As a former public school teacher, my theory on the early rise of respiratory like illnesses and Covid 19 in the south is the start of school. The south begins the school year much earlier than most regions. The many of the school districts in Georgia began the school year on August 1 or August 8. Some evan as early as the end of July. Just my thoughts.
We appreciate you keeping us informed! You have been a blessing through this covid pandemic.
It is not a war- it is a GENOCIDE. And they are bombing children during/after the administration of vaccines. Please, I beg you to use the correct language when speaking about these horrors. This is not political, this is the ethnic cleansing of an entire group of people and it should be called what it is or it's a condoning of that is happening. I appreciate your breakdown of information on this respiratory season as always. Part of communicating difficult topics is naming them and I know you have had the courage to do it in the past. The genocide in Gaza is a horrific public health crisis on all levels and it should be called out for what it is. Thank you for your work.
Thank you for your clear cut information. I would like to echo another comment about your language when dealing with Gaza. "The war" paints a false equivalency between Palestine and Israel (1200 dead to 40,000–over half of whom are children, is not a war). "ISRAEL'S PLAUSIBLE GENOCIDE IN GAZA PER THE ICJ" is more true and appropriate. A war crime is a war crime. Hamas committed them and Israel is committing them, both of which as a society we need to speak clearly about. When you leave out the subject, it appears Gazans are suffering some sort of natural disaster. It is not political to name the perpetrators. Please instead say something like: "missing their routine vaccinations due to ISRAEL'S FORCED DISPLACEMENT OF ALL CIVILIAN GAZANS". As well as: "because of the lack of clean water and functioning sewage DUE TO ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION OF GAZA'S CIVILIAN INFRASTRUCTURE". It would also have been nice to hear about WHO's courage in taking advantage of the "humanitarian pause" due to Israel's unprecedented killings of international aid and healthcare workers. My two questions when I read this were: what other options were considered than a live vaccine that will continue to spread due to common knowledge of Israel's destruction of water supplies, wastewater disposal networks and the healthcare system? Was this purely a fiscal decision? Or is it due to Israel's strict and unpredictable "humanitarian pause" rules (only a few hours a day in a few areas to which many Gazan's don't have the fuel or means necessary to traveling to)? And, is the vaccine campaign sufficient? This article seemed to answer that question https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/1/what-to-know-about-the-polio-vaccination-campaign-in-gaza, but I would have liked to hear your input.
We’re struggling with mixed messaging on when to vaccinate. We know vaxxing is best, but if we could choose, should we wait till October? Late September? Even later?
It is fall, according to the meterologic calendar. Fall is 3 months starting on Sept 1, and of course the other seasons follow the same pattern. My garden thinks it's fall too.
Thank you. I just waded through the Deplatform Disease post that was quite extensive on the vaccines and the data. Phew! He did sort of make a dig at the Novavax “fandom” as he calls it. I was able to distill that…. We have far more data for mRNA vaccines, the safety is excellent, and there lingers the question of myocarditis (mostly young males) in also the Novavax but due to the power not clear.
I will say that in this big wave, I may get the sense of a slight uptick in interest in the updated booster. Whether that translates into actually taking your child to get it, I think still low. Most of my patients were vaccinated last in 2021-2022. And it doesn’t even dawn on people to test when they are sick. So we shall see.
As for Novavax, Vincent Racaniello and Daniel Griffin (Clinical Updates on This Week in Virology) and (if I recall aright) Michael Osterholm seem to be "fans" (what a weird way to denigrate something), i.e. looking forward to the protein-based vaccine. There are proven fewer side effects and the question of lengthier durability (to be assessed). Also it should prove more attractive to those who distrust the mRNA vaccines.
I waded through the post as well, and as a lawyer (could never do the hardest math and science) who is knocked out by mRNA, I am now confused about how much “worse” Novavax is and anxious about the whole thing. I’ll get Novavax again this year, like last year, and am still a novid, but dang this isn’t easy and living with all this access to information frequently doesn’t make it easier.
