I have to say, because Covid has become so politicized from the very beginning in the US, and with an election this year with so much outside of Covid on the line, I wonder if the decision to not highlight it, talk about it, and especially publicly push for a return to reasonable mitigation is a simple choice being made by the current administration not to risk something that could throw the election.
As a political observer, I understand the decision (if that is, in fact, what’s even happening). But as a person who values her health, I am infuriated at the same time. It is so frustrating to have come to this point in the US where you can’t even talk about returning to masking in congregate indoor settings without kicking off a complete fire storm of disinformation, political risk and denialism.
I guess the question would be, why can’t the current administration kind of quietly invest in picking up the pace on the alternate inhaled vaccines you reference?
Another question would be what happens when these new inhaled vaccines do become available if the uptake on them is not sufficient to do what needs to be done? In other words, if, due to the politicization of Covid generally, only 60% of people take the new vaccines, are we right back where we are today? Or, as I am hoping, will those who take these new inhaled vaccines be able to truly move on without the constant diligence of avoiding infection?
Thank you once again for so clearly explaining what we are facing. I would appreciate additional illumination of the risks of repeated infections, even if mild, with regard to long covid. It might convince some people to be less casual in taking precautions.
When I spotted your article in the LA Times, I hoped you might elucidate further here, and lo, you have! Thank you so much. I have questions on the wastewater data that have been puzzling me for some time, and wonder whether you might have a thought on this. That is, it appears that there have been no reports of wastewater data from NYC to the CDC for several weeks, and even the latest reports from NYC to NYS appear to be from December 12. This gives rise to the following questions:
First, on the CDC site, the NE region appears to be trending down, but as NYC data is not included, would that not skew the data, render the trend line unreliable, and likely underestimate the level of risk?
Second, and I realize this is likely not within your scope, particularly as you are in CA, but if you are aware of any way to obtain an explanation on why NYC is not submitting data to CDC, or apparently even collecting it post 12/12/23, that would be most welcome. (I have asked pertinent public officials and also sent an email to the CDC address given on the wastewater site, to no avail.)
Third, for those of us who are older and at higher risk (though recognizing that those of us who are fully vaxed are not at as high a risk as others in our cohort), isn’t the least we should be able to expect from the CDC is accurate, clear information including setting forth with as much clarity as possible problems with the wastewater data, particularly potential underestimates of risk, related to issues like those I note here, so that we can make the best judgments possible about our own personal risk?
Your voice on Covid is important. Vax and relaxed friends who generally minimize Covid sat up and took notice of your opinion piece in the LA times. Please continue to post on X and Substack information about Covid.
Thank you for your work. Actual useful information is still coming in from Dr. Osterholm, Katelyn Jetelina and yourself. Casual conversations with people about conditions lead me to believe that an inhalable vaccine would be much more popular. I will try writing my electeds again and hope they listen in this election year.
Thanks for the update, as always. My thoughts about why we’re where we are:
“it’s inevitable. Everyone will get Covid eventually, so why bother with masks and other measures?” Although it’s practically impossible to permanently avoid Covid, that doesn’t mean limiting the number of infections, which carry short- and long-term risks, isn’t worth it. I finally got Covid for the first time despite being extremely careful, but I’m not about to let my guard down. Unfortunately, the number of people masking in congregate settings is minimal, and see little to no messaging about this.
“Covid is no worse than a cold. It goes away after a few days.” To some extent, the term “tested positive” contributes to this, as it minimizes Covid’s significance. This seems to be unique in the realm of infectious disease. How often do you hear someone saying they tested positive for, say, bacterial pneumonia, TB, or influenza? Sadly, this attitude also ignores the continued loss of life, including people who are suffering and dying from the effects of long Covid.
“Vaccination is harmful.” Anti-vaxxers like RFK, Jr. are bad enough, but statements about mRNA vaccines from Florida Surgeon General Ladapo may be even worse, since they come from the government. As best as I can tell, Ladapo is grossly misstating the facts, and his stance has been denounced by experts, which he is not. But he will be listened to.
“We have bigger problems to deal with.” The world is indeed facing many significant issues, but as you noted, that we haven’t had to deal with a much more potent strain of SARS-CoV-2 is largely a matter of luck. Will it take a return to the early days of the pandemic, when hospitals were overrun and refrigerated trucks were needed for bodies, to get everyone’s attention?
Thank you so much, Dr. Topol. As a long hauler with an immunocompromised husband, it can feel so isolating to be someone continuing to speak up. I shared your post with our school administrator here in San Diego imploring them to ask families to test to return to school, encourage masking, and to improve IAQ. No luck. We built CR boxes for every classroom in August and it was a fight. Reading the facts help me feel less alone.
I appreciate your voice and I'm grateful to be a subscriber. Thank you for all of your hard work; I point people to your writing often, and they're always grateful. You are awesome. :)
Dr. Topol, I still haven't had Covid and neither has my husband, but I think we're the only ones! He's on an immune suppressing drug, so we've always been careful, and have always been vaccinated whenever it was recommended. I think it's been six so far, but I've lost track. So you can see I'm by no means anti-vaxx, but I did read a comment to a Medpage article recently by an MD that caused me to do some research on Pubmed. I found the article below in the Journal "Vaccines" that suggested that repeated mRNA vaccinations may lead to increased IgG4 antibodies, which could lead to tolerance to the spike protein, autoimmune disease and possibly cancer in susceptible individuals. I'm wondering if we should switch to an adenovirus based vaccine? Given today's political polarization, I fear that any negative information about vaccines might get "canceled." I hope to hear what you think on the topic in a future post.
