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Epoch Health

@epochhealth

May 31 • 16 tweets • 7 min read • Read on X

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The FDA just approved Moderna's brand-new mRNA vaccine for COVID-19.

This time, it’s not a booster. It’s a completely redesigned shot.

But most don’t know what’s actually in it—or how it works.

Moderna’s new COVID-19 vaccine skips the full spike protein—and something else too: published data.

So what exactly did the FDA approve?

🧵 THREAD

The Food and Drug Administration has approved Moderna’s next-generation COVID-19 vaccine.

The FDA licensed the vaccine for adults aged 65 and up as well as people aged 12 to 64 who have at least one condition that puts them at higher risk for severe COVID-19, the agency said on May 31.

The vaccine is meant for “active immunization to prevent” COVID-19 for people who have been previously vaccinated with any COVID-19 vaccine.

“The FDA approval of our third product, mNEXSPIKE, adds an important new tool to help protect people at high risk of severe disease from COVID-19,” Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO, said in a statement.

People who suffered a severe allergic reaction after receiving any Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, or after receiving any ingredient of mNEXSPIKE, should not get the new vaccine, the FDA said in a package insert.

The vaccine, also known as mRNA-1283, utilizes messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), just like Moderna’s already-available COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax. But it contains just 10 micrograms of mRNA per dose, compared to 50 micrograms in the available vaccine.

Moderna scientists have said that the new vaccine encodes epitopes, or portions of the COVID-19 spike protein, rather than the full-length spike protein.

In a clinical trial of 11,417 people, about half of whom received mNEXSPIKE, the immunogenicity triggered by the new vaccine was the same or better than that prompted by Spikevax, the company told a government advisory panel in April. A lower percentage of mNEXSPIKE recipients contracted COVID-19, and severe COVID-19, the company said.

Other clinical and nonclinical data support the new vaccine, Moderna told a government advisory panel in April.

“What remains consistent throughout all those investigations is this consistent pattern that mRNA 1283 outperforms Spikevax in terms of its ability to induce higher neutralizing antibodies,” Bishoy Rizkalla, a Moderna official, told the committee.

Moderna has not yet published the results in a journal, according to ClinicalTrials.gov, a government database.

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FDA officials announced earlier in May that the regulator would only approve COVID-19 vaccines if companies provided clinical trial data showing the shots provided protection against symptomatic COVID-19 and other clinical endpoints.

theepochtimes.com/health/fda-say…

The exceptions were for elderly adults and people with underlying risk conditions putting them at higher risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those conditions include diabetes and obesity.

For those groups, immunogenicity data would be sufficient, the officials said.

More recently, FDA officials encouraged Moderna, Pfizer, and Novavax to update their COVID-19 vaccines to target LP.8.1, a subvariant of the JN.1 strain.

theepochtimes.com/health/fda-adv…

Moderna on May 23 said it had filed for clearance for an updated version of Spikevax that targets LP.8.1.

On Saturday Moderna said it expects to have mNEXSPIKE available later this year, alongside Spikevax.

Pfizer’s vaccine also uses mRNA technology. Novavax’s vaccine is protein-based.

As part of the approval process, the FDA is requiring Moderna to carry out two post-approval studies, including an observational study of outcomes in women and infants following receipt of the shot in pregnancy, the FDA said in an approval letter.

The CDC, as of this week, no longer recommends pregnant women receive any COVID-19 vaccine.

theepochtimes.com/health/cdc-upd…

The Department of Health and Human Services, the FDA’s parent agency, has expressed doubt about the mRNA platform.

In a statement about canceling funding for Moderna’s vaccine candidate against bird flu, a spokesperson told The Epoch Times that “mRNA technology remains under-tested” and has been linked to “legitimate safety concerns,” including heart inflammation.

theepochtimes.com/health/health-…

None of the mNEXSPIKE recipients in the trial for the vaccine experienced heart inflammation or died, according to Moderna.

Adverse events were similar among the trial’s two arms, the company said.

