Of the 323 documented cases in those under 30, nearly 80% are known to have recovered. 9 are still hospitalized, 2 are in intensive care. No one has died.
Most myocarditis cases are mild, treatable and do not leave lasting effects.
And covid itself causes myocarditis. /2
Second, adolescents & young adults now constitute 33% of all new #covid19 cases.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 7.7 million infections in the 12 to 29 age group, resulting in 2,767 deaths.
More than 300 of these deaths occurred since April 1. /3
Third, many studies point to long-term symptoms, even in people with mild or asymptomatic disease. #covid19 can cause lasting effects, leaving previously healthy people with new problems, such as exercise intolerance, lack of concentration and hair loss. /4
Here's the crucial risk benefit analysis: For males between 18-29, every one million second vaccine doses would result in fewer than 60 cases of myocarditis. But those same vaccinations would prevent 12,000 infections, 530 hospitalizations and three deaths. /5
For males between 12-17, every one million second doses could be linked to less than 70 myocarditis cases, preventing 5,700 infections, 215 hospitalizations and two deaths.
(The numbers are even more striking for females and for other age groups.) /6
The decision to continue vaccinating teenagers & young adults is clear.
The vast majority who are vaccinated will never have myocarditis, and can return to school, sports & being with their friends with much less worry & fear of contracting--and spreading--covid-19. /END
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This is not a hypothetical concern. According to @StopAAPIHate, over 6,600 anti-AAPI incidents have been reported since the pandemic started.
Many are related to blaming AAPIs for #covid19. Speculating on culpability could provoke more acts of harm against our community. /2
I interviewed @RepJudyChu: “So many are concerned that after a year of AAPIs being blamed for coronavirus, this could further hatred & discrimination... We need to get to the truth & we need to be careful in our messaging so as to not further stoke the flames of xenophobia.” /3
The CDC's new guidance has devolved into a giant mess. It was a major blunder to cede responsibility: Effectively ending mask mandates is not just about science--it's a major policy decision that should have been made by President Biden himself.🧵
To be clear, it was appropriate for the CDC, as a scientific agency, to review the data & come out with a statement that vaccinated people are at little risk for contracting #covid19 & spreading it to others.
But they went way beyond this to basically end all indoor masking. /2
Arguably, this was the single biggest decision that the Biden team has made on #covid19, yet the president himself didn't find out about it until the morning of the announcement.
Don't get me wrong--the vaccinated are very well protected. They are safe to take off masks if they wish.
The problem is: do we trust the honor system for people to now go maskless? What about the danger to people who can't be vaccinated (i.e. kids) or the immunocompromised? /2
The CDC recommendation removes a powerful incentive. Many who were on the fence might have been motivated to get the shot because they could go back to activities they were missing, without a mask.
Now, if no one is checking, and they can do everything anyway, why bother? /3
The US is in an "in-between" place. Vaccination substantially reduces #covid19 risk but doesn't eliminate it. There isn't one right answer & people will make different choices from one another.
For vaccinated people, consider three factors when deciding which activities to bring back to your lives: 1) Medical risk of your household 2) Personal risk tolerance (more on this soon) 3) Risk of specific activities
Risk tolerance is a key point. People will have wildly different interpretations of the same statistics. Some want to keep hunkering down. Others will decide that once vaccinated, they can take off their masks and return to pre-pandemic normal. Most are somewhere in between.
Imagine, if at last night's #JointSession, President Biden allowed only vaccinated individuals. They could take off their masks, hug & sit together--just like 2019.
According to the CDC's own data, there were only 7,157 breakthrough infections among 87 million fully vaccinated people — a rate of 0.008%.
A room of 1,600 is unlikely to have anyone infected. Testing would reduce the likelihood to zero. /2
You wouldn’t know that the vaccines are so effective based on CDC guidelines.
A very damaging narrative is taking hold: If the vaccines are so effective, then why so many precautions for the fully vaccinated? What’s the point of getting inoculated if not much changes? /3
I'm a physician & woman who's in the under 50 age group. I'd chosen to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. If I knew then what I know now about the risk of a rare but serious blood clotting disorder, I would have chosen another vaccine. 🧵@postopinions washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
The blood clotting disorder associated with J&J, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), is not a run-of-the-mill blood clot. Of the 15 women who had TTS, 3 died. 7 remain hospitalized, 4 in intensive care. Most were previously healthy women, median age of 37. /2
15 cases out of 8 million doses seems like a very low risk. The risk for women in the 18-49 group is higher--1 in 80,000.
This is still low, and benefits of preventing severe illness from #covid19 still far outweigh risks if the J&J is the only vaccine available. /3