Excellent, as always. A take-home point for me was this: “And this world also needs a steady, empathetic, humble, scientific truth—a bedrock of data—on which people from various ideologies can engage.” Team TLE definitely lives in that realm, which is all the more reason to be grateful to you all!
Thank you for translating science to the less sciency population using actual facts and data. Interpretation is a factor and it is awesome to have a trusted source using language we can understand. Much appreciation!
Sometimes the anti-scientific stance of certain politicians is so egregious that it forces scientists to take a side. Anti-vax RFK Jr as head of Health and Human Services would be a complete disaster. And while we are overlapping with politics, the opioid crisis curve trending downwards was not all luck. Heather Cox Richardson wrote earlier today:
“With more than 70,000 Americans dying of opioid overdoses in 2020 and numbers rising, the Biden-Harris administration prioritized disrupting the supply of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic drugs. They worked to seize the drugs at ports of entry, sanctioned more than 300 foreign people and agencies engaged in the global trade in illicit drugs, and arrested and prosecuted dozens of high-level Mexican drug traffickers and money launderers.
In March 2023 the Biden-Harris administration made naloxone, a medicine that can prevent fatal opioid overdoses, available over the counter. The administration invested more than $82 billion in treatment, and the Department of Health and Human Services worked to get the treatment into the hands of first responders and family members.
Addressing the crisis of opioid deaths meant careful, coordinated policies.”
And if anyone wants a primer on how to use Narcan (or Epipens, or CPR!) I collected a couple quick videos on this back in the day:
That's not even the worst of it. Apparently would have a say in the selection of head of FDA, NIH and CDC. This is a guy who carried a dead whale head ( he hacked it off a dead whale) on the family minivan back home.
Really enjoying your feed! Thank you!! So happy to have subscribed. For the SA endorsement, I think times are strange and the non-partisan wall that used to exist cannot remain intact when one side of an argument disavows the very premises of the discourse. Sometimes there aren’t two (or more) sides to an argument. Sometimes there is an ethical need to say, nope… that isn’t correct. In the case of the anti-vaccine movement… that is exactly the stand. It is a public heath crisis and needs to also become politicised in order to highlight why vaccines save lives- and the vaccinated protect the few who for legitimate reasons cannot be.
I really appreciate this perspective. I think it comes down to objective. Is ”our” objective to say “no this isn’t right” or is it to improve trust and change minds. I think both are needed, but we desperately need institutions that are hyper focused on the latter
That’s a great nuance!! Indeed. I wish… double wish… government (apolitically) could be that agent of wisdom leveraging the scientific community. But, sadly, we need others to take that role. In the meantime… we probably do need those doing the research to remain impartial as much as possible.
Let's talk about "science, policy and advocacy." One of the great civic harms caused by the Republican style of politics (see "weapons of mass destruction," "ivermectin," "bleach," "lowering taxes on the wealthy will boost the economy," "illegal Haitian immigrants are eating pets") is a broad cultural distrust of authority figures; politicians, doctors, epidemiologists, economists and science. Thus it is common now to use false science (LIES) to advocate for certain policies to seek political, ideological or religious advantage. I fear you are contributing to this trend (and diminishing your well earned reputation for sticking to science reality) when you discuss the Florida Surgeon General's positions. His position is not based on "RUMORS." It is based on LIES AND FABRICATIONS.
Heard on NPR that pertussis vaccine wanes fairly quickly (I'm an MD but that's where I got my information..) By the 4th year or so, it's below 50% so it's not durable for the 10 year interval considered standard.
Maybe with our focus on Covid vaccinations we're realizing that other vaccination protection wanes as well.
I got my last Tdap when my first granddaughter was born, guess I'm due.
The information from local doctors has been bizarre and not in line with what I thought have been and still are the published treatment guidelines for Covid. My 83 y/o MIL got Covid in July and was told by her MD that Paxlovid was not going to help her and no longer recommended, so she didn't get it (at day 3) and then was sick and testing positive with symptoms for almost THREE weeks. Then my 58 y/o SIL (elementary school teacher) got Covid almost 2 weeks ago and is still testing positive and still symptomatic but her MD (different from MIL's) had also told her that Paxlovid would not help her either, and on top of that, told her she could go back to the classroom since it had been over 10 days and even though she was still positive and sick, "just wear a mask."
I realize that most people do not have the luxury of staying home from work when sick and so I can't judge my SIL for her decisions but I can't understand why two physicians (both Kaiser) would tell them that Paxlovid is no longer recommended within the first few days of a positive Covid test with symptoms.
