Touching piece. It's sad but vaccines and masking have become anchored to a culture war where people feel glee about misfortune of their political opponents. It has made everyone cruel and blind to the scientific truth... 1/6
Cloth masking never had good data. We didn't run proper studies in high income nations. We didn't run any good studies in kids. And now we are escalating to higher quality masks precisely in a moment when they serve less societal purpose, than pre vaccine, where they held value
Vaccines are tremendous good. They save lives. They work very well in older people to lower the risk of death.

But diminishing vaccine effectiveness against mild infection subverts the need for mandates. And pushing boosters in the young is misguided
People on both sides of the political spectrum lean into absolutes. And thus sensible middle ground is not possible. Everyone thinks the other side politicizes the topic. But they do themselves. Sad to see.
Meanwhile, science is on life support. We run the serious risk of having a split in science, and having two sets of scientific facts to support the two political parties. That would be a catastrophic result. But each day we dig in deeper that way.
Although a lifelong progressive, and Bernie fan, I follow the science above all else. And on many covid issues It's the other side that's in the right. Particularly when it comes to children and the restrictions they face. Progressive policy ironically hurting kids. Sad

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More from @VPrasadMDMPH

Jan 27
Censoring misinformation is removing a tumor with a sword, not a scalpel

You are definitely going to cut a lot of healthy tissue-- debate

And you might not like the outcome

Oh and the people wielding the sword have no idea what they're doing, have seldom published sci papers.
Even more rarely have they engaged in a scientific field that is subject to significant debate and controversy over a prolonged period of time. Without that perspective they have no idea the bounds of legitimate debate.
This is how you reply to the Rogan episodes with a scalpel. Not a sword. Acknowledging what was true. And what wasn't. It's called dialogue

unherd.com/2022/01/we-nee…
Read 4 tweets
Jan 27
When we understand & accept that just about everyone will get infected with sars-cov-2 👇👇

Policy must adapt
Fear must dissipate

Massive testing of kids & workers who feel fine & quarantines is madness

Booster mandates for young, vaccine passports are pointless
🧵 Image
Testing kids who feel fine in school is particularly foolish

It will lead to massive educational disruptions and serves no purpose.

These kids will be infected, maybe this year, next year, the year after... and many times in their lives.
slate.com/technology/202…
If parents want they can get kids vaccinated, but other nations view the uncertainty differently and advise vaccination for only vulnerable

Either way, disrupting their lives makes no sense

reuters.com/world/europe/s…
Read 18 tweets
Jan 26
Great essay in the @TheAtlantic on masking kids

You can't impose restrictions for year after year with no credible data. 👇👇. Check it out

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
My take from last week
tabletmag.com/sections/scien…
Read 6 tweets
Jan 25
Can people help me add to this list of op-eds critical of the ridiculous restrictions on vax'd college kids on campus?

👇👇🧵👇👇
medpagetoday.com/opinion/vinay-…
Read 6 tweets
Jan 25
New paper out led by @mlythoe @vkprasadlab

We summarize comments received by FDA in response to their proposal that you don't need to receive standard of care to enroll in trials

We detailed the proposal first in NRCO...
🧵
authors.elsevier.com/a/1eTQf7tJEDOI…
Here was that summary along with pitfalls
Now many have written to the FDA supportive of changes, which will allow easier paths to front line and large market share

It seems like it will come to pass
Read 4 tweets
Jan 24
Yes! Vax booster mandates are just like seat belts. In 3 months in 1984, for anyone who didn't buckle up 100%, they were fired from their place of employment and not allowed to work again in that sector. Enforcement was absolute...
Also people who had seat belts already (natural immunity) That didn't count. You had to install the special new seat belt. And you only had a few months to do it.
Oh, and we initially believed that seat belts would protect other people. But then very quickly we learned that there was a new variant and they only protect the wearer, but that didn't stop us.
Read 6 tweets

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