Right, but as he noted, it’s a great alternative and does all the things we need. My impression was that he was intending to provide data that didn’t support the “fandom” per se. Not that it wasn’t a good vaccine, particularly for those w post vaccine symptoms at the end of the range.
I encourage you to take a look at the data wonk analysis LOL. It’s extensive but he also distills it (with the benefit of seeing the data in his article not just footnotes). It’s but one person’s perspective and certainly his assessment of all the data.
It is indeed a great alternative to the mRNA vaccines. But even my medical assistant who still believes there are microchips in it (omg) and got 2 doses of J&J only, is not interested in ANY further vaccine for Covid. So I am unsure ultimately what niche (other than the less intense post vaccine side effects) it will fill. He seems to feel the data supports a partially less optimal response, seen at a minimum at the CD8 response level.
But as always, any vaccine has been shown better than none. And amazingly still better than infection at generating immunity.
Your medical assistant believes there are microchips in a vaccine?!! Good grief, she has indeed drunken the lemonade. Hopefully she’ll not get covid 🙏🏼
I really have an issue with the obsession with “which vaccine is the best”. An analogy I would use is I get asked what camera I used for my wildlife photography. I said all cameras are good, it’s the photographer (and sometimes plain dumb luck) that make for a great photo. The real questions should be, ‘did you die’, ‘did you go to the hospital/ICU’. In other words, prevented progression to severe disease. Seems we forget that our upper airways are constantly being assaulted by antigens. We are constantly infected and hopefully our mucosal immunity stops the progression from SARS-CoV-2 to COVID-19.
Thanks so much for all you do to keep us informed!
I need advice! I would like to get the update Covid vaccine. I work on a public school in the North East. So many are sick in my school right now. I’ve had a horrible cough and I did have a bad cold three weeks ago. I’ve tested negative for Covid. Not sure how accurate it is with the timing of when I tested. With the understanding we need to wait two months to get vaccinated if we’ve had Covid recently what advice do you have as to when I should get the vaccine and if I had Covid and didn’t realize and I get the vaccine, how effective will it be? It’s so stressful trying to navigate all this.
I have a similar question. I might have had asymptomatic Covid in early July. I was exposed and saw the faintest of lines possible on an antigen test a few days later. But I had no symptoms and tested negative on another antigen test. Should I get the booster now, while cases are high, or wait a couple of months for maximum winter protection?
Hi Mariah and Genevieve - you both have hybrid immunity it seems, so better to wait until late October for best Winter protection IMHO. Perhaps Katelyn will expand on my unsolicited advice (I’m a retired Family Physician (GP) from Australia?
You mention that it's not surprising that polio has emerged in Gaza. But I was surprised because I had thought that polio was generally rare, worldwide, except for a few regions. And also because few people are being allowed in or out of gaza.
So, how could the virus have entered Gaza? An Israeli soldier? An aid worker / truck driver? Who else is entering Gaza to introduce it?
This is a fantastic question. The poliovirus detected in Gaza is believed to be vaccine-derived. This means someone was vaccinated with the polio oral live vaccine, and shed it at low levels. It got into the sewage and started spreading to unvaccinated children.
Obviously, sewage = very bad, but specific to the polio virus, does this imply a rethink to the idea that it was a positive to have the attenuated live virus spread indirectly to unvaccinated individuals?
Where do you get the figures on deaths? The only source I am aware of (CDC provided from national deaths from all causes) has data lagged by so much that it's impossible to report current figures - meaning the last few weeks - with any confidence they are accurate.
Being in MA, I follow wastewater levels of Covid daily. We peaked weeks ago and don’t seem to be rising with the rest of the country. I wonder if this reflects higher vaccination rates than other areas…..because it certainly doesn’t reflect social distancing/masking. If so, this would be a thorn in anti-vax arguement that it doesn’t prevent infections.
question regarding oral polio vaccines; why does the modified live oral vaccine (I'm assuming that's what it is) revert to wildtype in the feces? Why is it then infectious?
I have a question about waning immunity from Covid boosters: can you get more protection from getting two of them? That is, one now to deal with the current wave and Fall transmissions, and another one in mid-December to deal with the rest of respiratory season?
