reflexhammer.bsky.social

How I am thinking about the news of a Russian lab researcher dying of an unknown pneumonia. 1. This is grabbing attention because it is a lab leak; the Russian govt appears to be suppressing info; and Russia might have an offensive bioweapons program which this could be related to.

2. The big question is whether there is sustained human-to-human transmission. Is the infection jumping beyond the original infected patient? So far I don't see evidence that there is sustained transmission. I think it is OK not to worry until/unless there is transmission to others.

THREAD: US COVID vaccines There is a next-generation COVID vaccine from Moderna called mNexspike that is (in my medical opinion) superior to the other COVID vaccines. It is slightly more effective at protecting from COVID, it confers protection for more months, and it causes fewer side effects.

"High-risk condition" is not clearly defined and includes things like physical inactivity or having used corticosteroids. Did you know that over-the-counter hydrocortisone cream is a corticosteroid? Now you know.

THREAD: US COVID vaccines There is a next-generation COVID vaccine from Moderna called mNexspike that is (in my medical opinion) superior to the other COVID vaccines. It is slightly more effective at protecting from COVID, it confers protection for more months, and it causes fewer side effects.

Unless you specifically ask to get mNexspike, you might receive the older-generation Moderna vaccine (Spikevax) or the older-generation Pfizer vaccine (Comirnaty). mNexspike is only approved for ages 12 and older.

[THREAD] Why it matters that the FDA is refusing to review Moderna's application for an mRNA based influenza vaccine. 1. Flu is a perpetual threat to human health, because it sometimes mutates and sparks major, deadly pandemics (including the 1918 flu). Our best defense is vaccines.

5. The hostile regulatory and trade environment will drive vaccine manufacturers out of the US. Vaccines will be made in other countries. There's an advantage to having robust vaccine manufacturing in your country--you get dibs when there's a pandemic. The US is going to lose that advantage.

[THREAD] Why it matters that the FDA is refusing to review Moderna's application for an mRNA based influenza vaccine. 1. Flu is a perpetual threat to human health, because it sometimes mutates and sparks major, deadly pandemics (including the 1918 flu). Our best defense is vaccines.

3. The FDA is again revealing that it is anti-vaccine. This decision reinforces that we are almost certainly not going to have any new vaccines approved so long as the Trump/RFK regime remain in power.

[THREAD] Why it matters that the FDA is refusing to review Moderna's application for an mRNA based influenza vaccine. 1. Flu is a perpetual threat to human health, because it sometimes mutates and sparks major, deadly pandemics (including the 1918 flu). Our best defense is vaccines.

The beauty of an mRNA influenza vaccine, such as what Moderna has developed, is that you can manufacture it extremely quickly, and you can easily and quickly adjust the vaccine strain to match the virus, even as it mutates. Eggs can be finicky, and might not grow the exact vaccine strain you want.

[THREAD] Why it matters that the FDA is refusing to review Moderna's application for an mRNA based influenza vaccine. 1. Flu is a perpetual threat to human health, because it sometimes mutates and sparks major, deadly pandemics (including the 1918 flu). Our best defense is vaccines.

But our current flu vaccines are not ideal. One major issue is, even in a crisis, it takes many months to make a vaccine against a new flu strain. For one thing, flu vaccines are still grown in chicken eggs, and it takes a while to grow enough vaccine in enough eggs to cover the population.

I commented on a post and it blew up a bit. I regularly see conspiracy theories on here that because Trump has bruises to the backs of his hands, that he is secretly having IV infusions. I believe a much likelier explanation is solar purpura, a common condition in elderly Caucasian men.

Also, IVs can be inserted plenty of places that aren't people's hands. I just don't think the bruising to the hands is a probable sign of some unexplained medical condition. I am not saying Trump is healthy. I am not saying Trump should withhold his medical records...

I commented on a post and it blew up a bit. I regularly see conspiracy theories on here that because Trump has bruises to the backs of his hands, that he is secretly having IV infusions. I believe a much likelier explanation is solar purpura, a common condition in elderly Caucasian men.

Solar purpura is bruising to the backs of the hands due to prior sun damage, old age, and sometimes anticoagulants including aspirin. The chronic sun damage makes the skin and superficial blood vessels very fragile and prone to bruising and bleeding.

[THREAD] The federal government is trying to hinder gender-affirming care. Something interesting from a medical standpoint is that gender and sex are so complicated, that I don't think you can interfere with care for transgender children without also messing with other children's care.

And some patients are intersex, with ambiguous genitalia or both types of genitalia. How to treat those patients under the federal guidelines? It's true that these categories of patients are rare, but they exist and they deserve medical care.

[THREAD] The federal government is trying to hinder gender-affirming care. Something interesting from a medical standpoint is that gender and sex are so complicated, that I don't think you can interfere with care for transgender children without also messing with other children's care.

There is a condition called androgen insensitivity syndrome, where the body cannot respond to male sex hormones and therefore the body develops as female. These patients' sex is technically male but they are essentially female. Does the federal govt want us to treat these patients as male?

Scattered thoughts on ACIP meeting: -I couldn't handle watching the ACIP meeting but read reports from brave souls like @enirenberg.bsky.social. -Given their anti-vax goals I don't really understand why ACIP is going through the charade of holding meetings and pretending to go through evidence.

-That doesn't mean vaccines are safe. The FDA is signalling that it will try to regulate vaccines into oblivion. RFK can force vaccine manufacturers out of business by saddling them with massive liability whenever a patient accuses them of a vaccine-induced injury.

Scattered thoughts on ACIP meeting: -I couldn't handle watching the ACIP meeting but read reports from brave souls like @enirenberg.bsky.social. -Given their anti-vax goals I don't really understand why ACIP is going through the charade of holding meetings and pretending to go through evidence.

-My experience in federal government is it's much easier to slow things down than it is to reverse things. It's much easier to slow the approval of new flu vaccines than it will be to take flu vaccines off of the recommended immunization schedule. It's easy to subject things to additional reviews.

Scattered thoughts on ACIP meeting: -I couldn't handle watching the ACIP meeting but read reports from brave souls like @enirenberg.bsky.social. -Given their anti-vax goals I don't really understand why ACIP is going through the charade of holding meetings and pretending to go through evidence.

-Why did ACIP go after Hep B vaccine first? Perhaps it's because the consequences are so far in the future. If newborns acquire Hep B now, they may not find out until decades later when their livers fail. If you go after MMR or flu or COVID vaccine, people get sick right away.