Many thanks ⁦@Boris_Sanchez⁩ for hosting me today as I discuss the situation in NY NJ DC where hospitalizations are now going up and healthcare and other essential workers are experiencing breakthrough covid and therefore being knocked out of the workforce
My concern is that this could become a difficult situation since in 2020-21 we’ve seen how mortality rates go up when hospitals become overwhelmed. So my suggestions are as follows…
1. Take the rise in hospitalizations seriously, the US is different from UK in a number of ways and we shouldn’t just assume omicron won’t produce severe illness. We just had our first omicron death in Houston, for instance, someone with previous infection
2. It’s all hands on deck keeping our HCWs in the healthcare workforce. I support CDC decision to revise isolation guidelines. When asked why we don’t do this for everyone, I said I don’t have the “inside baseball” (my new fav expression think I got it from Stephen Hahn) on that
3. I’m also a big proponent of offering 2nd boosters to HCWs if they are >2-3 months out from their 1st Pfizer booster. This is because of declining protection vs omicron and the urgency to keep HCWs on the job. This approach was recently adopted in Israel, but pushback here
Here’s my argument in full from @latimes last weekend latimes.com/opinion/story/…
Part of the problem in making these decisions there isn’t much time, omicron came up really fast. Also factoring into my thinking: 1) 2 of 3 mabs don’t work with omicron, 2) we won’t have Paxlovid in time, 3) diagnostic testing is a mess, let’s maximize use of the tools we have

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More from @PeterHotez

26 Dec
Many thanks @VelshiMSNBC @AliVelshi for hosting me, I expressed my concern that we come out the other side of this Christmas weekend to find our US health system in disarray or even partial collapse in some parts of the nation. The reasons…
1. Despite all the happy talk from Wash DC and Atlanta, omicron is serious pathogen and hospitalizations are accelerating.
2. Too few HCWs knocked out of the workforce with breakthrough Covid. We’ve seen how mortality climbs when ICUs get overwhelmed. That process is now underway
3. Testing is a debacle. Those long lines? Remember for everyone who got tested, several others walked away disgusted or demoralized by the long wait.
4. Two of our 3 mabs don’t work vs omicron
5. Paxlovid unavailable, Remdesvir requires parental administration.
Read 5 tweets
25 Dec
Today with @AmaraCNN I said all variants of concern have their unique challenges and for omicron in US it’s the fact that hospitalizations are now starting to accelerate and even though it may be as severe, it’s severe enough and exacerbated by the fact that so many HCWs are home
…with breakthrough symptomatic and asymptomatic Covid. We’ve seen last 2 years how mortality climbs when hospitals ICUs become overwhelmed and that could happen with our covid-induced depletions in our healthcare workforce. Adding to the mix…
1. People are walking away from the long lines at diagnostic testing centers, frustrated but going ahead with events even though they may unknowingly be +. Testing is a debacle.
2. Two of our 3 mabs don’t work
3. Remdisivir complicated to administer, Paxlovid not available
Read 5 tweets
25 Dec
Back in Jan-Feb when I said mRNA vaccines were 3-dose vaccines and we’ll need boosters in 6-12 months, almost everyone pushed back, including many in the Fed Govt, FDA CDC advisory committees. I did think 3rd dose would last longer (“3 and done” I said) but the data are the data
And the data from UK and Israel showing virus neutralizing antibodies vs omicron not holding up after a booster. To be sure 3 doses still holding up well vs most serious infections but vs symptomatic illness not great, especially a couple of months after the booster.
Hence my recommendation for a second booster for HCWs. Not advocating yet for other populations although I see Israel 🇮🇱 Govt has extended to both HCWs and >60. Both US and Israel appear to support 2nd boosters for immunocompromised
Read 4 tweets
24 Dec
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…
Read 8 tweets
23 Dec
Many thanks @RuhleOnMSNBC @SRuhle for hosting me as I explain why claims that omicron produces less severe illness than previous lineages may be premature. Beyond my interview below just now some additional things attached to this tweet
Briefly, if you look at the case vs time curves in UK and I believe similar in ZA, omicron dovetails on top of delta wave. It says to me that a lot of omicron infections were likely reinfections and that gave the illusion that omicron overall is not as serious, but…
…for the unvaccinated, omicron could still be just as dangerous. This is just a first impression. We’ll know better in the next couple of weeks. For instance in NY and elsewhere in northeast where they did not have much of a delta wave, I see hospitalizations increasing.
Read 5 tweets
22 Dec
Many thanks ⁦@KatyTurNBC⁩ ⁦@KatyOnMSNBC⁩ for hosting me this afternoon, when asked if can ever bring the covid pandemic to a close, my ANS: whenever global leaders make a commitment to vaccine the world, especially the Southern Hemisphere. The reality… Image
The reality is that delta arose from an unvaccinated population in India, omicron an unvaccinated population in Southern Africa. What if the next variant is as transmissible as omicron but produces more severe illness?
We’re doing our part at @TexasChildrens to vaccinate the world’s LMICs. We now need the US Government and G7 leaders to match our commitment…as crazy as that sounds
Read 4 tweets

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