Anyway, just venting because I feel that not every physician is necessarily onboard nor informed regarding current Covid guidelines. My own Kaiser OBGYN hated masking and only masked at Kaiser when it was required, and she has had Covid twice already, earlier this year.
I have never stopped masking but pretty much everyone around me no longer masks.
The CDC statement on non-pregnant adult pertussis boosters is not actually clearly stated as every 10 years:
“Any adult 19 years of age or older who has never received a dose of Tdap should get one as soon as feasible. You should administer Tdap regardless of interval since the last tetanus or diphtheria toxoid-containing vaccine. This should be followed by either a Td or Tdap shot every 10 years.” (CDC website — the CDC vaccine app utilized by many primary care providers states the same)
In practice, this means that many adults who had one Tdap in adulthood are only receiving Td vaccines every 10 years, rather than Tdap vaccines every 10 years. If the evidence indicates pertussis immunity wanes and pertussis infections are increasing, it seems like CDC needs to update their recommendations.
Can someone address the use-by dates for COVID tests in the real world? I know they are now considered "good" for longer than they initially were. But obviously the test manufacturers have zero motivation to extend their life--surely just lose money doing that.
We know that most things with expiry dates are BS--including food and prescription drugs. Why aren't third-parties testing the tests to see how long they REALLY work? I've got like 10 that are a year old but it's silly not to be able to use them if they'd work!
Are the Covid rapid tests still accurate? Both my kids brought home colds from their first weeks in school. Low fevers , congestion, body aches and coughs (from postnasal stuff). Both negative on Covid rapid tests. I tested right after symptoms and 4 days later as symptoms lingered. Both nope. My husband and I did not get their illnesses 🤷♀️ we haven’t had Covid (knock on wood) in our house since last summer. We all got vaccinated in the fall of last year. My youngest has never tested positive for covid. I ask this because I am thinking about our fall vaccines. They are basically exposed to everything at work and school.
As always...excellent newsletter and SAD that so many people don't get the dangers of raw milk. I'll always remember my Mom talking about how fortunate we are now with pasteurized milk which meant less kids getting sick ... this was in the 30s. When she was 65, she was astonished when she found out a friend was hiving her grandchildren raw milk! The friend was then shocked when her grandkids got sick. My Mom just said to her, "why the heck do you think mill is pasteurized today...for this very reason!" Her friend was devastated to learn she was the cause! Mom couldn't understand people's reluctance to follow sound public health rules, such as making and quarantining, which were prevalent in her day. She always said we all have a responsibility to keep our community safe and healthy! I think this view of citizenship has been lost unfortunately. 😞
It's horrible to think that whooping cough is still a problem when the vaccine has been generally accepted for decades. Of course measles and diphtheria still show up especially when anti vaxxers believe that people have a right to be disease vectors and threaten public health and kill off their children.
Thanks for the update! I was also hoping you would comment on your experience with Novavax. I'm trying to schedule for the typical full-day-of-misery and it would be great if Novavax truly had fewer side effects
YES!! I had such good luck with Novavax last year. I had *zero* side effects, when I had days of fever and muscle aches with mRNA. (I'm getting my Novavax vaccine this Halloween). I hope you have the same luck!
Is there any hint of how the new Novavax formulation stacks up for infection prevention?
Last year, the data indicated that Novavax protected against infection nearly as well as the mRNA options (short-term), and that overall protection against infection during the “waning infection protection” period was -much- better (and more long-lasting,) than Moderna/Pfizer, the choice was an easy one!
This year, we need very good protection against infection for a specific three-week period, and I can’t find the data to see if the data supports Novavax. I would hate to deal with the mRNA side effects, but that three-week period is important enough that I will, if necessary. Do you have access to the relevant data? We need a shot in our arms by October 6. Thanks. <3
Excellent, as always. A take-home point for me was this: “And this world also needs a steady, empathetic, humble, scientific truth—a bedrock of data—on which people from various ideologies can engage.” Team TLE definitely lives in that realm, which is all the more reason to be grateful to you all!
Thank you for translating science to the less sciency population using actual facts and data. Interpretation is a factor and it is awesome to have a trusted source using language we can understand. Much appreciation!
