Certain “experts” should be quite ashamed for pushing fear mongering tweets and using misleading studies to fit their rhetoric concerning the efficacy of these vaccines. Since they rely on the fact most will not understand the studies since it’s not in layman’s terms allow me. 🧵

Firstly, the conclusions being drawn from this study and this “expert” is that the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants would render these vaccines ineffective. This is highly unlikely. It will take a large amount of genetic diversity to completely render the current vaccines useless.
Not to mention Ding is using an older study to push this rhetoric when Pfizer and Moderna have recently established their vaccines will be effective against these variants. Perhaps someone should pass THOSE studies onto him. For the record, if you’re going to claim these vaccines
are ineffective the last thing you should attempt to utilize to push your rhetoric is a study that concerns monoclonal antibodies. Why? Vaccines are polyclonal. Unlike monoclonal antibody therapies, vaccines (especially those utilizing the whole spike protein) make polyclonal
antibody responses. This means that the antibodies you make after vaccination will be able to bind the coronavirus spike in multiple places not just one. You cannot possibly attempt to relate the effectiveness of a monoclonal antibody treatment against these variants to the
vaccines, don’t even try. Two independent platforms. Carrying on. Secondly, the study looks at OLD (Spring 2020) blood sera from NATURAL infection. Therefore they already contained low antibody levels. Why is this an issue? Because everyone knows antibodies from natural infection
with COVID do wane eventually so of course neutralization assays are going to be low? Next, the vaccine sera neutralization assays. Taken from participants shortly after their second dose. I’m not sure what researchers expected. Does anyone realize immunity is not instantaneous?
Key fact, you have to allow the vaccine time to work and take effect before you just dive in there and measure nAbs. They don’t just spring up like daffodils. Measuring them at the intervals this study did no wonder why they saw the antibody titers they did. Not to mention the
study TOTALLY disregarded T-cells. Once again. How are you going to disregard our actual immune systems and their ability to make antibodies for later? Which may I remind you are DRIVEN by vaccines. They teach our bodies to make antibodies for later, not just during active
infection (memory T-cells anyone). That’s immunity! T-cells stimulate B-cells to make antibodies. Antibodies are just your first line of defense which is what is initiated when you get this vaccine. It’s our T-cells that are responsible for long-term immunity. When antibodies
diminish after your initial inoculation, your T-cells-will tell your B-cells it’s time to produce more antibodies. As long as your T-cells still recognize this virus and inform your B-cells they need to produce antibodies, the vaccine is still doing its job.
Antibodies being built up over and over again is nothing new or unique-to this vaccine, this is how vaccines have always worked. This study does not account for this information concerning T-cell immunity AT ALL. The study being utilized is here.
https://t.co/fbkzRDlw90
So do me a favor, if you don’t have the ability to gain traction on your tweets without being completely transparent then don’t tweet it. I only wrote this up because I’m tired of seeing it circulate. It’s misleading. Know your facts. This study ignores the general basic science
and understanding of the immune system and how these vaccines work and their effectiveness against these variants as does this individual apparently. I have people in my DMs fearing about protection after being vaccinated due to tweets like his. I implore you, do not give

More from Society

I've seen many news articles cite that "the UK variant could be the dominant strain by March". This is emphasized by @CDCDirector.

While this will likely to be the case, this should not be an automatic cause for concern. Cases could still remain contained.

Here's how: 🧵

One of @CDCgov's own models has tracked the true decline in cases quite accurately thus far.

Their projection shows that the B.1.1.7 variant will become the dominant variant in March. But interestingly... there's no fourth wave. Cases simply level out:

https://t.co/tDce0MwO61


Just because a variant becomes the dominant strain does not automatically mean we will see a repeat of Fall 2020.

Let's look at UK and South Africa, where cases have been falling for the past month, in unison with the US (albeit with tougher restrictions):


Furthermore, the claim that the "variant is doubling every 10 days" is false. It's the *proportion of the variant* that is doubling every 10 days.

If overall prevalence drops during the studied time period, the true doubling time of the variant is actually much longer 10 days.

Simple example:

Day 0: 10 variant / 100 cases -> 10% variant
Day 10: 15 variant / 75 cases -> 20% variant
Day 20: 20 variant / 50 cases -> 40% variant

1) Proportion of variant doubles every 10 days
2) Doubling time of variant is actually 20 days
3) Total cases still drop by 50%

You May Also Like

1/“What would need to be true for you to….X”

Why is this the most powerful question you can ask when attempting to reach an agreement with another human being or organization?

A thread, co-written by @deanmbrody:


2/ First, “X” could be lots of things. Examples: What would need to be true for you to

- “Feel it's in our best interest for me to be CMO"
- “Feel that we’re in a good place as a company”
- “Feel that we’re on the same page”
- “Feel that we both got what we wanted from this deal

3/ Normally, we aren’t that direct. Example from startup/VC land:

Founders leave VC meetings thinking that every VC will invest, but they rarely do.

Worse over, the founders don’t know what they need to do in order to be fundable.

4/ So why should you ask the magic Q?

To get clarity.

You want to know where you stand, and what it takes to get what you want in a way that also gets them what they want.

It also holds them (mentally) accountable once the thing they need becomes true.

5/ Staying in the context of soliciting investors, the question is “what would need to be true for you to want to invest (or partner with us on this journey, etc)?”

Multiple responses to this question are likely to deliver a positive result.