Hi! Do you have questions about monkeypox vaccines and how the US is investigating stretching doses? Here are some answers to questions you might have! Q: How do we have a vaccine against monkeypox already?
A: Monkeypox isn't as new as COVID, and *also*, we happen to be aware that smallpox vaccines can also protect against monkeypox. That's because monkeypox and smallpox are in the same family of orthopoxviruses.

Yesterday in a conversation I had the realization that maybe not everyone has the same understanding of what a vaccine "booster" is. Y'all, a booster dose is different (immunologically) from a second primary dose!! So we're not planning for boosters every 6mo. No no no. Normally, after our immune system responds to a pathogen or vaccine antigen, it has a short-term response & a long-term response. Long-term response involves B cells (the ones that wind up producing antibodies for us longer-term).

So here's why I'm concerned. We are seeing VOCs absolutely explode in ON, and at the same time the test positivity is going back up, so the cases are probably outpacing our testing strategies. So much of what was said in the ON press conference earlier this week made it clear the focus is on vaccines. That's awesome, I am very pro-vaccine. But here we are on Friday and folks in hot spots still don't know how or *if* they can get a vaccine. toronto.citynews.ca/2021/04/08/ont…

Got a few minutes into a radio interview today before I went on a tangent and then we had to cut it short—so a quick explainer for those listening to CBC Toronto just now and wondering why I was going on and on about shoes. Shoe-leather epidemiology is the idea that when you’re investigating and solving an outbreak, you walk to so many people’s houses to interview them that you get holes in your shoes.

*Deep breath* Tweeting about vaccine safety can be scary because sometimes the conversations aren't cordial, and people can be meaner on the internet than IRL. But I'm going to try it anyway... 🤞 "What's going on with this allergy thing in the UK?"
-2 people who received the vaccine in the UK had an allergic reaction of the kind you might expect if you have a nut allergy and eat nuts and then your tongue swells up or you have some trouble breathing.

How to talk with vaccine-hesitant people: a thread for epidemiologists & humans in general, on what the research suggests, and what has worked for me in the past. 1. Start by acknowledging the person's individual fears & concerns about vaccines. Ultimately, many of these are things we share--otherwise we wouldn't do clinical trials to assess safety and effectiveness.