Fellow J&J recipients: big press release out on impact of boosters. While the confidence intervals are huge, there’s evidence that boosting with a 2nd shot (of J&J) increases effectiveness.
We need to see the full dataset but hopefully when it’s examined in detail, it will support a recommendation for those who got J&J to get a second shot. All the data (for any COVID vaccine) suggests there’s substantial benefit to boosting.
And I’m not sure where we are at with J&J supply, but last I saw, there wasn’t a lot. ACIP/FDA should consider recommending heterologous (mix and match) boosting with a mRNA vaccine. There’s data with AstraZeneca + mRNA that supports the safety of this approach.
J&J recipients have often felt left behind by the dominance of discussion and recommendations about mRNA vaccines, but this is mostly because there’s much less data on J&J since fewer doses have been administered. Hopefully this changes that.
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It's a huge privilege to contribute to this forward-looking review on zoonotic risk assessment with 32 innovative, outstanding colleagues via the @viralemergence consortium. Big props to @wormmaps for leading the way.
Yesterday my spouse said that we need to be both extra careful and hopeful. We can’t get in a car accident or appendicitis or anything that would require hospital care. There’s simply no capacity because of COVID.
I wish this had happened earlier but better late than never.
On July 11, all restrictions were lifted. I mostly go to work or run essential errands. I always wear a mask despite being fully vaccinated. We’ve gone out for dinner or drinks a handful of times and sat outside each time. Yet everywhere (except work) the scene is the same.
The majority of people are unmasked. Last Friday I picked up a bottle of wine. I was the only masked person in the long TGIF line at the liquor store. Distancing was not observed at all. A person in front of me merrily told another customer she was stocking up for a party.
My excellent colleague @akelvinlab has this right: we will have more variants as long as SARS-CoV-2 continues to replicate.
Also worth pointing out that we don't know much yet about C.1.2, but we do know that it's not "mutating faster." That wouldn't even necessarily be bad.
C.1.2 is an emergent lineage of variants, meaning it's actually a cluster of several different variants. Here's the preprint describing it, by @CathrineSch07 and colleagues: medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
Misinterpretation of panel C in the above figure led to 🚨MUTATES TWICE AS FAST 🚨 insanity a few days ago. That's wrong.
The amino acid substitution rate (new mutations that result in a change in a protein) is on par with other emerging variants.
Just came back to Canada after being a groomsman in the wedding of one of my dearest friends. This trip was a joyous occasion but also a stark reminder of how badly the US has failed in its COVID responses, and continues to fail.
1. US requires an antigen test to reenter. In Canada, you can get a company to come to your home to administer a proctored test at your convenience for about $75 US. We were asked to show our test results multiple times at YXE & YVR. US CBP did not ask for our test results.
2. At the wedding, I learned to my chagrin that there were going to be some eligible attendees who refused vaccination. The wedding was fully outdoors, but I was still concerned. I thought maybe I could provide rapid tests for all guests as a gift to the couple.
Okay, as promised here's the second part of this thread. Earlier today, I covered the evidence that points toward zoonotic origins. Now let's go over the evidence that points AWAY from laboratory origins.
Here's a link to the first thread in case you missed it. Like that thread, what this lacks in GIF-underscored innuendo will be hopefully balanced by a critical appraisal of the actual evidence.
And let's just get this out of the way: YES, Shi Zhengli's lab at WIV had isolated 3 bat CoVs from field samples. Dr. Shi also stated on the record these experiments were done in BSL-2 containment.
Could an accident have happened? Sure. Accidents have happened before.