A common question today:

Q: “Can I get a flu vaccine at same time as a Covid vaccine?”

A: YES!

The immune system evolved to be able to respond to MANY targets simultaneously. Similar to parallel processes on a computer, the immune system has enormous parallel capability.
For example, in my research largely pre-COVID, we profile immune responses to pathogens and vaccines.

In a single vaccine or infection, the immune system responds to an enormous array of different “epitopes” on even one pathogen or vaccine.

2/
When we add additional vaccines to the mix, it simply adds an extra set of epitopes (the parts of the vaccine or pathogen that the immune system recognizes) and our amazing immune systems don’t miss a beat

3/
In fact, we give people multiple vaccines at once ALL THE TIME

The flu vaccine itself is 3 vaccines in one.

MMRV is 4 vaccines at once.

TDaP is 3 at once.

Covid vax is actually quite unique in that it’s only one protein! But even that has many targets on it

4/

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Michael Mina

Michael Mina Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @michaelmina_lab

1 Nov
I truly dislike the term "Natural Immunity"

There is no such thing as artificial immunity

A vaccine drives a NATURAL immune response

The question is simply "how do you want to start building that immunity?" Through a risky infection or via a safe vaccine

Me? I choose vaccine.
Vaccines are one of the most holistic interventions we have in medicine and public health.

Vaccines utilize our natural evolved processes to provide our immune system with an Education.

They aren't a pill that kills pathogens by distributing to all our tissues...

2/
Vaccines are perhaps the most natural thing we do in medicine to protect ppl from infections

Vaccines are small proteins that get taken up naturally by our immune cells.

The immune cells do exactly what they evolved to do naturally. Vaccines don't force anything.

3/
Read 7 tweets
1 Nov
“I will plan to return to work in person at the conclusion of the ten day quarantine following a negative rapid test..."

Great use of a rapid test!

Importantly she’s not using a PCR test bc she’d still remain PCR pos, potentially for weeks.

Thread
1/

thepostmillennial.com/breaking-jen-p…
Why is this important?

Bc imagine that she did not test early and isolate and got a PCR positive AFTER the day her isolation would have ended.

SHE would have to START an isolation that day, for ten days, even though she was NO LONGER INFECTIOUS

Furthermore…

2/
Let’s say in this scenario that @PressSec was not in contact w @POTUS when she was actually infectious bc Biden was in Europe.

But then they were in contact AFTER the infectious period, and just before she got the 1st (in this scenario) positive PCR test

3/
Read 7 tweets
31 Oct
Kids will now get vaccinated

Millions have unfortunately already been infected - we can’t undo that

Let’s not ignore it but use it to our benefit

Data shows Infxn + 1 dose Is as good as 2 dose in uninfected

Here’s a simple strategy to conserve vax and reduce burden

Thread
1/
When kids show up to get their first dose of a vaccine, they are simultaneously offered an antibody test. The sample for the antibody test can be a simple mouth swab of the gums (or a blood draw - but I prefer a swab of gums personally since it’s painless and easy.

2/
Now that the kid has their first vaccine AND a sample for antibody test, there will be 3-4 weeks to confirm if the child has antibodies to COVID.

This long period of time offers tons of flexibility to ensure a highly accurate result is obtained - I’ll give examples below

3/
Read 14 tweets
30 Oct
Recognizing a need for boosters in vulnerable when it comes to Delta & recognizing their benefit - which thus far seems high (even if turns out to be temporary)…

Why are we still vaccinating w mRNA sequence of the now obsolete Wuhan strain when we know the sequence for Delta.
This is only half sarcastic as a question.

Is it purely bc full trials haven’t been completed? Is it bc we don’t agree w an added benefit of using a sequence matching the most common and destructive variant?

My opinion is there would be benefit (or at least equivalency)
If we continue to Reenforce a response to the 1st virus, we may find ourselves stuck in that version of a response when we do want to make an update to the vaccine later on. Better to stay current.

Also, we know Delta has evasive mutations vs original immune response
Read 4 tweets
29 Oct
Another EUA for a molecular home test!

At the start of the pandemic,
@JMRothberg
was one of the first to understand that we needed to get widespread access to rapid accurate and inexpensive Covid tests…

1/
He came up with a prototype, put together a team of microbiologists & engineers and set out to develop a molecular (PCR like) test that could be used in the home, quickly…

2/
Fast forward 18 months and
@DetectTest is an FDA authorized rapid molecular home test.

It’s an incredible feat going from 0 to EUA in 18 months. (Most molecular test companies existed for years preCOVID)…

3/
Read 5 tweets
29 Oct
PSA

It’s OK to talk about the biological limitations of vaccines without being anti-vax

Ex:

Just bc we wish vaccines stop transmission, doesn’t make it so. Vax limit spread a bit, but we’ve known for months that breakthroughs are not rare and spread among vax is common

1/
Does this mean that COVID vaccines don’t work? Absolutely not. They work great… for what they were measured and authorized to do - stop disease.

They weren’t authorized for their ability to stop spread. Vaccines work! Let’s be open both about what they do and don’t do well

2/
The more we try to toe the line and not quite be open w the limitations of vaccines - often suppressing messaging about their limitations - the more those limitations come back to haunt us in the form of loss in confidence across the population in the whole vaccine program.

3/
Read 9 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(