Sometimes the anti-scientific stance of certain politicians is so egregious that it forces scientists to take a side. Anti-vax RFK Jr as head of Health and Human Services would be a complete disaster. And while we are overlapping with politics, the opioid crisis curve trending downwards was not all luck. Heather Cox Richardson wrote earlier today:
“With more than 70,000 Americans dying of opioid overdoses in 2020 and numbers rising, the Biden-Harris administration prioritized disrupting the supply of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic drugs. They worked to seize the drugs at ports of entry, sanctioned more than 300 foreign people and agencies engaged in the global trade in illicit drugs, and arrested and prosecuted dozens of high-level Mexican drug traffickers and money launderers.
In March 2023 the Biden-Harris administration made naloxone, a medicine that can prevent fatal opioid overdoses, available over the counter. The administration invested more than $82 billion in treatment, and the Department of Health and Human Services worked to get the treatment into the hands of first responders and family members.
Addressing the crisis of opioid deaths meant careful, coordinated policies.”
And if anyone wants a primer on how to use Narcan (or Epipens, or CPR!) I collected a couple quick videos on this back in the day:
https://mccormickmd.substack.com/p/three-potentially-life-saving-techniques
Great update. You have my vote and upgraded subscription! If y’all haven’t upgraded it’s time :)
That's not even the worst of it. Apparently would have a say in the selection of head of FDA, NIH and CDC. This is a guy who carried a dead whale head ( he hacked it off a dead whale) on the family minivan back home.
Don’t forget the dead bear cub he toted around!
It’s only the tip of the iceberg I agree:
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/dr-joseph-ladapos-assault-on-public-health/
Surprised he and his kids didn't get Tularemia or something else from it. Why PPE is important in marine animal necropsy ( or did he?).....
Really enjoying your feed! Thank you!! So happy to have subscribed. For the SA endorsement, I think times are strange and the non-partisan wall that used to exist cannot remain intact when one side of an argument disavows the very premises of the discourse. Sometimes there aren’t two (or more) sides to an argument. Sometimes there is an ethical need to say, nope… that isn’t correct. In the case of the anti-vaccine movement… that is exactly the stand. It is a public heath crisis and needs to also become politicised in order to highlight why vaccines save lives- and the vaccinated protect the few who for legitimate reasons cannot be.
I really appreciate this perspective. I think it comes down to objective. Is ”our” objective to say “no this isn’t right” or is it to improve trust and change minds. I think both are needed, but we desperately need institutions that are hyper focused on the latter
That’s a great nuance!! Indeed. I wish… double wish… government (apolitically) could be that agent of wisdom leveraging the scientific community. But, sadly, we need others to take that role. In the meantime… we probably do need those doing the research to remain impartial as much as possible.
Let's talk about "science, policy and advocacy." One of the great civic harms caused by the Republican style of politics (see "weapons of mass destruction," "ivermectin," "bleach," "lowering taxes on the wealthy will boost the economy," "illegal Haitian immigrants are eating pets") is a broad cultural distrust of authority figures; politicians, doctors, epidemiologists, economists and science. Thus it is common now to use false science (LIES) to advocate for certain policies to seek political, ideological or religious advantage. I fear you are contributing to this trend (and diminishing your well earned reputation for sticking to science reality) when you discuss the Florida Surgeon General's positions. His position is not based on "RUMORS." It is based on LIES AND FABRICATIONS.
Just a footnote, the Haitians are neither 'illegal' nor eating pets.
Heard on NPR that pertussis vaccine wanes fairly quickly (I'm an MD but that's where I got my information..) By the 4th year or so, it's below 50% so it's not durable for the 10 year interval considered standard.
Maybe with our focus on Covid vaccinations we're realizing that other vaccination protection wanes as well.
I got my last Tdap when my first granddaughter was born, guess I'm due.
The information from local doctors has been bizarre and not in line with what I thought have been and still are the published treatment guidelines for Covid. My 83 y/o MIL got Covid in July and was told by her MD that Paxlovid was not going to help her and no longer recommended, so she didn't get it (at day 3) and then was sick and testing positive with symptoms for almost THREE weeks. Then my 58 y/o SIL (elementary school teacher) got Covid almost 2 weeks ago and is still testing positive and still symptomatic but her MD (different from MIL's) had also told her that Paxlovid would not help her either, and on top of that, told her she could go back to the classroom since it had been over 10 days and even though she was still positive and sick, "just wear a mask."
I realize that most people do not have the luxury of staying home from work when sick and so I can't judge my SIL for her decisions but I can't understand why two physicians (both Kaiser) would tell them that Paxlovid is no longer recommended within the first few days of a positive Covid test with symptoms.
