Thread by @PeterHotez

Many thanks ⁦@KateBolduan⁩ for hosting me ⁦@OutFrontCNN⁩ with ⁦@JReinerMD⁩ I explained why the omicron variant poses a significant threat to the American people, due to the confluence of several unique factors….

First the severity of the omicron wave in the UK or South Africa might have been lessened somewhat because it dovetailed on the heels of a delta wave so that there was a disproportionate number of reinfections

So the fact that hospitalizations are now going up in NY and DC could be a warning of things to come, but there’s more…

The boosters are holding up well to serious illness but not as much to breakthrough symptomatic infections. So as the unvaccinated head into hospital beds and ICUs in the coming weeks, there will be many HCWs who call out sick because they are at home with COVID19

So that’s the danger ⛔️ zone: the unvaccinated sick and not enough HCWs in the work force. That mix historically has been associated with sharp increases in mortality. But there’s more…

2 of our 3 monoclonal antibodies don’t work vs omicron, so we have to take them off the table.

We won’t have Paxlovid in time for this wave.

Testing won’t be fixed until early next year, if that

So that’s our situation and why I’m up at night. The one thing we can do but which so far no one is very excited about except me and a few colleagues is giving HCWs who are several months from their booster - a second booster - to keep them in play. I recommended this over…

…the weekend in my @latimes opinion and now Israel has adopted this measure