💡New VACCINE RANKING of ability to neutralize #Omicron—Moderna appears to be the strongest against Omicron in this study, but still big drop. Pfizer next best (but we know infection efficacy is 30-34%), AstraZeneca & Sinopharm poor. J&J & Sputnik = zero.🧵biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
2) Natural infection immunity is on the left … “convalescent” = practically no neutralization against #Omicron in this study by itself without vaccine.
3) Meanwhile for SinoVac —one of the world’s most widely used vaccines, doesn’t provide sufficient antibodies to neutralize the #omicron variant, said 🇭🇰 researchers. But a 3rd shot booster seemed up help. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
4) The other recent large South Africa 🇿🇦 study reports 2 shots of Pfizer offered 33% VE against symptomatic infection; and 70% against hospitalization (much lower than the 90s prior). We need boosters.
5) in an AT study of neutralization, they also found 2 shots of AstraZeneca was pretty weak. But also found Moderna weak—but in their population, Moderna folks had a 4 month gap between shots. But mixing AZ+Pfizer seems half decent. Past infection alone little help! (Lower left)
6) This above Austrian neutralization study matches the drop in VE seen in the UK — where 2x shots of Oxford-AstraZeneca has little benefit without a booster, and 2 shots of Pfizer slightly better but still only in the low to mid 30% VE without a booster.
7) But a 3rd shot (Pfizer booster) after 2 shots of AZ puts one back up to 71.4% VE against symptomatic #Omicron disease after 2 weeks after 3rd shot. This is good news at least. #GetBoosted
8) With 2 shots of Pfizer, the VE starts at 88% between 2-9 weeks after the 2nd shot. Good, but it quickly drops to 48.5% by weeks 10-14 after 2 shots. Then drops and to 31% by 15-19 weeks. Then it hovers at 36.6% at 20-24 weeks. Then 34.2% at 25+ weeks. But 75.5% with booster!👀
9) The top study also compared the key monoclonal antibody drugs (the major drug ones have a name on the left) — several of them have little to no detectable effects against #Omicron. This is bad.
10) Which are the monoclonal antibody drugs in trouble against #Omicron? These:
11) The Sputnik V vaccine has entered the chat… their research institute Gamaleya Center has put out a statement saying the study reported above was “not representative” and they will have new results in a few days.
12) it’s now clear that #Omicron is spreading so fast because it both **evasive** as well as highly contagious — new study finds the virus replicates **70x faster in one’s windpipe** than the original Wuhan virus. 👇
13) the airborne nature of the coronavirus cannot be overlooked— in fact— stopping airborne transmission is just as important and vaccinating people. And ventilation and air disinfection could even be more effective - because it is agnostic to vaccine willingness / politics!
⚠️PFAS IS BACK—recall the EPA plan to ban dangerous forever chemicals from drinking water ➡️Well, Trump WH just cancelled it… once again allowing big corporations to discharge PFAS into rivers. PFAS cause cancers & many diseases. Does this make American healthy again?
2) “There really isn’t a system within the human body that isn’t affected by PFAS. They are toxic in many ways, but they’re also very long-lived. They’re designed not to break down in the environment or not to break down to heat and chemical stress.” michiganpublic.org/politics-gover…
3) CDC also just got banned from seeking any advice or input from the WHO — CDC can’t communicate or even enter any WHO building anymore. Perfect way to politically isolate CDC from outside science.
NEW—CDC officially ordered by Trump WH to cease working with the @WHO, effective immediately. This is the first time in almost 77 years since WHO’s founding after World War 2. This is a dark day.
2) the memo said the stop-work policy applied to “all CDC staff engaging with WHO through technical working groups, coordinating centers, advisory boards, cooperative agreements or other means — in person or virtual.”
3) It also says @CDCgov staff are not allowed to visit @WHO offices.
CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately, upending expectations of an extended withdrawal
🛑JUST CANCELLED—Trump HHS has just cancelled key meetings of the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) & CDC’s Environmental Public Health Threats meeting—➡️all because of Trump WH’s new blackout of all HHS external comms. My god.
2) Trump WH is literally blocking all of this… including all CDC science reports and all FDA public alerts!
NEW—Trump WH has blocked all CDC science reports (eg MMWR) & suspended all CDC / FDA / NIH external communications of all HHS agencies until further notice... including all FDA & CDC Health Alert warnings & all social media. Public health be damned.
⚠️BREAKING—ICU Hospitalized human bird flu case in Canada now officially confirmed as H5N1. Worse, it is the same 2.3.4.4b virus clade (variant group) as the one found in BC🇨🇦 poultry and in Washington state🇺🇸! The hospitalized teenager (with no pre existing conditions) had no animal contact, does not live on farm, had “deterioration quite rapid” and now critical in ICU with ARDS. Canada officials says infectious period is 2 days **prior to symptoms** (ie asymptomatic transmission) and infectious up to 10 days.
2) Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg confirmed that the individual has avian influenza H5N1 canada.ca/en/public-heal…
3) details…
⚠️BAD UPDATE—BIRD FLU HOSPITALIZATION IN CANADIAN TEEN
Summary 🧵 of the live press conference with Canada’s British Columbia health officer.
📌The teen is in intensive care.
📌Condition is ARDS
📌Teen was healthy prior; no underlying conditions