My goal is to say simply -
Focus on the science and the data and what we know of biology. Then message and create policy off that.
Yes we want everyone vax’d. But really we want everyone protected. With >50% of Americans exposed/infected… we should at least consider this…
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We absolutely do not want ppl to intentionally go out and get infected. But we also can’t reverse time. We know a majority of Americans have been infected. Given that protection is derived from infection - assuming you do OK through it - we should leverage that, not ignore it
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If infections are helping us to reduce onward transmission, this is crucially important information to know and recognize.
But alas we have a@regulatory agency in the FDA that states to not look at pre-existing immunity as a market of past infection. This is a mistake
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I want to emphasize that I am not advocating to not get vaccinated. I advocate quite the opposite based on all that we know of the benefits of vaccines. But being pro-vaccine does not and should not mean being anti-reality. We should leverage the infections that have occurred 5/
And to all those who will call this thread “anti-vax” - I’m just trying to stick to the data. Give ppl good data. Gain trust. And public health can prevail.
Also just to clarify -the study is showing that protection from transmission is best among people who have previously been infected and then got vaccinated
However protection from disease and hospitalization is good from vaccination alone. Though of course it diminishes in time
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Joseph Hibbeln MD has long researched and advocated for optimizing nutrition, including studying things like seafood consumption in pregnancy and role of mercury consumption and whether it is linked to autism. Generally he’s come out saying it’s not.
Summary: No evidence of anti science or anti vaccine. Likely very balanced and nuanced rigorous scientist to serve on ACIP.
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Cody Meissner MD
Is a pediatric infectious disease expert at my Alma mater - Dartmouth. He is a rigorous scientist and has defended vaccines while formally recognizing underlying issues that are causing people to turn away from them - such as vaccine success driving down disease - affording people the luxury of focusing on very rare side effects while forgetting the real impacts of the diseases.
One of the most common tropes is that measles is fine & doesn’t cause damage…
This is highly inaccurate
Measles literally grows by infecting and killing memory immune cells. It causes loss to existing immunity creating vulnerabilities & acute damage that is often severe
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To discover the massive-stealth-impact measles has on immune protection against infections not associated w measles, we looked at what happened in populations after measles outbreaks swept through, decade after decade across nations…