15 Comments

Any thoughts on the efficacy of Novavax as a booster in the fall, if it's available? Thanks!

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Wondering the same. Thx for asking!

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I've been wondering this too, if I should go with a different technology for the booster this time around since the mRNA vaccines' protection against infection is fairly short lived (even if protection against serious illness is longer lasting). I have no idea if there's any data on this.

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It is good to have you reporting on what little covid data we have left. ER info is helpful. I don’t see anyone else writing on that. Hope we don’t loose wastewater data. I just read that someone just published an algorithm correlating covid cases to wastewater data. I hope it pans out. I hate flying in the dark like this. So unnecessary in this day and age. But useful for those trying to normalize the pandemic. No data, no pandemic.

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Anecdotally I have heard of many people having Covid over the last week or so. Appreciate the more science-based update. Thanks!

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I have also heard of many people recently becoming infected, including MDs.

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Reading your newsletter gives me better detailed information than I could get anywhere else. But I don't think the average American gets this quality of trend and outbreak data. Are there ways to make your work more widely available?

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Do you have any further information about vibrio infection and the Atlantic Ocean? I'm on a family trip in Duck, NC and no one wants to go in the ocean because of the news: https://abc11.com/amp/nc-vibrio-deaths-vulnificus-scratches-open-cuts-wounds-brackish-water/13563288/

How serious would you think the risk is? It's hard with little kids who always have cuts and scrapes that we don't know about.

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Note that there's new data suggesting that getting the COVID and flu vaccines at the same time blunts the immune response to the COVID vaccine. It's discussed here: https://www.acsh.org/news/2023/07/20/should-you-get-covid-and-flu-shots-together-17165.

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I heard about the surge from my pulmonologist. She’s usually on call at the hospital one day a week. But she had to keep putting off our appointments because she spent 3 straight weeks handling Covid patients.

Please please keep sharing Covid data!

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Congratulations on the anniversary Caitlin!

Is there any reason for alarm from the today's CDC EID report on Avian flu in mammals? Here is part of the abstract:

"..highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) clade 2.3.4.4b virus in a domestic cat that lived near a duck farm infected by a closely related virus in France during December 2022. Enhanced surveillance of symptomatic domestic carnivores in contact with infected birds is recommended to prevent further spread to mammals and humans."

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Thank you. Hopefully this wave will be smaller as school is starting soon in the south. This may be a silly question but, how do “we” know when virus are becoming less destructive? In terms of immediate and long lasting effects?

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Do you have enough data available for commenting on Candida auris? The press seems to have latched on to this as the next great event. Speaking with the administrative staff here (a continuing care retirement center - www.heronskey.org ) they have begun making plans for this as there has been a recorded case nearby.

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You are either an imbecile or a Russian troll. Possibly both.

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Not necessarily. I live in the Deep South and because MD’s are seldom trained in epidemiology and all kind of folks down here are fans of crazy talk (Hello UFO’s and Fyfe, Alabama) he could be for real.

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