Many thanks ⁦@GeoffRBennett⁩ for hosting me today ⁦@KatyOnMSNBC⁩ I made the point that if we’re going to halt Covid transmission in America, we must vaccinate at least 85% of US population, that 90-100 million more Americans, given Ro of the delta variant. Here’s how:
While federal mandates are essential they won’t be adequate. Getting to that last 100 million for example will require school mandates outside the reach of the federal govt. It will also require FDA approvals for school-aged children
But ultimately I don’t see how we get close the gap fully without cooperation of the red state governors. This is a tough situation given how the governors are dug in and the disinformation is rampant. We must both dismantle the disinformation empire and somehow chart a path to..
..to work with the leadership of conservative strongholds. Easier said than done. For now I’ve suggested the POTUS cultivate some vaccine champions in the South and Mountain West, the lowest vaccination rates, to serve as his ambassadors. I’ve already volunteered!

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More from @PeterHotez

12 Sep
So I’ve been thinking non stop on this: to preserve our republic (FYI we’re a republic not a democracy) our founding fathers intentionally created a dynamic tension between the federal government and the states. It’s worked more or less for 250 years, but now there is a standoff
Someway somehow we have to find a way to build rapprochement to vaccinate the nation. The @POTUS fired a salvo with federal mandates which I support. But it will only get us so far. Without our Governors we can’t achieve the 85% vaccination coverage to save the nation from COVID
And that’s what it comes down to. We need the great compromise. The default is untenable: delta variant will continue accelerating among our defiant unvaccinated. Like a hurricane over 90 degree waters I said on @CNN this Am, until we inexorably head to 800,000 or 1 million dead
Read 8 tweets
11 Sep
Death by antiscience aggression. Since April antiscience aggression, defiance of vaccines despite their availability, has murdered 100,000 Americans. More than global terrorism, cyberattacks, nuclear proliferation. And yet we refuse as a nation to implement measures to halt it
I warned that it was imminent at the beginning of this year in January @PLOS @PLOSBiology journals.plos.org/plosbiology/ar…
Read 8 tweets
10 Sep
1/3: Our @TexasChildrens Center for Vaccine Development @BCM_TropMed is developing a vaccine against this organism, the cause of female genital schistosomiasis, an affliction of 40 million girls and women who live in extreme poverty in Africa
2/3: details on FGS in our 2019 @NEJM article. FGS causes genital pain, bleeding, infertility, social stigma, marital discord, depression, adolescent girls inappropriately accused of sexual promiscuity. FGS = major cofactor in acquiring HIV AIDS in Africa
nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
3/3: Our vaccine is in phase 2 clinical trials in Africa and Brazil, the phase 1 for safety was done here at @bcmhouston (link below) we’ve also received in kind manufacturing advice from @MilliporeSigma But all our vaccines through nonprofit sector
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Read 4 tweets
10 Sep
As Amb. Abba Eban, former Israel 🇮🇱 Foreign Minister once said:

“His ignorance is encyclopedic”
The Senator’s comment is factually incorrect and written in a way that appears to mislead with intention, the definition of disinformation. He’s done this repeatedly during our pandemic. And now his state of Kentucky is 3rd worst affected in the nation, behind TN, SC….
Read 4 tweets
9 Sep
The remarks from @POTUS reflect his commitment to use the full force of the federal government to close the 80 million unvaccinated gap. But we must recognize that even the federal government has limited powers. We'll bring down that 80 million number, but...
...it still won't be enough. We'll need additional strategies. In fairness, the @POTUS is in a tight spot, the antivaccine antiscience groups on the far right are deeply entrenched, and we just heard from Sen. Johnson (WI-R) and Rep. Jordan (OH-R) who are full on antivax.
He needs a program of vaccine diplomacy and vaccine ambassadors and envoys to help him reach across the aisle in the fly-over nation states. I've offered to help him here in Texas and elsewhere.
Read 6 tweets
7 Sep
This is simply not true. Vaccines for smallpox, later childhood vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, Hib (vaccines discovered in USA), preserved our nation. I’m aghast at the absence of intellectual curiosity or even passing interest in American 🇺🇸 history from our US Congress
I’ve made multiple overtures to come to Wash DC, meet with House Senate members to discuss their vaccine concerns. When I was microbiology chair at GW 2000-11 did this regularly to diffuse the Wakefield nonsense. Now we’re in a new dynamic, and i have to fly to Wash DC, it’s fine
Sometimes there is a need for crisp lines. Those who seek to undermine COVID19 vaccines place their own short term political gains and expediency ahead of love of country. They are not patriots. They are bottom feeders. Opportunists. I’ve seen them come and go. Mostly go.
Read 4 tweets

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