First look at the only randomized trial of a booster vaccine data (Pfizer) today cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/…
95% efficacy vs symptomatic infections, consistent across all age, sex, race, ethnicity and comorbid condition subgroups
Benefit seen very early
Side by side event curves for the original Pfizer vaccine trial vs the Booster trial
You can see the curves diverge about a week earlier with a booster, ~14 vs 7 days, which aligns with much faster induction of neutralizing antibodies
Take a look at the data for people age 18- 55 in this, the only randomized trial (and N>10,000) of a booster vs placebo. Let's make believe @CDCgov that only people >age 50 "should" derive benefit vs symptomatic infections. The primary efficacy endpoint of all vaccine trials.
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We've known about KP.3's marked growth advantage since April and could have made the call then to make the new booster. That would have been aligned well with the current wave (available in July) 2/5 erictopol.substack.com/p/are-we-flirt…
But the FDA has tried to force fit Covid into an annual shot like flu, even though all data tells us it doesn't follow an annual pattern. Even the CDC acknowledges this now
3/5cdc.gov/ncird/whats-ne…
New CDC genomic data shows continued rise of the KP.3 variant that accounts for 1 of 3 Covid cases.
LB.1 is gaining, too, as JN.1 fades away
This variant growth advantage plot by @BenjMurrell (H/T @siamosolocani) shows why this is the case. Note KP.3 is the one at far left w/ almost 3-fold advantage to JN.1.
Reinforces why the decision to develop the KP.2 vaccine booster (instead of JN.1) was a good one
Spike mutation map to show the differences betweem KP.3 and JN.1 (and LB.1, KP.2)
The connection between #SARSCoV2 and neurodegeneration
@TheLancetNeuro
Quotes below: 1. SARS-CoV-2 infection should be considered as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, even though the distinction between causation versus disease acceleration is not clear.thelancet.com/journals/laneu…
2. Inflammation in patients with COVID-19, and controlled experiments show prolonged neuro-inflammation after mild SARS-CoV-2 infection
in macaques.
3. A direct correlation has been reported
between prior SARS-CoV-2 infection and increased risk
of Alzheimer’s disease (figure).
4. So far, the estimated lifetime cumulative risk of dementia due to hospitalisation for any viral infection is 1·48 (95% CI 1·15–1·91).
Breaking down the risks and benefit for lecanemab, the amyloid beta-directed antibody vs Alzheimer's drug approved @US_FDA last year. It doesn't look good.
My oped on the JN.1 variant and the 2nd biggest US wave of infections (after Omicron) since the pandemic began
@latimes @latimesopinion #LongCovid latimes.com/opinion/story/…
Recent @CDCgov #SARSCoV2 wastewater data for current wave (vs Omicron Jan 2022 and subsequent waves), graph by @luckytran
Sorry, @washingtonpost, but this is not "another Covid-19 uptick" as you put it in your Health Alert. You ignore the best metric for infections that we have at present—wastewater—focusing only on hospitalizations washingtonpost.com/health/2024/01…