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Katherine J. Wu, Ph.D. Profile picture
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16 Aug, 4 tweets, 1 min read
I know a lot of people are frustrated and angry right now. But it doesn't help anyone if we mock, ridicule, slander, or portray the unvaccinated as our "enemies," or being on the virus's "side."

Being unvaccinated is not a monolith... 1/4
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
And the ways in which we describe vaccines and vaccination really, really matter.

People sometimes try to say that they're referring only to people who are "willfully" unvaccinated. But that's an oversimplification... 2/4

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
Fear, lack of access, lack of education, exposure to misinformation, etc. often co-occur. And even those who have been acting in misguided ways deserve our compassion.

In a pandemic, you also can't will the virus to infect only the people you're angry at. 3/4
Ditching masks and distancing to spite the "willfully" unvaccinated, for instance, will also have negative impacts on those who aren't eligible, who don't have access, who are vaccinated and still vulnerable. We're all in this together. 4/4

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More from @KatherineJWu

Katherine J. Wu, Ph.D. Profile picture
3 Sep
I wrote about how vaccine effectiveness is (surprise!) a very, very complex thing.

This is a dive into some of the science behind recent reports of post-vaccination infections and sicknesses, and why the numbers seem to so often conflict. 1/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
The key is that vaccine "protection" can take many forms, depending on what our goals are. Some forms of protection are easier to achieve than others. Vaccine effectiveness is not a monolith, which means certain safeguards can hold while others slightly falter. 2/
And when certain types of vaccine protection do seem to wane, there can be a multitude of explanations. Disentangling them can help us deal with them. Remember that infection is a push and pull between pathogen and host; a change in either one can tip the balance between them. 3/
Read 8 tweets
Katherine J. Wu, Ph.D. Profile picture
13 Aug
There's really nothing else out there *quite* like a vaccine: something that protects everyone's health *by* protecting individual health.

I wrote about how many of the vaccine analogies we default to struggle to capture public health. 1/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
Finding a perfect analogy is tough. You'd ideally want a tangible tool that can benefit health on multiple scales; something that varies in performance, according to local conditions; something that addresses a threat that is infectious. 2/
Don't get me wrong, I love a lot of the analogies we've all used, and I think they still have their place. But they might be subtly signaling to a frustrated and confused public that vaccination is merely a personal decision, with penned-in consequences. 3/
Read 7 tweets
Katherine J. Wu, Ph.D. Profile picture
10 Aug
Pediatric cases of COVID-19 are spiking across the country. 1/

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
I wrote about how some of that is the sheer arithmetic of a more transmissible variant, tearing through a largely unvaccinated population—but also about the very valid concerns parents have about Delta's severity. 2/

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
It's a very tough time to be a kid under 12, or a caregiver for one. To know that there is ever-present danger, and to not be able to access one of the most powerful tools that can fight it. 3/

theatlantic.com/health/archive…
Read 8 tweets
Katherine J. Wu, Ph.D. Profile picture
30 Jul
howdy!

remember Ct values? those numbers spit out by certain types of PCR tests, including some of the ones we use to test for the coronavirus?

let's talk. 1/
Ct values correlate with how much viral RNA is in the sample. so if you're running several samples on a test platform, and some have higher Cts, those have *less* RNA (it's a reverse scale; Cts count how many times you have to copy the genetic material before it's "visible") 2/
Ct values do not tell you if the viral RNA belongs to an intact virus or an infectious virus. they also don't measure how directly "transmissible" someone is. to measure transmission, we need epidemiological data - how are *actual humans* spreading the virus? 3/
Read 5 tweets
Katherine J. Wu, Ph.D. Profile picture
29 Jul
This week, I wrote a piece about the importance of studying the cat genome.

I think there are some important implications for human health. But I am also hopeful that this will mean big advancements for veterinary medicine. 1/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
The day this piece published, one of my own cats, Calvin, was diagnosed with a serious condition, likely with genetic roots, that impacts his heart function. There is no cure. We don't yet know his prognosis. I am absolutely heartbroken. 2/
We adopted Calvin and his brother, Hobbes, almost 5 years ago, to the day. Since then, they have both brought immeasurable light into my life, and have been my biggest source of comfort during the pandemic. 3/
Read 9 tweets
Katherine J. Wu, Ph.D. Profile picture
29 Jul
If your antibody levels drop over time... it's not the end of the world. Actually, it's what happens naturally. It's expected. It's your body being economical with its resources. 1/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
There are so many other immune cells and molecules protecting you; antibodies aren't the whole story.

But if you're worried about antibodies specifically—which, yes, are powerful and important and do play a big role in protection— 2/

theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
Think of it this way. Antibodies are ephemeral proteins. Individual antibodies aren't built to last forever. They'll ebb after an infectious threat has passed. But the body retains the capacity to produce them. 3/
Read 10 tweets

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