BROKEN—trust in the @CDCgov—@CDCDirector says CDC will not change recommendations to wear higher quality N95/KN95 masks. ➡️What an awful day in the pandemic & the🌎…I have more choice statements but suffice to say I am angry & disappointed beyond words.😢 thehill.com/policy/healthc…
3) Furthermore, @CDCDirector has the stone cold ignorant gall to claim the recent surge in US record hospitalizations is perhaps driven by Delta instead of Omicron. Like— how insane do you have to be to think that?!?
4) I’ve got more receipts of @CDCDirector’s other utter failures during the pandemic in the past year… if you screw up soooo many times in soooo many big ways, then you’ve lots public confidence and resign to should make room for someone else.
5) again, This statement by @CDCDirector that “there isn’t massive increases in hospitalizations” is a *complete & utter lie*. I know the data. She knows the data. Her @CDCgov knows the data —and all says US exceeded record #COVID19 hospitalization peak!👇
6) Many folks know I’ve been calling out @CDCDirector for her lackadaisical attitude towards mask guidelines - CDC’s May 2021 fateful decision to drop masks for the vaccinated (which empowered anti maskers of all spectrums) likely exacerbated the summer Delta wave as well. 👇
7) Why doesn’t @CDCDirector follow the science? Germany 🇩🇪 Austria 🇦🇹 & Italy 🇮🇹 all have premium masks mandates (FFP3 = N95; FFP2 = KN95) in public areas. @CDCgov needs to get with the modern airborne science or @CDCDirector should get out—it’s now so embarrassing!
8) I’m hearing others around her are not happy at all with her decision today. Let’s hope this is not the last word on lack of any recommendation on N95 masks.
9) Remember how embarrassing it was when Taiwan’s CDC rejected @CDCgov on the crappy no-testing 5 day isolation exit rule?that was another utter failure of @CDCDirector to follow the science, which she even admitted was for convenience factors not science.
Memesday! Time to discuss the power of memes. Share your favorite pandemic meme—🧵
📌They are (usually) funny
📌They make a point without saying it
📌They expose irony or hypocrisy
📌They say what many think but can’t aloud
📌All the above gets memes shared more than dry science
2) I could say a breakthrough case is not the same as a unvaccinated cases and explain hospitalization and death rates… or a meme makes almost the same point. 👇
3) I could talk about needing a vaccine passport for flying… or this meme dog could do it better…
KARMA—Djokovic just had his visa revoked for a 2nd time. Australia’s immigration minister said he was canceling Djokovic’s visa after a federal investigation had revealed that Djokovic provided false information to border officials. 🤦🏻♂️Just #vaccinate man. nytimes.com/live/2022/01/1…
2) Australia’s immigration minister, Alex Hawke, said in a statement that he was canceling Djokovic’s visa on the grounds of “health and good order,” adding that it was in the public interest to do so.
3) A federal investigation led by Hawke had revealed that Djokovic provided false information on the documents he gave to border officials when he tried to enter the country last week.
⛔️FRESH HELL out of CDC—just 2 weeks after @CDCgov warns passengers to “avoid cruise ships”🛳—the CDC will now transition to a **voluntary risk mitigation** program for cruises… all while #COVID19 hospitalizations at record high! Umm, @CDCDirector—WTH?!?! axios.com/covid-cruise-s…
2) The CDC has notified industry members about the program and expects cruise lines to decide whether to participate or not in the coming week, USA Today reports. CDC will let requirements lapse! usatoday.com/story/travel/c…
3) Of course cruise ship 🛳 industry loves it— “The transition "recognizes the cruise industry’s unwavering commitment to providing some of the highest levels of COVID-19 mitigation found in any industry," the Cruise Lines International Association said” cruising.org/en/news-and-re…
💡HUGE—We now have evidence that Multiple Sclerosis is likely caused by an infection—notably, the Epstein-Barr virus increased risk of developing MS by a whopping **32-fold***—via Harvard epidemiology team. ➡️ Hopeful because EBV vaccine coming soon. 🧵 statnews.com/2022/01/13/str…
2) “Our data strongly suggest Epstein-Barr virus is the leading cause of multiple sclerosis,” said Kjetil Bjornevik, a research scientist at Harvard and the study’s lead author. “It was a really dramatic increase in risk that would be very hard to explain any other way.”
3) More than a decade ago, his Harvard colleague, epidemiologist Alberto Ascherio (my friend) had a hunch that the answer to what initiates MS might be frozen somewhere on the campus of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
WATCH📺—Despite 97.5% of all adults in England🏴 with antibodies to #COVID19 (via vax/infection)–hospitalizations still surging. Why? Because variants like #Omicron are adapting. Need multivalent vax, plus ➡️N95 & ventilation are agnostic to variants—key!
2) Boosters are critical, yes, but we need a higher sea wall of protection that can handle virus evolution & adaption. That’s why premium masks & ventilation & air disinfection key.
3) And we need to be honest also that vaccine boosters wane too. This figure in French from UK data shows that even boosters wane against highly evasive #Omicron 10 weeks after a booster shot -VE down to 45% for symptomatic. We need new multivalent vaccines & masks & ventilation.
💡NEW—Vaccine efficacy 91% of 2 Pfizer shots protecting against pediatric multi system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) in teens age 12-18. 📌Huge—this was a major severe outcome of #COVID19 in kids before. This is a reminder kids need 2 shots. #GetVaccinatedcdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…
2) What is already known about this topic?
Vaccine effectiveness against multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), which can occur 2–6 weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection, has remained uncharacterized.
3) What is added by this report?
Estimated effectiveness of 2 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against MIS-C was 91% (95% CI = 78%–97%). Among critically ill MIS-C case-patients requiring life support, all were unvaccinated.