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Epoch Health

@epochhealth

Jul 18

There’s one nerve that controls your anxiety, digestion, inflammation—even your immune system.

It’s called the vagus nerve.
And almost no one talks about it.

Understanding how it works could be the missing link to feeling your best—naturally.

🧵 THREAD

The vagus nerve quietly orchestrates and regulates essential bodily functions, often without your awareness.

It connects to key organs such as the brain, heart, lungs, gut, and pancreas, supporting health and standing ready to address a range of challenges with both immediate and long-lasting effects.

By understanding the vagus nerve’s role and learning how to stimulate it effectively, you can access greater calm, healing, and resilience.

As the vagus nerve originates from the brain and travels throughout the body, it branches into various organ systems.

It’s part of the parasympathetic nervous system, which means that its primary role is to calm and restore your body’s balance. When the vagus nerve stimulates these organs, the parasympathetic (rest and digest) response is activated, Dr. Priyal Modi, an integrative medicine practitioner, told The Epoch Times.

Stimulating the vagus nerve relieves symptoms of depression and anxiety and builds stress resilience.

This is likely because of the nerve’s connection with brain regions that regulate mood. Activating the vagus nerve is linked to the release of dopamine. It also results in higher levels of serotonin and 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), the precursor to serotonin, leading to improved quality of life, including better emotional adjustment and enhanced social functioning.

A healthy vagus nerve is also linked to sharp cognitive function and creative thinking, Modi said.

Read 11 tweets

Epoch Health

@epochhealth

Jul 18

A Forgotten Antibiotic Just Shook Up the Lyme Disease Debate

In a pair of new studies, one overlooked drug eliminated Lyme bacteria at doses 100x lower than standard antibiotics—without wrecking the gut microbiome.

Even more surprising? It might prevent infection entirely.
And it's already FDA-approved.

Now the question is… why hasn’t this been used all along?

🧵 THREAD

Scientists may be closing in on two major advances in the fight against Lyme disease: an overlooked antibiotic that eliminates the infection at exceptionally low doses and new insights into why symptoms often persist long after treatment.

theepochtimes.com/health/old-ant…

In a pair of studies published recently in Science Translational Medicine, scientists showed that piperacillin—a Food and Drug Administration-approved antibiotic—cleared Lyme infections in mice at doses up to 100 times lower than those of doxycycline, the current first-line treatment.

Unlike doxycycline, piperacillin targets the Lyme disease bacteria specifically, sparing the gut microbiome from the disruption that typically accompanies doxycycline use.

Read 12 tweets

Epoch Health

@epochhealth

Jul 17

Beyond Cholesterol Lies a New Approach to Heart Health

For decades, doctors believed lowering cholesterol was a key ingredient to better health.

Now, emerging science is telling a different story—and it challenges everything we thought we knew about cholesterol, and especially statins.

🧵 THREAD

Imagine a room full of your closest friends and family. The odds are that heart disease will affect at least one of them. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, claiming a life every 33 seconds.

For decades, we have been told that lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol—so-called bad cholesterol—is the key to heart health. But with odds like that, something isn’t adding up.

“I think the current model is oversimplified and rather myopic,” Nick Norwitz, a Harvard medical student who holds a doctorate in physiology from Oxford, told The Epoch Times. “LDL is the most common biomarker now. There are better markers.”

Beyond LDL

You might have had your cholesterol checked and been told that everything looks normal. But those standard tests may only be telling part of the story. Traditional cholesterol tests, while still valuable, measure cholesterol amounts.

They miss important details about the quality and behavior of cholesterol particles and other key metabolic factors. This is why a “normal” cholesterol level isn’t always a guarantee of low risk. To understand your risk, you may need to dig deeper with advanced lipid testing.

Emerging research is painting a new picture: Focusing solely on “bad” cholesterol misses pivotal pieces of the puzzle. Factors such as the size and composition of particles of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol—the so-called good cholesterol—along with triglyceride levels and overall metabolic health, are equally, if not more, important in preventing heart disease.

