It was a pleasure speaking to @IAmAmnaNawaz on @pbsnewshour

An “exit” interview of sorts as I finish my term at the White House

So where are we with COVID?

We are down to about 100 deaths per day

Among the lowest in the pandemic. That’s good

But

🧵

pbs.org/newshour/show/… Amna asked if we should learn to live with 100 deaths/day

No. Its still too high

Annualized, today’s death rate means 36,000 deaths/year from COVID

And yes, most of those really are deaths as a complication of COVID

But here’s the thing

Most deaths now are preventable

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As you all know

The Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 is slated to end on May 11

There’s still a lot of confusion about what it means and doesn’t mean

So let’s talk facts

What does it mean for you?

🧵 So the emergency is slated to end on May 11

What happens on May 12?

On May 12, you can still walk into a pharmacy and get your bivalent vaccine. For free

On May 12, if you get COVID, you can still get your Paxlovid. For free

None of that changes

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The Administration just laid out plans to end the COVID national emergency & public health emergency on May 11

Why now?

Because we're in a better place

We're getting through this winter without a big surge or run on hospitals

Because we have the tools to manage this virus

🧵 Some folks are asking:

why not end the emergency right away?

Because that would be hugely disruptive

To the healthcare system and the people who rely on it

We need to ensure an orderly transition out of these emergency declarations

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Good morning

Over the holidays, you may have heard about Omicron XBB.1.5

It went from 4% of sequences to 40% in just a few weeks

That’s a stunning increase

So what does it mean? Will it cause a wave of serious illness and death?

Here's what we know, don't know

🧵 With any new variant or subvariant,

Remember -- there are always 3 key questions we want to answer:

1. Is it more immune evasive?

2. Is it more inherently contagious?

3. Is it more virulent/dangerous

So what do we know?

2/n

2 years ago today

A nurse in New York named Sandra Lindsay became the first person to get a COVID vaccine outside of a clinical trial

What have we accomplished in the last two years?

A new @commonwealthfnd report finds the impact has been huge

But this wasn't inevitable

🧵

https://twitter.com/commonwealthfnd/status/1602714214333808643

COVID vaccines have prevented

18 million hospitalizations

3 million deaths

Over a $1 trillion in healthcare costs

That's the conclusion of a new analysis by @Alison_Galvani from @YaleSPH

But here's the key part -- the part that wasn't inevitable

2/4

A lot of misinformation spreading about a point I made yesterday on COVID vaccines and deaths

So here's what we know

IF

You are up to date on your vaccines

AND

You get treated if you have a breakthrough infection

Your risk of death from COVID is close to zero

Short 🧵 What if you got just 2 shots spring 2021?

Is that enough?

Nope

What if your last shot was a booster last fall?

Is that enough?

Nope

Why not?

The virus has evolved A LOT since then

And immunity against infection wanes

Which is why folks need an updated vaccine

2/

Seeing a lot of headlines predicting what COVID will be like this winter

My take?

It depends largely on us

COVID is still killing 300 people a day

And this year, even more folks will be gathering with family and friends

So can we really gather safely? Yup. Absolutely

🧵 This winter doesn’t have to be like the last two

It doesn't have to lead to a lot of folks getting really sick and holidays getting disrupted

Best thing you can do to have a safe, healthy holiday ahead?

Give your immunity an update

Get the new COVID vaccine

And....

2/4

How much better are the new bivalent COVID vaccines compared to original?

Meaningfully better

Protection against BA5 about 4 times better than what you'd get with original shot

That's based on the latest data out today

So when I read these studies, what do I look for?

🧵 When reading studies looking at how well vaccines neutralize different variants

I pay attention to

1. Did the study use live virus (better) or pseudovirus (less good)?

2. Did they carefully balance age across groups (age matters for how much of a response you get)?

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How do we stay safe and healthy with COVID around?

As summer draws to a close and we head into the fall and winter

This has been on my mind

Our ability to protect ourselves keeps getting better

So let’s talk about that and what we all need to be doing

Thread Let’s start with some good news

Last week, the FDA and CDC signed off on updated vaccines

Omicron-specific vaccines that match the currently circulating strain

This was a big deal to get the match right and these vaccines built

2/n

Paxlovid is making a big difference in preventing hospitalizations, deaths

So who should get it?

There is some confusion out there

So let's clear it up with data

Bottom line?

