Thread by @loonyberg

🧵 1. This hometown Houston hero has some things to say about Covid and the world should be listening. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…

2.”There’s a lot of happy talk about omicron somehow acting as a weakened virus, herd immunity and the end of the pandemic. I do not think so yet. I think we’re in for another wave this summer across Texas and it could be just like 2020 and 2021. Here are the reasons why.”

3. “One: I’m not convinced the durability of the protection from omicron is going to be adequate. It may resemble the short-lived immunity you get from the upper respiratory virus. The population could still be vulnerable in the spring.”

4. “And vaccination rates are still not great in lower- and middle-income countries where these variants arose. I think we’re still very vulnerable to another variant arising in Africa or Asia.”

5. “I think what we need most urgently right now is a national strategy for how we’re going to prevent another big variant in the summer from hitting Texas and the southern United States. Here’s what I think that strategy requires.”

6. “One: a strategy for global immunization against COVID-19, which just doesn’t exist now. The White House announced another 400 million doses, which is slightly more than what our Texas Children’s vaccine has done. We need 9 billion doses.”

7. “Second: We need a greater understanding about the durability and protection from the mRNA boosters. We’re getting conflicting results about the durability. That needs to be clarified. We need to understand that for a strategy for moving forward.”

7. “Whether we keep the singular focus on the mRNA vaccine or broaden our COVID stockpiles to include additional technology.
And let me say, third: What’s our plan for global surveillance? So far we’ve been surprised by every major variant of concern.”

8. “We need predictable surveillance models, but we don’t have them. That’s a need. What I’d like to see coming out of the White House is a national strategic task force to really dive into those three components.”

9. “We need a realistic plan for the country. And I just don’t get the sense we have that right now. Nationally, we’re still in reactive mode every time.”

10. “I understand fatigue among the population. I really do. What I don’t understand is fatigue among our public health leaders at the national level. That, we can’t have. We need to bring in some fresh minds if that’s the case.”

11. Q: Are vaccinated people as likely to spread COVID as non-vaccinated people?
A: The answer is if we’re talking about people who are vaccinated and boosted with a high level of virus-neutralizing antibodies, they can still experience breakthrough infection and shed the virus.

12. “But it’s for a shorter period of time, and less of the virus is shed. But it’s not like a light switch. Still, you’re much less likely to spread the virus.”

13. “With omicron, I think I understand what’s going on. But the problem is when the CDC and the White House communicate and don’t go into great detail, people get confused, understandably.“

14. “And the anti-vaxx groups take advantage of this and paint a picture that seeks to either discredit the vaccines or the messengers. It’s relatively easy to weaponize health-related communication.”

15. “What I’m seeing is the White House and the CDC trying to use simple messages to reach the whole population. And it doesn’t work that way. There are many populations, but there are two populations in this case.” One is all-in on medical intervention.“

16. “They want to know the science to protect themselves and their family. They tolerate the levels of complexity because they feel the health of their family depends on it.”

17. “Another segment is not going to get vaccinated with mRNA no matter what you tell them. That requires a different discussion.”

18. “The White House and the CDC need to stop trying to create one message for all the American people. It starts to come out as baby talk, which doesn’t help with the second group, and doesn’t convey key nuances part of the first group wants to know about.”

19. Q: The suggestion that we’re moving toward the end is premature?
A: Yeah…the messaging,“It’s starting to look like the flu.” To me that all becomes an excuse for inaction & that’s frustrating because we still have a chance to end this pandemic by fully vaccinating the world.

20. These are just highlights of a great interview with a truly heroic Houstonian. I encourage everyone to read the whole article. Again, we need 9 billion doses to vaccinate the whole world and rid ourselves of this virus. This is absolutely possible. Let’s get it done! End🧵