Hi Christina - the basic answer is NO, unless you are immune-compromised. If you have hybrid immunity (either infected then vaxed, or vaxed then a breakthrough infection) you are probably better protected from serious repercussions than you think, so given the high wastewater levels almost everywhere in USA still, I’d be getting the new booster ASAP. If I could get it Down Under now, I would, but hopefully before I leave on an extended trip to SE Asia in early November, it will be approved for us too. I’ll turn 80 on Jan 1st, and my last booster was at the end of 2023, so fingers crossed for local approval AND availability before November 7!
Katelyn Jetelina question here : To clarify from the section on RSV vaccines :
Moderna is an mRNA vaccine expected to become available this season. It did not have a Guillain-Barre syndrome safety signal, but protection wanes more quickly.
Who: This is not an annual vaccine—If you got one last year, you do not need one this year. Studies showed getting a second dose didn’t meaningfully enhance protection. People ages 60 and older “may” get the vaccine. Those over 75 years “should.”
Does this mean those aged 75+ years "should get the vaccine annually ?
Appreciate the clarification on this point. Many thanks for the great writing and keeping us abreast of developments on so many fronts.
I could have definitely made this clearer. Those over 60+ only need one RSV vaccine at this time. So if you are over 75 and got the vaccine last season, you are *not* eligible
As a former public school teacher, my theory on the early rise of respiratory like illnesses and Covid 19 in the south is the start of school. The south begins the school year much earlier than most regions. The many of the school districts in Georgia began the school year on August 1 or August 8. Some evan as early as the end of July. Just my thoughts.
We appreciate you keeping us informed! You have been a blessing through this covid pandemic.
Not a bad posit..
Yet another invaluable update from the YLE Team. Thank you so, so much!
It is not a war- it is a GENOCIDE. And they are bombing children during/after the administration of vaccines. Please, I beg you to use the correct language when speaking about these horrors. This is not political, this is the ethnic cleansing of an entire group of people and it should be called what it is or it's a condoning of that is happening. I appreciate your breakdown of information on this respiratory season as always. Part of communicating difficult topics is naming them and I know you have had the courage to do it in the past. The genocide in Gaza is a horrific public health crisis on all levels and it should be called out for what it is. Thank you for your work.
Thank you for your clear cut information. I would like to echo another comment about your language when dealing with Gaza. "The war" paints a false equivalency between Palestine and Israel (1200 dead to 40,000–over half of whom are children, is not a war). "ISRAEL'S PLAUSIBLE GENOCIDE IN GAZA PER THE ICJ" is more true and appropriate. A war crime is a war crime. Hamas committed them and Israel is committing them, both of which as a society we need to speak clearly about. When you leave out the subject, it appears Gazans are suffering some sort of natural disaster. It is not political to name the perpetrators. Please instead say something like: "missing their routine vaccinations due to ISRAEL'S FORCED DISPLACEMENT OF ALL CIVILIAN GAZANS". As well as: "because of the lack of clean water and functioning sewage DUE TO ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION OF GAZA'S CIVILIAN INFRASTRUCTURE". It would also have been nice to hear about WHO's courage in taking advantage of the "humanitarian pause" due to Israel's unprecedented killings of international aid and healthcare workers. My two questions when I read this were: what other options were considered than a live vaccine that will continue to spread due to common knowledge of Israel's destruction of water supplies, wastewater disposal networks and the healthcare system? Was this purely a fiscal decision? Or is it due to Israel's strict and unpredictable "humanitarian pause" rules (only a few hours a day in a few areas to which many Gazan's don't have the fuel or means necessary to traveling to)? And, is the vaccine campaign sufficient? This article seemed to answer that question https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/1/what-to-know-about-the-polio-vaccination-campaign-in-gaza, but I would have liked to hear your input.
We’re struggling with mixed messaging on when to vaccinate. We know vaxxing is best, but if we could choose, should we wait till October? Late September? Even later?