Anyway, just venting because I feel that not every physician is necessarily onboard nor informed regarding current Covid guidelines. My own Kaiser OBGYN hated masking and only masked at Kaiser when it was required, and she has had Covid twice already, earlier this year.
I have never stopped masking but pretty much everyone around me no longer masks.
The CDC statement on non-pregnant adult pertussis boosters is not actually clearly stated as every 10 years:
“Any adult 19 years of age or older who has never received a dose of Tdap should get one as soon as feasible. You should administer Tdap regardless of interval since the last tetanus or diphtheria toxoid-containing vaccine. This should be followed by either a Td or Tdap shot every 10 years.” (CDC website — the CDC vaccine app utilized by many primary care providers states the same)
In practice, this means that many adults who had one Tdap in adulthood are only receiving Td vaccines every 10 years, rather than Tdap vaccines every 10 years. If the evidence indicates pertussis immunity wanes and pertussis infections are increasing, it seems like CDC needs to update their recommendations.
I wonder about this as well; recently got my Td booster, but wondering about the absence of/need for? the pertussis component.
So are you running for office?! 😁 (Don’t live in TX, but would otherwise vote for you!)
Haha I’ve actually been thinking about it. A lot of work to do outside of politics too.
Politics needs more people who do work outside of politics!
Covid caught me this week. Canadian, no booster availability in sight, kid brought it home second week of school.
Thanks as always.
Can someone address the use-by dates for COVID tests in the real world? I know they are now considered "good" for longer than they initially were. But obviously the test manufacturers have zero motivation to extend their life--surely just lose money doing that.
We know that most things with expiry dates are BS--including food and prescription drugs. Why aren't third-parties testing the tests to see how long they REALLY work? I've got like 10 that are a year old but it's silly not to be able to use them if they'd work!
Are the Covid rapid tests still accurate? Both my kids brought home colds from their first weeks in school. Low fevers , congestion, body aches and coughs (from postnasal stuff). Both negative on Covid rapid tests. I tested right after symptoms and 4 days later as symptoms lingered. Both nope. My husband and I did not get their illnesses 🤷♀️ we haven’t had Covid (knock on wood) in our house since last summer. We all got vaccinated in the fall of last year. My youngest has never tested positive for covid. I ask this because I am thinking about our fall vaccines. They are basically exposed to everything at work and school.
As always...excellent newsletter and SAD that so many people don't get the dangers of raw milk. I'll always remember my Mom talking about how fortunate we are now with pasteurized milk which meant less kids getting sick ... this was in the 30s. When she was 65, she was astonished when she found out a friend was hiving her grandchildren raw milk! The friend was then shocked when her grandkids got sick. My Mom just said to her, "why the heck do you think mill is pasteurized today...for this very reason!" Her friend was devastated to learn she was the cause! Mom couldn't understand people's reluctance to follow sound public health rules, such as making and quarantining, which were prevalent in her day. She always said we all have a responsibility to keep our community safe and healthy! I think this view of citizenship has been lost unfortunately. 😞
It's horrible to think that whooping cough is still a problem when the vaccine has been generally accepted for decades. Of course measles and diphtheria still show up especially when anti vaxxers believe that people have a right to be disease vectors and threaten public health and kill off their children.
Can I get a Tdap at the same time as my flu shot?
Thanks!
Sally Leonard, Phoenix
Thanks for the update! I was also hoping you would comment on your experience with Novavax. I'm trying to schedule for the typical full-day-of-misery and it would be great if Novavax truly had fewer side effects
YES!! I had such good luck with Novavax last year. I had *zero* side effects, when I had days of fever and muscle aches with mRNA. (I'm getting my Novavax vaccine this Halloween). I hope you have the same luck!
thanks! I'll add my datapoint in the next week or so :-). I'm getting both flu vaccine (last week) and covid vaccine early bc of travel.
Let us know how it goes!! I’m curious about your data point too :)
Is there any hint of how the new Novavax formulation stacks up for infection prevention?
Last year, the data indicated that Novavax protected against infection nearly as well as the mRNA options (short-term), and that overall protection against infection during the “waning infection protection” period was -much- better (and more long-lasting,) than Moderna/Pfizer, the choice was an easy one!
This year, we need very good protection against infection for a specific three-week period, and I can’t find the data to see if the data supports Novavax. I would hate to deal with the mRNA side effects, but that three-week period is important enough that I will, if necessary. Do you have access to the relevant data? We need a shot in our arms by October 6. Thanks. <3