Alrighty health nerds (said with love), who’s ready for 9 hours of FDA’s ad comm meeting today on vaccines? A reminder: the only thing the committee is voting on is whether to update the primary series of Covid-19 vaccines to include the updates bivalent the shots. Everything else is just discussion.

Juicy discussion, talking about the potential of annual boosters, but talk only

I was off running around in the woods in the latter part of last week (shout out to @RagnarRelay, look at this sheer joy) but it means I didn’t get a chance to talk about the @FDATobacco’s proposed menthol cig ban with y’all — let’s give it a go: FDA has been trying to federally ban menthol cigs for a LONG time. It officially knew, thanks to its advisory committee, that these products were disproportionately used—and therefore harming—Black Americans since 2011. But getting a ban off the ground was deeply difficult 1/x

Before we get into the next set of big vaccine news today, let's talk about the OTHER major story that's been playing out due to the FDA: the fallout of oh-so-many market denial orders that are reshaping the vape industry 1/x: politico.com/news/2021/09/2… 2/x As of today, FDA has issued 323 MDOs, taking 1 mil + products off the market + refuse to file/accept orders for millions more. Not a single product has gotten marketing orders; most of these belong to small/med. manufacturers; big ones (like Juul) are still awaiting decisions

Years ago, I heard a scientist @UMassMedical speak about using bits of DNA to treat diseases. The work was early/not yet perfected, but I never stopped thinking about it. Now precision genetic medicine is ready for its close up. My swan song for @qz: 1/x qz.com/2005658/covid-… 2/x In a nutshell, precision genetic medicine uses bits of DNA, or more commonly kinds of RNA, to change the way our bodies interpret and use our genetic code. If we have a mistake in our DNA—like a missing or broken gene—these bits of nucleic acid can fix it.

I wasn't particularly interested when I saw that some companies are making inhaled #Covid19Vaccines—esp. when there are now 13 different jabs in circulation. But when I looked into shots' shortcomings, I realized there are some serious gains to be had 1/x qz.com/1990797/future… 2/x Upper-arm shots aren't the *best* vaccine delivery method. They're fine! They're also a tried-and-true method of delivering vaccines, which is why drug companies went that route when making vaccines as fast as possible (while upholding safety standards).

The fact that science is inherently political has never been more clear to me than with the quest to find SARS-CoV-2's origins. This story is just as much about China as a global power as it is about virus hunters in bat caves. 1/x qz.com/1986084/why-do… 2/x When the @WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic, there were bigger things to worry about than the virus' specific origins. The likely answer was that it was zoonotic, jumping from animals to people. That had been the case for the last 4/5 respiratory pandemics, anyway.

This isn't true. Yes, zoonotic viruses jump from animals to people, and yes, they have caused 4/5 of the last pandemics. One of them, was caused by a virus accidentally released—which also.has lead to other smaller disease outbreaks in the past... .nature.com/articles/nm1141

https://twitter.com/thelittleidiot/status/1374372252179779594

Second, while animal farming is certainly a risk for zoonotic viruses, it's not the only way viruses can make the jump. It happens a lot in animals that aren't farmed, but are our ecological neighbors—like bats! Or camels!

If you haven't been double masking, now's probably the time to start: We know at least the UK variant, which is more transmissible than other variants, is spreading rapidly. But there's a right way and a wrong way to do it: qz.com/1969361/how-to… 1/x 2/x First, the basics: Double masking is just wearing one mask over another. The benefit is that you'd have an extra layer of filtration to stop your droplets flying out, and to stop others' reaching your own respiratory system.

Alright team, let's get to another pressing vaccine question a lot of you had asked recently: Can those who have gotten complete doses (2 shots) of #COVID19Vaccines transmit SARS-CoV-2 to others? Come with me on a lil mucosal immunology journey 1/x
qz.com/1954762/can-yo… 2/x The short answer is, we aren't sure. This is because the first thing clinical trials looked for is who was getting Covid-19—a symptomatic illness as a result of an infection with SARS-CoV-2. Which is good! That's the main job of a vaccine!

Last week, the US Capitol had a huge problem which has since been overshadowed: @US_FDA flagged that the @Curative #COVID19 PCR tests it had been to screen entrants had more false negatives than expected. Here's what offices can learn to reopen safely: 1/x qz.com/work/1954140/w… 2/x The backstory: @Curative's #COVID19 PCR tests work like many others; they detect SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in quick swab. It returns results in 12 hours—which is fast for PCR! @US_FDA granted Curative an EUA in April; it also provides tests for big cities across the US.

