Eric Topol Profile picture
Sep 6 3 tweets 3 min read
I don't see any evidence for how an annual Covid shot will provide durable protection (current ones wane after 4-6 months) without better vaccines, such as variant-proof, improved nanoparticles, and nasal
wsj.com/articles/u-s-p… Image
This has the ring of Covid capitulation erictopol.substack.com/p/the-covid-ca…
I'm certain we can do better than this. The science foundation is there for multiple paths of extended durability and enhanced protection. The will is not.
Just tweaking the lipid nanoparticles could make a big difference
"There is still so much optimization and development that needs to happen"—@AnnaBlakney
"There's a huge amount of RNA that's not being used"
@sahayg1
science.org/content/articl… by @ElieDolgin @ScienceMagazine Image

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More from @EricTopol

Sep 6
The @BharatBiotech nasal vaccine got EUA regulatory approval in India today following its ~4,000 participant randomized trial timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bharat-b…
Efficacy data not yet presented
This follows yesterday's first inhaled vaccine approval, in China, representing a 2nd major step in the quest for achieving mucosal immunity vs Covid
Nasal and oral vaccines are our best shot to block infections, transmission, achieve containment of the virus, reduce the toll of sickness, & help prevent #LongCovid. They are not getting adequate priority in the US science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… w/ @VirusesImmunity @SciImmunology
Read 4 tweets
Sep 5
🆕 @NatureMedicine
Heart manifestations of #LongCovid
A prospective MRI study of 346 people with mild Covid, and controls, demonstrated myocardial inflammation at 3 months, worse w/ symptoms, and edema at ~1 year
by @v_puntmann and colleagues @GoetheCVI
nature.com/articles/s4159…
"The imaging findings suggest that inflammatory cardiac involvement after COVID may be a pathophysiological commonality shared among all individuals, regardless of the expression of cardiac symptoms"
The main symptom was difficulty breathing with exertion; 53% of the cohort had persistent symptoms at ~1 year, not present before Covid.
"Absence of significant structural heart disease or increased levels of cardiac biomarkers"
Read 4 tweets
Sep 3
The BA.5 variant wave is in descent in the US and throughout the world. Without a threatening new variant that exhibits ability to strongly compete now, we should have several weeks of a respite
World cases/ deaths
Japan, one of the last to get hit, still on the rise for deaths
The US metrics
Except for deaths that remain at a ~500 deaths/day plateau, all are pointing in the right direction
Cases are notoriously under-reported, but we are at the lowest level in 4 months, (that number of confirmed cases, 78K, is still very high) /2
Please be aware there's still lots of circulating virus, ~90% of which is BA.5 out there
Only BA.4.6 is slowly competing at an appreciable level, recently ~1% growth/ week
Latest transmission map /3
covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tra…. .
Read 6 tweets
Aug 31
The historic drop in US life expectancy
Biggest two-year decline —2.7 years in total — in almost 100 years
Now 76.1, the lowest in 25 years
Levels at 1944 for AIAN
Pandemic, accidents and overdoses were 1° drivers
nytimes.com/2022/08/31/hea…
cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr…
This precipitous drop and current level is substantially worse than 21 peer countries
medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
There's one country that doesn't get what it pays for, which preceded the pandemic
economist.com/graphic-detail…
Now >$12,000/person and further reduction of life expectancy down to 76
Read 4 tweets
Aug 29
Hey United States, not a good past 12 months in the prevention of Covid fatalities
@OurWorldInData
Who's dying in the US?
All ages, last 3 months, weekly, per 100,000 people
ourworldindata.org/search?q=death…
Most of the deaths are in age group 65+ where you see an even more striking impact of vaccination along with protection from the 2nd booster
Read 4 tweets
Aug 23
Good explainer of imprinting, aka original antigenic sin, and how it may influence response to the BA.5 booster vaccine response
washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08… by @Carolynyjohnson
Some views lacking optimism. Key point re: reduction of infections/ transmission and why a nasal vaccine booster, if efficacious, would be a better bet.
Also supports getting human nAb data before rolling out (which may not happen)
And a new report brings up the question of the bivalent booster (ancestral + BA.5) that is the current strategy:
"it needs to be considered whether keeping the ancestral WA1 strain in the updated vaccine is of value or not."
medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
Read 4 tweets

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