It is fall, according to the meterologic calendar. Fall is 3 months starting on Sept 1, and of course the other seasons follow the same pattern. My garden thinks it's fall too.
Fantastic news!!
Thank you. I just waded through the Deplatform Disease post that was quite extensive on the vaccines and the data. Phew! He did sort of make a dig at the Novavax “fandom” as he calls it. I was able to distill that…. We have far more data for mRNA vaccines, the safety is excellent, and there lingers the question of myocarditis (mostly young males) in also the Novavax but due to the power not clear.
I will say that in this big wave, I may get the sense of a slight uptick in interest in the updated booster. Whether that translates into actually taking your child to get it, I think still low. Most of my patients were vaccinated last in 2021-2022. And it doesn’t even dawn on people to test when they are sick. So we shall see.
As for Novavax, Vincent Racaniello and Daniel Griffin (Clinical Updates on This Week in Virology) and (if I recall aright) Michael Osterholm seem to be "fans" (what a weird way to denigrate something), i.e. looking forward to the protein-based vaccine. There are proven fewer side effects and the question of lengthier durability (to be assessed). Also it should prove more attractive to those who distrust the mRNA vaccines.
I waded through the post as well, and as a lawyer (could never do the hardest math and science) who is knocked out by mRNA, I am now confused about how much “worse” Novavax is and anxious about the whole thing. I’ll get Novavax again this year, like last year, and am still a novid, but dang this isn’t easy and living with all this access to information frequently doesn’t make it easier.
Right, but as he noted, it’s a great alternative and does all the things we need. My impression was that he was intending to provide data that didn’t support the “fandom” per se. Not that it wasn’t a good vaccine, particularly for those w post vaccine symptoms at the end of the range.
Happy to have an alternative to mRNA vaccines as for some people the reaction (presumably to nanoparticles) can be severe.
I encourage you to take a look at the data wonk analysis LOL. It’s extensive but he also distills it (with the benefit of seeing the data in his article not just footnotes). It’s but one person’s perspective and certainly his assessment of all the data.
It is indeed a great alternative to the mRNA vaccines. But even my medical assistant who still believes there are microchips in it (omg) and got 2 doses of J&J only, is not interested in ANY further vaccine for Covid. So I am unsure ultimately what niche (other than the less intense post vaccine side effects) it will fill. He seems to feel the data supports a partially less optimal response, seen at a minimum at the CD8 response level.
But as always, any vaccine has been shown better than none. And amazingly still better than infection at generating immunity.
Your medical assistant believes there are microchips in a vaccine?!! Good grief, she has indeed drunken the lemonade. Hopefully she’ll not get covid 🙏🏼
LOL, yeah. Like her constant cell phone use isn’t tracking her. Good grief.
This is a comment I made on a note.
I really have an issue with the obsession with “which vaccine is the best”. An analogy I would use is I get asked what camera I used for my wildlife photography. I said all cameras are good, it’s the photographer (and sometimes plain dumb luck) that make for a great photo. The real questions should be, ‘did you die’, ‘did you go to the hospital/ICU’. In other words, prevented progression to severe disease. Seems we forget that our upper airways are constantly being assaulted by antigens. We are constantly infected and hopefully our mucosal immunity stops the progression from SARS-CoV-2 to COVID-19.
Went to the Deplatform Disease website (never heard of it before, what's it's pov?) and couldn't find the post you're referring too.
https://open.substack.com/pub/deplatformdisease/p/novavax-has-a-good-covid-19-vaccine?r=g9lpt&utm_medium=ios
Thanks
Thanks so much for all you do to keep us informed!
I need advice! I would like to get the update Covid vaccine. I work on a public school in the North East. So many are sick in my school right now. I’ve had a horrible cough and I did have a bad cold three weeks ago. I’ve tested negative for Covid. Not sure how accurate it is with the timing of when I tested. With the understanding we need to wait two months to get vaccinated if we’ve had Covid recently what advice do you have as to when I should get the vaccine and if I had Covid and didn’t realize and I get the vaccine, how effective will it be? It’s so stressful trying to navigate all this.