Seeing internet conspiracies that a "p. 132" of a "report" says that the P/B #Covidvaccine causes infertility. This is false (said page doesn't even exist)—but it does cite a major regulatory group. A thread on the good ol' precautionary principle 1/x
qz.com/1950810/ 2/x Here's the gist of the info I'm seeing, which @Facebook has caught and flagged but @Twitter has not). Interestingly, each post I've seen uses exactly the same language—despite coming from separate entities. In any case, it's false (I've flagged this tweet 👇)

As you've probably heard, we're getting close to having #CovidVaccines authorized in western countries (and they have been in the UK). It's tantalizing to think that life will be "normal" again soon, but there's a lot of factors to consider—a thread 1/x qz.com/1941409/how-ma… 2/x For simplicity's sake, let's assume "normal" means people have been vaccinated to the point of herd immunity, everything is open, travel is fine (but expensive, like the good ol' days).

The race to be the first to get a a #COVID19vaccine available is getting spicy: @pfizer / @BioNTech_Group, @moderna_tx, and @AstraZeneca are all close to releasing partial/full phase 3 trial data. But being 1st isn't the only way to win: qz.com/1935017/ A thread: 1/x One excited thing buried in @pfizer's announcement yesterday was that it seemed like their candidate had 94% efficacy in adults over 65. 41% - 45% of their trial participants were 56-85 yo 2/x

pfizer.com/news/press-rel…

One thing I don't see anyone talking about in the @pfizer #CovidVaccine discussion is the difference between efficacy and effectiveness. It's a small nuance, but it matters when we're talking about how to end the pandemic. A short thread: 1/x qz.com/1930285/ 2/x We got the news* yesterday that Pfizer's vaccine candidate seemed "90% effective." If we're going by the @CDCgov's definition, the company really meant "efficacy."

*It's from a press release. We want independent, peer-reviewed, published data before we make any conclusions

Folks, a lot of you are hearing about Wilmington, Delaware. As someone who essentially grew up in the biggest city in Delaware (pop: 71k) here’s what you’ve been missing every time you merely drove by it going up and down the east coast instead: 1) The Wilmington Blue Rocks, our minor league baseball team. Our mascots are, I kid you not, a stalk of celery and a blue moose named Rocky Bullwinkle (to avoid copyright infringement with the show “Rocky & Bullwinkle”)

💩 Back in May, I heard about scientists trying to use wastewater as an early #covid19 warning signal. As I dug into that idea, I learned about their much larger ambition: giving one of the oldest public health tools a major glow-up.
A ~crappy~ thread: 1/x
qz.com/1923774/covid-… 2/x We've got a love/hate relationship with poop. On the one hand, VERY BAD bc it transmits a lot of diseases; hence why we built sewers to keep it out of our drinking water. But on the other, a complete record of everything we've eaten, drank, or otherwise been exposed to...

An important reminder that just bc Trump's doc says he's no longer #COVID contagious, he STILL may not be out of woods. Older immune systems respond differently to infectious than younger ones; to understand how, we gotta talk about PUS! A thread 1/x qz.com/1913864/what-a… 2/x There are hundreds of types of immune cells in your body. Broadly, they're classified as innate or adaptive. Innate = faster and less specialized; they hit HARD w/ collateral damage. Adaptive = slower and more like assassins that go for specific cells + cause less damage

A lot of people, myself included, have taken a #Covid_19 test before going to see a new group of family or friends. Practically, though, these tests can create a false sense of security bc of their high false negative rate. I'll explain in a thread: 1/x
qz.com/1905604/should… 2/x Some context: In the US, there are still some local testing shortages. But bc capitalism, private companies like @LabCorp, @everly_well, and @LetsGetChecked have started offering @US_FDA emergency-use authorized at home collection kits that get shipped off to a lab.

Worried about your #neckgaiter and/or #buff you've been using as a mask cos of some headlines you've seen? I gotchu. Tl;dr that study did NOT say that all neck gaiters are worse than not wearing a mask. I'll elaborate in the thread: 1/x
qz.com/1891253/can-yo… 2/x First, the study itself: You can find it here: advances.sciencemag.org/content/early/… published Friday, peer-reviewed and all that. It was NOT a paper testing different kinds of masks; it was showing that there may actually be another way to test masks.

Did you do a double take when you saw the US govt gave Kodak, the old photo company, $765 MILLION in loan money to make generic drugs? Me too. But based on reporting, here's what seems to be going on (a thread) 1/x
qz.com/1888383/kodak-… From an industrial manufacturing standpoint, specialty chemicals (like drugs and photography developing chemicals) have some similarities. They often both use batch manufacturing. Picture giant vats of chemical reactions taking place. 2/x

For the past six weeks, I've been reporting on the fertility care industry for @qz. What I've concluded is that capitalism has completely taken over this market and turned it into a luxury good. A thread: 1/x qz.com/guide/fertilit… @qz Fertility care—which started with IVF but has expanded to so much more—is the flip side to reproductive rights. It's the right to HAVE children, regardless of your social or biological situation. 2/x qz.com/1817726/how-fe…