BREAKING—First #Omicron US death in Texas—in an unvaccinated man **reinfected** after previously having #COVID19. New convalescent blood🩸 studies of survivors (of Alpha, Beta, or Delta variants) show little to no neutralization defense against Omicron. Please #Vaccinate& Boost🧵
2) We do not believe Omicron overall is that much milder if at all than Delta. Keep in mind that Delta is 2-4x more severe than original Wuhan 1.0 strain. A UK 🇬🇧 study found severity is not significantly lower in terms of % needing hospitalization.
3) Show us the study of almost zero neutralization against #Omicron after previously surviving infections of Alpha, Beta, and Delta? Here you go. Full study linked below.
4) the data on 2 shot vaccines against #Omicron is poor too, we have to be honestly and admit. 2 shots of Oxford-AstraZeneca is minimal after 6 months. Booster with Pfizer gets you up to 71% symptomatic infection protection but that is much lower than before.
5) 2 shots of Pfizer against symptomatic #Omicron is about only 31-34% after 15 weeks. Pretty fast drop in efficacy. Booster shot gets u back up to 75.5%. But suboptimal compared to 95% before.
6) if convalescent immunity from past COVID infection is of little efficacy against #Omicron, then monoclonal antibody drug are definitely in trouble too. Hence several MAB drugs tested against Omicron returned “undetectable” levels of neutralization. MAB drugs endangered.
7) Thus, it’s huge deal and worrisome that two key MAB drugs are now being discontinued for used by NYC’s @MountSinaiNYC health system due to lack of efficacy against #Omicron. 👇
8) Another study clearly shows that you need at least 3 exposures to the vaccine or virus spike to have minimum protection against #Omicron. And past infection alone is definitely not enough. Get vaccinated. Don’t get infected 3 damn times please.
Jeeez— UK’s #Omicron wave is so stratospherically huge… that today’s per capita incidence would be equal to ~515,000 new cases if the size of US! ➡️ more than DOUBLE the all time record ever seen in the Us! #COVID19
2) How bad is UK’s Omicron load? US’s all time high was an daily average of 250k set last winter in early January. UK’s per capita rate today at 515k US-equivalent blows that out of the water! By 2x!
3) And yes, hospitalizations rising in England. 6 month high.
⚠️“MILDER” will not save us from overwhelmed hospitals. NYC #COVID19 🏥admissions up ⬆️4x in a month. ➡️Even if it’s 50% milder, but double cases infected—same hospitalization. 📍What’s then the problem? #Omicron doubles every 1.5-2 days! You wipe out a mild benefit in <2 days!🧵
2) same in London, the earliest #Omicron epicenter in UK… hospitalizations have tripled since a month ago! People who tout the mild while ignoring the total infections have no business in epidemiology.
3) Remember runaway infections is what will slam us hard in the end for causing surging hospitalizations and deaths… and 3 billion projected infections from @IHME_UW in 3 months is mind boggling.
UK 🇬🇧 hospitalizations spiking —now the highest in over 6 months. But mild you ask? ➡️Even if it’s 50% milder, but you double the cases infected… you’re at same hospitalization. ⚠️What’s then the problem? #Omicron doubles every 1.5 days! You wipe out a mild benefit in <2 days!
2) To be clear the 6 month high stat is for England 🏴
3) Global #omicron infections estimated to be 3 BILLION cases in next 3 months says @IHME_UW
⚠️Global domination of Omicron—This map shows Omicron projection by December 31 (via @IHME_UW), with 3 billion #Omicron infections over next 3 months says @AliHMokdad. ➡️Are you boosted? Do you have N95 respirator or at least KN95/KF94/FFP3 mask? Home/school ventilated? Prepare🧵
2) Watch this video of #Omicron domination streak - please prepare. Chance favors the prepared mind. Precautionary principle saves lives.
NEW—scientists at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research will soon announce that they have developed a vaccine that protects people from COVID-19 and all its variants, even #Omicron, called The ‘Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine’, or SpFN. 🧵 defenseone.com/technology/202…
2) The achievement is the result of almost two years of work. The lab received its first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020. Very early on, Walter Reed decided to focus on making a vaccine that would work against all of its potential variants.
3) Unlike existing vaccines, Walter Reed’s SpFN uses a soccer ball-shaped protein with 24 faces for its vaccine, which allows scientists to attach the spikes of multiple coronavirus strains on different faces of the protein. 👀
📝A note—Many say racist things to me—& some folks don’t like I share precautionary/doom-y COVID data. Some call me a CCP spy, pharma shill, attention seeking personal brand builder… But I’m none of those. Who I really am:🧵
2) I have no publicist, and unlike many “Twitter docs” during the pandemic, I have never paid for one. I have no website, merch store, or YouTube. I only recently started a mini substack—but I barely use it—& I plan to donate any incidental amount I get from it to COVID research.
3) When I tweet—what I think of is all the lives we could save. All the hospitalization suffering. All the PTSD endured by overworked doctors & nurses. All the long COVID sufferers. Sometimes I’m a misunderstood scientist—but that’s okay if it saves lives in a pandemic.