I have to say, because Covid has become so politicized from the very beginning in the US, and with an election this year with so much outside of Covid on the line, I wonder if the decision to not highlight it, talk about it, and especially publicly push for a return to reasonable mitigation is a simple choice being made by the current administration not to risk something that could throw the election.
As a political observer, I understand the decision (if that is, in fact, what’s even happening). But as a person who values her health, I am infuriated at the same time. It is so frustrating to have come to this point in the US where you can’t even talk about returning to masking in congregate indoor settings without kicking off a complete fire storm of disinformation, political risk and denialism.
I guess the question would be, why can’t the current administration kind of quietly invest in picking up the pace on the alternate inhaled vaccines you reference?
Another question would be what happens when these new inhaled vaccines do become available if the uptake on them is not sufficient to do what needs to be done? In other words, if, due to the politicization of Covid generally, only 60% of people take the new vaccines, are we right back where we are today? Or, as I am hoping, will those who take these new inhaled vaccines be able to truly move on without the constant diligence of avoiding infection?
Thank you once again for so clearly explaining what we are facing. I would appreciate additional illumination of the risks of repeated infections, even if mild, with regard to long covid. It might convince some people to be less casual in taking precautions.
When I spotted your article in the LA Times, I hoped you might elucidate further here, and lo, you have! Thank you so much. I have questions on the wastewater data that have been puzzling me for some time, and wonder whether you might have a thought on this. That is, it appears that there have been no reports of wastewater data from NYC to the CDC for several weeks, and even the latest reports from NYC to NYS appear to be from December 12. This gives rise to the following questions:
First, on the CDC site, the NE region appears to be trending down, but as NYC data is not included, would that not skew the data, render the trend line unreliable, and likely underestimate the level of risk?
Second, and I realize this is likely not within your scope, particularly as you are in CA, but if you are aware of any way to obtain an explanation on why NYC is not submitting data to CDC, or apparently even collecting it post 12/12/23, that would be most welcome. (I have asked pertinent public officials and also sent an email to the CDC address given on the wastewater site, to no avail.)
Third, for those of us who are older and at higher risk (though recognizing that those of us who are fully vaxed are not at as high a risk as others in our cohort), isn’t the least we should be able to expect from the CDC is accurate, clear information including setting forth with as much clarity as possible problems with the wastewater data, particularly potential underestimates of risk, related to issues like those I note here, so that we can make the best judgments possible about our own personal risk?
Your voice on Covid is important. Vax and relaxed friends who generally minimize Covid sat up and took notice of your opinion piece in the LA times. Please continue to post on X and Substack information about Covid.
Thank you for your work. Actual useful information is still coming in from Dr. Osterholm, Katelyn Jetelina and yourself. Casual conversations with people about conditions lead me to believe that an inhalable vaccine would be much more popular. I will try writing my electeds again and hope they listen in this election year.
Thanks for the update, as always. My thoughts about why we’re where we are:
“it’s inevitable. Everyone will get Covid eventually, so why bother with masks and other measures?” Although it’s practically impossible to permanently avoid Covid, that doesn’t mean limiting the number of infections, which carry short- and long-term risks, isn’t worth it. I finally got Covid for the first time despite being extremely careful, but I’m not about to let my guard down. Unfortunately, the number of people masking in congregate settings is minimal, and see little to no messaging about this.
“Covid is no worse than a cold. It goes away after a few days.” To some extent, the term “tested positive” contributes to this, as it minimizes Covid’s significance. This seems to be unique in the realm of infectious disease. How often do you hear someone saying they tested positive for, say, bacterial pneumonia, TB, or influenza? Sadly, this attitude also ignores the continued loss of life, including people who are suffering and dying from the effects of long Covid.
“Vaccination is harmful.” Anti-vaxxers like RFK, Jr. are bad enough, but statements about mRNA vaccines from Florida Surgeon General Ladapo may be even worse, since they come from the government. As best as I can tell, Ladapo is grossly misstating the facts, and his stance has been denounced by experts, which he is not. But he will be listened to.
“We have bigger problems to deal with.” The world is indeed facing many significant issues, but as you noted, that we haven’t had to deal with a much more potent strain of SARS-CoV-2 is largely a matter of luck. Will it take a return to the early days of the pandemic, when hospitals were overrun and refrigerated trucks were needed for bodies, to get everyone’s attention?
According to this recent report, amongst flu and RSV infections in children, "COVID-19 remains the main driver of hospitalizations."
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/care-coordination/every-hospital-that-does-pediatric-care-is-saturated-hospitals-grapple-with-volume-surges.html
Thank you so much, Dr. Topol. As a long hauler with an immunocompromised husband, it can feel so isolating to be someone continuing to speak up. I shared your post with our school administrator here in San Diego imploring them to ask families to test to return to school, encourage masking, and to improve IAQ. No luck. We built CR boxes for every classroom in August and it was a fight. Reading the facts help me feel less alone.
I appreciate your voice and I'm grateful to be a subscriber. Thank you for all of your hard work; I point people to your writing often, and they're always grateful. You are awesome. :)
Dr. Topol, I still haven't had Covid and neither has my husband, but I think we're the only ones! He's on an immune suppressing drug, so we've always been careful, and have always been vaccinated whenever it was recommended. I think it's been six so far, but I've lost track. So you can see I'm by no means anti-vaxx, but I did read a comment to a Medpage article recently by an MD that caused me to do some research on Pubmed. I found the article below in the Journal "Vaccines" that suggested that repeated mRNA vaccinations may lead to increased IgG4 antibodies, which could lead to tolerance to the spike protein, autoimmune disease and possibly cancer in susceptible individuals. I'm wondering if we should switch to an adenovirus based vaccine? Given today's political polarization, I fear that any negative information about vaccines might get "canceled." I hope to hear what you think on the topic in a future post.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10222767/