So many calls about China, about what that means for India, about XBB, about 3rd waves, about new mandates, about travel bans, about vaccine boosters- thought best to get views out to summarise the current situation. Long thread, be warned 🙂 1/n
G Kang
1,764 posts
G Kang
@GKangInd
Good science is addictive. All tweets personal.
- A call from a 90 year diabetic uncle in Chennai who said he was advised admission to hospital and antibody treatment because he was in contact with someone who tested positive for SARS-CoV2 sparked this thread. 1/6
- Bear with me.. About Luc Montagnier’s statements- Well, apparently he did not say all vaccinated people will die in two years (Given human variation why 2? Not 1 or 6??). But he did say New variants are created through selection imposed by antibodies made through vaccination 1/n
- Need volunteers for a clinical trial. People with 2 doses of Covaxin 3-6 months ago are eligible to enroll in a booster dosing study. Folks in Vellore, Chennai, Bangalore or Delhi willing to consider participating please email [email protected]. Please retweet-thank you
- Preparedness, local data, tailored solutions, 33% immunizn of over-45s in tribal belt already. This young man shows what the Indian admin can do! Please, sir, can we have more like you? How This IAS Officer Cut Nandurbar’s Single-Day COVID-19 Spike By 75%
- This young man @dhruv_rathee puts together key messaging to make information so accessible. Science people-we need to engage more with smart young folk out there. In a time of bubbles, the one of our usual communication approaches should be broken.
- Replying to @GKangIndWhy not? It is unethical, immoral and unscientific. Surely, as doctors we can teach and practice better medicine than this. And as patients, please ask for what each drug is expected to do and the evidence to back that up. 6/6
- Just FYI. I am a volunteer in a SARS-CoV2 vaccine study and so are several friends and family, including my mother. Ready and willing to be, and have my family be, figurative guinea pigs any time if it advances our scientific knowledge, potentially helping others.Replying to @GKangIndWe are humans, do you think we are guinea pigs to get ur trial shots. It's ok you can use ur family members & friends for trials.
- Today 1,00,64,376 doses reported on CoWIN. This is a fantastic effort by the national immunization programme and all partners. A pace we must maintain to get vaccines to as many people as possible as fast as possible.
- Vaccines are working well! Good against infection (in healthcare=high transmission), great against severe disease. Here is the 1st data from healthcare workers at @OffCMCVellore, led by @joy_mammen. Next step, study protection against variants. 😀 …s-jbs-prod-cdn.jbs.elsevierhealth.com/pb/assets/raw/…
- These data are important when people ask why so many cases continuing in Kerala. High cases=lots of testing and detection. Low fatality rate=good clinical care and a system that is not overwhelmed by the virus. The pandemic is not over; systems need to stay ready, as in Kerala.Replying to @NewsBytesAppKerala is the second worst-hit state in terms of the absolute number of infections (29,96,094), and the eighth worst-hit in terms of number of fatalities (13,960). The recovery rate in Kerala is 96% and fatality rate is 0.46%, thankfully well below the national average of 1.32%.
- There is now more safety data on Pfizer and new data on Moderna. The risk of anaphylaxis with Pfizer's vaccine is less than originally calculated (earlier 11.1 now 6.2 per million). Moderna risk 2.1 per million.
- With Omicron & new variants, I think in India we are missing an opportunity to establish systematic widespread environmental/wastewater surveillance. We can use lessons from polio surveillance on selection of location. Much lab standardization needed but guaranteed worthwhile.
- Replying to @GKangIndWe know that 90% or greater infections are currently omicron in Indian cities. We know that the licensed monoclonal antibody products in India do not neutralise omicron. Yet doctors in private hospitals are prescribing monoclonal antibody therapy (and admission). 2/6
