BEST BOOSTER? Mix it up — but depends which you had first. Switching vaccine for the booster seems to be the best—Pfizer to Moderna booster, Moderna to Pfizer for booster, and J&J should switch to Moderna / Pfizer booster. HT to @ScientistSwanda. #COVID19#BoosterShots#vaccinate
4) Here are the official eligibility criteria for boosters. Note that Moderna as a booster is a modified 50 mcg. Normal first 2 shots of Moderna is 100 mcg.
5) that said, if you have a cancer or immunocompromised like #MultipleMyeloma, then you should go with the Moderna full dose 100 mcg two shots. Ask your doctor if still possible.
6) Moderna 2 shots (2x 100 mcg) yielded 6x greater antibody response than 2 shots of Pfizer. Might be too late to change; but just FYI for those not vaccinated yet.
7) This booster study (top post) is funded by the NIH. Though keep in mind the Moderna “booster” they tested was the 100 mcg full dose, and not the 50 mcg currently FDA authorized Moderna booster. So while Moderna looks strongest, keep in mind it’s 2x the current booster dose.
8) The study hold a wealth of data on boosters. Really key is that J&J seems to lag all the other boosters in terms of antibody response. medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
9) What does booster offer) more than 90% risk reduction in SEVERE DISEASE in Israel 🇮🇱 for those who got 3 Pfizer doses versus 2 doses after 6 months!!! And it benefits both elderly and younger adults!!! Middle age should definitely take booster!
10) This is what happens when nationwide boosters were rolled out in Israel 🇮🇱. Its Delta variant wave stopped soon after.
11) good morning - 100 million at risk Americans can likely get boosters starting today.
12) Forgot to mention - it seems having initial Pfizer doses then switching to Moderna has slightly less severe headache, fatigue, nausea, and myalgia than a 3rd Pfizer dose. medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
13) Unpopular thing to utter aloud — but many scientists think 1 dose J&J is way too weak. It should never have been a one dose vaccine in the first place. 2 dose should have been minimum.
⚠️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 🧵