This new understanding is reshaping how we assess heart health, shifting the lens to a more comprehensive, preventive, and personalized approach that prioritizes lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise, according to Norwitz.

Read 18 tweets

Epoch Health

@epochhealth

Jul 16

Are your hands getting weaker without you realizing it?

Loss of grip strength is one of the earliest warning signs of physical decline—and most people never see it coming.

Your hands age faster than you think, putting your strength and independence at risk.

The fix? Six simple rice exercises that can restore your grip, strengthen wrists, and protect your joints.

All it takes is a pot, a bag of rice, and 10 minutes a day to rebuild what you’re losing before it’s gone for good.

🧵 THREAD

Hands are the king of function. They are directly involved in almost every functional task you perform. In fact, the only things moving as I type these words are my hands and fingers.

Strangely, however, even though hands and fingers are frequently used, they are often neglected when it comes to strengthening and flexibility training.

The great majority of us tend to rely on daily use alone to maintain the strength and functioning of our hands, but there is a risk in this: progressive decline.

Over the years, I’ve worked with many patients who have had decreased hand function unrelated to specific joint, muscle, or tendon pathology. Instead, they were simply deconditioned. We don’t tend to think of hands specifically when we think of muscular deconditioning and weakness, but muscles indeed power hand function and strength, and these can grow weak over time, even though we use them often.

One problem with hands, however, is that they have many joints and muscles involved in their function, and it can be challenging to address each one individually.

No Grain, No Gain

One solution may lie in something as simple as a bucket of rice and a few simple tools. Exercises using rice allow for specific strengthening of the small muscles of the hands in addition to the larger muscles of the forearms. For this set of exercises, instead of saying “no pain, no gain,” we might say “no grain, no gain.”

My patients generally tolerate these activities well, but I recommend consulting with your health care provider to see if they are right for you. Also, if you have sensitive skin, it’s a good idea to wear gloves while you do this exercise to prevent skin irritation.

Rice bucket training is a grip strength and rehab exercise for hand overuse or injuries. They’re also popular among rock climbers for maintaining a strong grip.

Read 14 tweets

Epoch Health

@epochhealth

Jul 16

Your brain keeps growing long after childhood.

Scientists found newborn neurons in 78-year-old brains, shattering the myth that growth stops.

This could transform how we treat Alzheimer’s and age-related decline.

But why do some keep this power while others lose it?

🧵 THREAD

Even after death, the brain of a 78-year-old held a surprise—researchers found clusters of immature brain cells, suggesting the human brain may keep making new neurons long after childhood.

The discovery, made this month by researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, provides the clearest proof yet that our brains don’t stop growing by adulthood, but continue to make new brain cells throughout life.

Scientists found rare neural progenitor cells in the hippocampus of adult human brains.

The hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped structure located deep in the brain, is the brain’s memory center, responsible for storing and forming memories.

“We have now been able to identify these cells of origin, which confirms that there is an ongoing formation of neurons in the hippocampus of the adult brain,” Jonas Frisen, lead researcher and professor of stem cell research at the institute, said in a statement.

Read 16 tweets

Epoch Health

@epochhealth

Jul 16

Cancer can now be detected through earwax—with 100% accuracy.

No blood. No scans. Just some wax from your ear.

Scientists have developed a simple test that can catch cancer in its earliest stages—before symptoms appear.

It can even tell you the exact moment your cancer is gone.

Earwax contains a treasure-trove of information about our health.

🧵 THREAD

We all likely take earwax for granted—and prefer not to think about it.

However, the under-appreciated substance does more than keep your ears clean and free of debris—scientists have discovered that it contains a goldmine of health data.

Beyond that, earwax might be able to signal diseases like diabetes and cancer.

Cerumen is the technical term for earwax.

Ceruminous and sebaceous glands secrete a substance in the external auditory canal that mixes with sweat, hair, dust, and other debris.

The purpose of cerumen is to keep the ears lubricated and clean and create a barrier to discourage the entry of bugs and other foreign objects that might infiltrate and wreak havoc.

Read 14 tweets

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