I have a similar question. I might have had asymptomatic Covid in early July. I was exposed and saw the faintest of lines possible on an antigen test a few days later. But I had no symptoms and tested negative on another antigen test. Should I get the booster now, while cases are high, or wait a couple of months for maximum winter protection?
Hi Mariah and Genevieve - you both have hybrid immunity it seems, so better to wait until late October for best Winter protection IMHO. Perhaps Katelyn will expand on my unsolicited advice (I’m a retired Family Physician (GP) from Australia?
Jan, thank you so much! I appreciate your insight and expertise.
You mention that it's not surprising that polio has emerged in Gaza. But I was surprised because I had thought that polio was generally rare, worldwide, except for a few regions. And also because few people are being allowed in or out of gaza.
So, how could the virus have entered Gaza? An Israeli soldier? An aid worker / truck driver? Who else is entering Gaza to introduce it?
This is a fantastic question. The poliovirus detected in Gaza is believed to be vaccine-derived. This means someone was vaccinated with the polio oral live vaccine, and shed it at low levels. It got into the sewage and started spreading to unvaccinated children.
Obviously, sewage = very bad, but specific to the polio virus, does this imply a rethink to the idea that it was a positive to have the attenuated live virus spread indirectly to unvaccinated individuals?
Where do you get the figures on deaths? The only source I am aware of (CDC provided from national deaths from all causes) has data lagged by so much that it's impossible to report current figures - meaning the last few weeks - with any confidence they are accurate.
Being in MA, I follow wastewater levels of Covid daily. We peaked weeks ago and don’t seem to be rising with the rest of the country. I wonder if this reflects higher vaccination rates than other areas…..because it certainly doesn’t reflect social distancing/masking. If so, this would be a thorn in anti-vax arguement that it doesn’t prevent infections.
Maybe MA is no longer peaking because of the mosquito curfews, which acts like social distancing
question regarding oral polio vaccines; why does the modified live oral vaccine (I'm assuming that's what it is) revert to wildtype in the feces? Why is it then infectious?
I have a question about waning immunity from Covid boosters: can you get more protection from getting two of them? That is, one now to deal with the current wave and Fall transmissions, and another one in mid-December to deal with the rest of respiratory season?
Hi Christina - the basic answer is NO, unless you are immune-compromised. If you have hybrid immunity (either infected then vaxed, or vaxed then a breakthrough infection) you are probably better protected from serious repercussions than you think, so given the high wastewater levels almost everywhere in USA still, I’d be getting the new booster ASAP. If I could get it Down Under now, I would, but hopefully before I leave on an extended trip to SE Asia in early November, it will be approved for us too. I’ll turn 80 on Jan 1st, and my last booster was at the end of 2023, so fingers crossed for local approval AND availability before November 7!
Thank you! Do you know when we can expect Novavax to be distributed?
My guess for the RIs starting in the South is just that schools start a little earlier down here than up North.
Schools in the north (where I am from) want kids to enjoy the remnants of summer before the weather switches.
Families in the South are perfectly fine being inside in late August, and would much rather have summer vacation in late May.
School is where a lot of transmission happens, and I would guess that's why RI start down here and move north.
Katelyn Jetelina question here : To clarify from the section on RSV vaccines :
Moderna is an mRNA vaccine expected to become available this season. It did not have a Guillain-Barre syndrome safety signal, but protection wanes more quickly.
Who: This is not an annual vaccine—If you got one last year, you do not need one this year. Studies showed getting a second dose didn’t meaningfully enhance protection. People ages 60 and older “may” get the vaccine. Those over 75 years “should.”
Does this mean those aged 75+ years "should get the vaccine annually ?
Appreciate the clarification on this point. Many thanks for the great writing and keeping us abreast of developments on so many fronts.
I could have definitely made this clearer. Those over 60+ only need one RSV vaccine at this time. So if you are over 75 and got the vaccine last season, you are *not* eligible
Thank you for the clarication.
Please continue with your great work to keep us all informed and extend my thanks to your contributing colleagues as well.