⚠️BREAKING—CDC now confirms my scoop that super evasive #BQ1 & #BQ11 variants (Typhon & Cerberus) have meteorically surged from *unlisted* 3 weeks ago, to 11% 2 weeks ago—to ⬆️now suddenly 27% today! This is a bad 10-day doubling time! 🇬🇧’s #BQ ~30% too🧵 covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tra…
2) Moreover, In New York and New Jersey (plus PR) region - #BQ variants now at a whopping 42.5%—confirming my scoop again. They have now displaced even their immediate ancestor #BA5. Clearly #BQ1 and #BQ11 sub-variants are dominating the race for this fall. I’m worried for fall.
3) Everything I’ve warned for the last 2 weeks about #BQ variants have been confirmed. I’ve been told by my source that CDC leadership has been flustered and shaken — trying to defend their lackadaisical variant tracking of #BQ variants — it’s quite a dereliction of diligence. 😢
4) This post 2 weeks ago had upset the CDC senior staff the most. Because it revealed the utter incompetence tracking #BQ11, and allowing it to go from UNLISTED status to suddenly 11% without warning.
5) My updates are in the interest of public health. To date, I have reported scoops here first. But with changes in Twitter, I will also be posting breaking news on my Journal. It’s free to subscribe—COVID news will always be free, though support welcome: drericding.substack.com
6) #BQ variants are highly resistant to monoclonal antibodies — one of the key drug classes during the pandemic against #COVID19 — now defunct. This is why we are losing when this winter comes. We do NOT have all the “tools” anymore.
7) that said, the #bivalent BA5 booster should still mostly work against the daughter lineages #BQ subvariants. Mostly work- albeit neutralizing data shows some minor drop even after BA5 immunity. This hopefully will still hold against hospitalizations and death—but unclear LC.
8) Also important to note— , UK 🇬🇧 also seeing #BQ variants spiking— suddenly over 30% as of last week (red, lower right). This is very very bad. Notice how fast it is displacing other variants that are all falling. This matches the new 27% #BQ CDC scoop above.
9) How the hell did we get here? For all the govt focus on death and hospitalizations —neither drives mutations. What spurs more mutations is MASS INFECTION—especially unmitigated infection of millions and billions—basically the 2022 neglectful strategy against #COVID. Result 👇
10) I’ve shared a bit more color on the CDC situation. If people are interested in knowing a fuller story about CDC and the BQ variants, I can maybe share more down the road. I want to see if the CDC changes masking, testing & mitigation policies meantime. drericding.substack.com/p/update-cdc-n…
11) If they don’t act to change the course to slow down the surge and help slow transmission to relieve overwhelmed hospitals, especially amid hospitals filling up, then I think more will need to be said about CDC leadership. drericding.substack.com/p/update-cdc-n…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
BREAKING—FDA suddenly cancels meeting to update next season’s flu vaccines, with zero explanations. Any delays will jeopardize next year’s vaccine supply chain.
2) Folks who follow me know that I’m no bullshitter. I criticized past pandemic response right and left, and have called balls and strikes without bias. And I often say things that doctors & epidemiologists are whispering among themselves but don’t say publicly. (Cough cough) ⬇️
3) While I don’t recommend hoarding… I think stocking up on flu antivirals, which you can obtain prophylactically (preventively) from doctors if you ask nicely why you’re high risk, can be a good idea. I know many doctors, epidemiologists and virologists who do for their family.
Doctors are debunking RFK Jr’s claim that 20 hospitalized measles cases in Texas are there for mainly quarantine. Doctors on the ground say the 20 kids hospitalized are having trouble breathing. Oh and they are all unvaccinated against measles, which RFK Jr neglects to mention.
2) RFK Jr told Trump today there’s now 2 measles deaths.
Woke or biology? There are actually more than the basic “male” XY & “female” XX sexes. Why? Because biology also creates people with single X chromosomes, or extra chromosomes like XXX, XXY, XYY, or XXX+, plus many 🧬genes. 👉All I’m asking is— please be kind to others. Thanks🙏
2) “The most frequent SCAs include Turner syndrome (45,X), Klinefelter syndrome (47,XXY), Trisomy X syndrome (47,XXX), and Double Y syndrome (47,XYY).”
3) “The phenotype seen in SCAs is highly variable and may not merely be due to the direct genomic imbalance from altered sex chromosome gene dosage but also due to additive alterations in gene networks and regulatory pathways across the genome as well as individual genetic modifiers.”
I'm shocked a lot of doctors don't know about this newer flu antiviral drug called Baloxavir (XOFLUZA)... that shortens your flu illness by 33%, and reduces your viral load by day 2, versus what a placebo takes 5-6 days to achieve. Baloxavir also seems superior to TAMIFLU (oseltamivir) for smashing your viral load on 2 day, achieving what takes Tamiflu 3-4 days. CDC even lists Baloxavir on their website as one of the top 4 drugs that it tracks whether it works against new flu strains (it works)
2) "Baloxavir was associated with significantly more rapid declines in infectious viral load than placebo or oseltamivir (Figure 3A and 3B)." nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
3) Adverse events for baloxavir were no different than placebo. in fact theres even hints that it could be lower than Tamiflu.
"Adverse events that were considered to be related to the trial regimen were more common in oseltamivir recipients (8.4%) than in baloxavir recipients (4.4%, P=0.009)"
⚠️WORST FLU SEASON ever since 2002-2003 when we began to track flu (red, first graph). Worst hit this year are children ages 0-4 and 5-17. ▶️We also have significantly LOWER flu vaccine uptake this year, one of the lowest flu vaccine coverages (red 3rd graph). Indisputable facts.
2) I don't need to tell you that certain US states have vastly lower vaccination rates than others. See map (lighter green, less flu vaccination coverage), and which have higher (darker green)...
If you want to see details and demographics on which state has the LOWEST flu vaccine coverage rates... the data is here. cdc.gov/fluvaxview/das…
3) It’s not just the flu that is going around… Gaines County, TX, where the epicenter of the measles outbreak is, has one of the lowest measles vaccination rates too.