If you're over 50 or have comorbid conditions

For you, benefits from Pax likely outweighs risks

🧵 So a recent @NEJM paper found that

For people 65 and older --

Pax reduced mortality by 79%

Regardless of vaccination status

So, Paxlovid is a home run for those over 65

Lifesaving

Here's the full paper

nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…

2/n

With Labor Day 2 weeks away

Our family is gearing up for a new school year

In many places, school has already started

At the White House, we’ve been planning for months

Planning to ensure kids & teachers are safe against COVID and we have full, in-person learning all year

🧵 First some facts

When President Biden took office, more than half of schools were still in remote learning

Within months, the Administration helped get nearly every school open and kids back safely

Today there is still only one goal:

Every kid. In person. Full time.

2/n

You’ve all heard that @potus has COVID “rebound”

Lets talk about rebound -- what we know and what we don't know

Bottom line (tl;dr): Treatments like Paxlovid are designed to prevent serious illness. And they are doing that. Very well

But back to rebound. What is it?

Thread Think of rebound this way:

You get infected – get better (symptoms get better, antigen test negative) – then get worse

Could be new symptoms

Or it could be testing positive again – as the President has done

How often does it happen – and does Paxlovid “cause” it

2/n

Yesterday, we laid out our BA.5 strategy to ensure that as BA.5 spreads, we reduce infections, hospitalizations and deaths

So what's our strategy?

In opening remarks, I lay them out

More details in video but in a nutshell?

Short thread (1/4)

Prevent serious illness

1 Get up to date on your shots

If you're >50 and haven't gotten COVID vax in 2022, please get one now

2 Get treated if you're infected

Paxlovid & Bebtelovimab great at keeping you out of the hospital

3 If you're immunocompromised, please get Evusheld

Update on the state of the pandemic in the US as BA.5 becomes dominant

Over past month, reported cases have remained steady at about 100K a day

But thankfully, deaths & ICU stays have remained low

Thread Why has serious illness remained low?

Its not random

Its from vaccinations and therapeutics that are widely available and easy to access

But -- we're at a new inflection point

We could see current patterns continue

Or we could see a new rise in infections and serious illness

Thrilled to see CDC's clear support for booster for 5-11 year-olds

Independent advisors reviewed the data, voted 11-1 in favor of supporting kids getting the booster

I have a 10-year-old so what do I plan to do?

Follow the evidence and get him boosted

Lets talk why

Thread First, kids are way better off vaccinated than not

What? May be you've heard COVID "no big deal" for kids?

Obviously kids are lower risk than the elderly

But that's the wrong comparison

Kids are lower risk than elderly for pretty much everything

So the right question?

About 4 weeks ago, we launched a major push to drive down hospitalizations and deaths

By making Paxlovid, a drug that is very effective at
preventing severe illness, more widely available

So how's it going?

We are making some serious progress

Thread

https://twitter.com/AshishKJha46/status/1517627655817940995

First, a little context

Over past month, infections have risen across the country

Driven by highly contagious BA.2 and more recently, BA.2.12.1

Infections are up more than 3 fold in the past 2 months

Yet deaths are largely flat

Why?

One reason, I suspect, is Paxlovid

2/n

Its a Sunday so a quick update on the state of the pandemic in the US

Infections are up about 50% and hospitalizations are rising too

But there is an important pattern emerging in the Northeast that helps chart the path forward

Thread First, what is driving the increase in infection?

Largely Omicron subvariant BA.2 and increasingly, BA.2.12.1

When we look at the northeast, a few things emerge

First, infections started rising around March 20 (give or take a few days)

2/n

You may have heard that Congress is considering funding for COVID

It's actually a pretty simple question in front of them

Do we continue to fight COVID or do we give up?

Let's talk about what happens if Congress decides to give up

It's not pretty

Thread We will run out of treatments for COVID

So if you get COVID later this year, there will be no treatments available for you

And no, your insurer won't be able to step in and buy it instead (for a whole host of reasons)

But there's an even bigger problem for therapies

2/n

We are in a complicated moment

On one hand, hospitalizations are at historic lows, deaths are falling

On the other?

BA.2 is dominant with cases rising

So how to think about this?

In this op-ed, I lay out the moment we are in and what to do next

🧵
cnn.com/2022/04/25/opi… We can use this moment to wait and see

Or we can use this moment to prepare

You know what we need to do

Prepare

With a very contagious variant (Omicron)

We may very well see future surges

And of course,

Every 4 to 6 months...

2/n