgency in NY issuing an alert to subtype all hospitalized cases for bird flu if Flu A. See thread below 👇
BREAKING—22 States sue to block Trump WH cuts to NIH research grants.
2) Attorneys general representing 22 states sued the Trump administration on Monday, asking a federal judge to temporarily block a major policy change by the National Institutes of Health that would substantially limit payments for research overhead
3) In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of MA, the AGs argued that NIH’s abrupt decision to set a 15% cap on payments for indirect costs would cause major harm to institution budgets, jeopardizing basic operations and medical research.
💣TORPEDOING MEDICAL RESEARCH—NIH indirect grant funding just got slashed by Trump to 15%. What does this mean for you? Colleges and universities won’t be able to support students, tuition will increase, especially graduate students & researchers who find cures/preventions for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and more. This will not only raise tuition and hurt pipeline of future scientists/doctors, but COMPLETELY DECIMATE MEDICAL & PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH. It will also give more power to big pharma to manipulate research agendas and buy out ideas that should remain in the public domain. Ie THE RICH BIOTECH TYCOONS (eg Vivek Ramaswamy) WILL GET RICHER. The lay public will someday only see future drug/tech prices soar as biotech and big pharma control more science and make more money.
Also, Trump’s NIH posted this graphic - but it ignores that most public universities also heavily rely on indirect to subsidize tuition, and train next generation of scientists and medical doctors doing research. (Public colleges can’t compete with wealthier schools who do have endowments, and hence will fall further behind). Public colleges that do medical research will literally fall apart without this mechanism.
2) People don’t seem to get 2 things:
📌Indirect funds college administration and facilities and support services. Academic advising, building operations, new labs and classrooms for students— where does that money come from? If not indirect grants, then it’ll have to come more from ⬆️student tuition.
3) Most universities don’t have billion+ endowments. Most have almost none — so when you slash NIH indirect grant funding to just 15%… it hurts small schools and public colleges the most—smaller places might even go under. Rich school survive, public schools do not.
😷Flu is so bad right now that schools across the country are closing. Schools around the U.S. are closing due to surges of flu which are sickening students and staff.
📌At least 41 states are currently reporting "very high" or "high" influenza-like illness activity
2) As the 2024–2025 flu season rages on with no peak yet in sight, some school systems are overwhelmed with sick students and staff.
Schools and even entire school districts are temporarily closing in Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee and other states.
BAM—called it again—there is clear proof of cat-human household transmission of bird flu. CDC scientists posted the data—but suddenly deleted soon afterwards. CDC is being blatantly muzzled.
2) C.D.C. Posts, Then Deletes, Data on Bird Flu Spread Between Cats and People
The data, which appeared fleetingly online on Wednesday, confirmed transmission in two households. Scientists called on the agency to release the full report.
3) I’ve been reading the tea leaves 🍃 lately— it’s quite clear they know there is household transmission of bird flu. Hence the final alert issued by CDC before Trump took over was to get national testing of Flu A to see if bird flu in hospitals nationwide. See important 🧵