I wrote about the coming winter months, and how ill-prepared America is for them. 1/
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
There are those who might argue that things feel "back to normal" now; that the pandemic is "over"; that we "have the tools" to successfully combat SARS-CoV-2 on all fronts. That might be true for many people in this country. It is not true for all. 2/
it's a big week for little-kid vaccines. in preparation for a string of very important FDA and CDC advisory meetings, two pieces from last week that lay out what's at stake.
first, the argument for not waiting to vaccinate our youngest: 1/
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
and then, the fraught landscape onto which under-5 vaccines will be unfolding... one that did not wait for these shots to be greenlit to declare America's COVID situation "all good." 2/
But that hinges on the public's appetite for behavioral change, and the speed at which we effectively communicate the virus's risks. It's a test we've failed before, and recently. 2/
A difficult reality to grapple with: reinfection by SARS-CoV-2 is going to happen, but we don't yet have firm answers on how often, or what toll that will take. 1/4
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
There are some trends we can expect: As immunity builds, and hopefully the rate of variant emergence slows, reinfections will get less frequent and less severe. But these are gradients, not hard boundaries. And the specter of long COVID looms. 2/4
we're deep into Omicron's reign. does that mean we definitely need an Omicron-specific vaccine?
it's complicated for at least three big reasons: timing, Omicron's weirdness, and the vagaries of virus evolution. 1/
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
first... this decision will make its biggest impact this fall. next month, the FDA is planning to decide the contents of our autumn COVID vaccine; they're expecting that that's when Americans will be asked to dose up again (pending $ lol) 2/
I wrote about long COVID and why one potentially promising treatment for it might be getting swept under the rug.
It's Paxlovid, a pill that's already been reasonably well vetted, and could easily enter long COVID clinical trials. Why hasn't it? 1/
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
For Paxlovid, an antiviral, to work for some cases of long COVID, viral persistence would have to be a cause. That hasn't been proven, but the hints are there. There are also reports of people taking the pills and feeling better. 2/
we had problems getting people to take first shots. we didn't fully address them. did we really think they'd resolve themselves with the boosters?
I wrote about America's booster problem, and why we shouldn't be surprised we're here. 1/
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
booster uptake is low, way lower than it was for second primary doses, even though in principle, they should be *similar*. but boosting isn't about getting "just" another shot. it's a recommitment to vaccination. sometimes the costs feel big. 2/
lots of discussion about variant-specific COVID vaccines, boosters of original-recipe vaccine, and whether we should adopt a flu-shot-like model for future updates. so a quick thread on some pertinent pieces from my recent coverage. 1/
first, yes, it is highly likely we will all be asked to get more shots at some point. the need for that is dictated by 1) our bodies' memory for the virus 2) how much the virus changes 3) how often host and pathogen collide 2/
what's the point of measuring a wave? ideally, to react to it.
I wrote about how, as reportable testing and concern both wind down, the United States might not be poised to do either. 1/
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
caseloads are looking relatively "low" in the country overall... but are they? we're not testing or reporting enough, certainly not equitably enough.
and the CDC has raised the threshold at which we're supposed to react. 2/
another surge seems on its way. the magnitude and timing are unclear - but what I'm most worried about isn't the offense the virus will hit us with. but the lack of defense we'll mount to meet it.
I wrote about how America is woefully unprepared. 1/
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
we still haven't vaccinated enough people. we still don't have enough treatments or tests or ventilated spaces. too few people are masking. our funds are running dry. and our CDC and administration have decided that the time for action is... later. 2/
I wrote about Omicron vaccines, why they could be important, and also, why they shouldn't put all our eggs in the Omi-vax basket. 1/7
theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
our future with COVID vaccines is likely to be long. more variants will show up. the name of the game is, likely, going to turn into not just depth of protection, but breadth. 2/7
@jdkstern13 and I wrote about endemicity—a 10-letter word with too many meanings to count. use of this word has exploded in recent months, and everyone seems to have a different reason for touting it. 1/8
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
if this word is so messy, why are we using it? whoever's doing PR for endemicity deserves a raise.
to be fair, though, we don't really have a proper word for what's next: uncertainty, more chaos, a lack of uber-predictability. 2/8
[catching up on tweeting some articles from the past week, bear with me!]
I wrote about how Omicron is Top Dog right now... but also, about how Delta is not yet extinct, and why that could matter. 1/5
(1/13) By the end of the Omicron wave, nearly all of us will have glimpsed spike in some form or another—injection, infection, both. I wrote about what that means... and why “widespread exposure” does not necessarily equate to “widespread protection.”
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
(2/13) This is not the rosiest piece I have ever written. But I hope it clarifies some of where we’re headed. It’s certainly tempting to think that Omicron will be the deus ex microbe that leaves the world immune—that it’s our last wave, fullstop.
(1/9) There are a lot of headlines out there right now about the United States being at or quite near (maybe even just past?) the peak of the Omicron wave.
I wrote about what's potentially past the peak.
theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
(2/9) Obviously, no one *knows* what is beyond the peak, but we can be fairly certain what the downslope won't be: super simple, easy, and quick. Curves aren't always symmetrical. A fast, sharp upswing doesn't always mean a fast, sharp downswing.
(1/14) I wrote about the trap of "mildness" and how it's hamstringing our approach to tempering the Omicron wave.
theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
(2/14) There is now decent data to show that, on average, Omicron infections are indeed less severe than cases caused by Delta. But all too often, we conflate "less severe disease" with "an inherently milder virus."
1/5 with such expansive booster recommendations, the phrase "fully vaccinated" is only getting murkier, and a lot of experts are pushing for the CDC to change it.
but is it even the right way to be looking at our COVID-19 vaccines?
theatlantic.com/health/archive…2/5 the term implies a kind of finality - something we can't really have when we're still figuring out the ideal regimen, and what vaccines are supposed to accomplish, and how often we'll need to update them
hi there! are you mourning the loss of your antibodies, months out from getting your COVID vaccine? don't be—your absolute numbers might be down, but the average *quality* of the antibodies you have now is much higher than it was before. 1/
theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
that's the silver lining of "waning"—which, honestly, I prefer to see as a refinement, a sort of weeding out of mediocrity, rather than some mass culling of protection. 2/
I wrote about how vaccine effectiveness is (surprise!) a very, very complex thing.
This is a dive into some of the science behind recent reports of post-vaccination infections and sicknesses, and why the numbers seem to so often conflict. 1/
theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
The key is that vaccine "protection" can take many forms, depending on what our goals are. Some forms of protection are easier to achieve than others. Vaccine effectiveness is not a monolith, which means certain safeguards can hold while others slightly falter. 2/
Aug 16, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I know a lot of people are frustrated and angry right now. But it doesn't help anyone if we mock, ridicule, slander, or portray the unvaccinated as our "enemies," or being on the virus's "side."
Being unvaccinated is not a monolith... 1/4 theatlantic.com/health/archive…
And the ways in which we describe vaccines and vaccination really, really matter.
People sometimes try to say that they're referring only to people who are "willfully" unvaccinated. But that's an oversimplification... 2/4
There's really nothing else out there *quite* like a vaccine: something that protects everyone's health *by* protecting individual health.
I wrote about how many of the vaccine analogies we default to struggle to capture public health. 1/
theatlantic.com/science/archiv…
Finding a perfect analogy is tough. You'd ideally want a tangible tool that can benefit health on multiple scales; something that varies in performance, according to local conditions; something that addresses a threat that is infectious. 2/
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