CDC’s position will need to be countered by exploiting science and our apparent talents to absolutely engage the virus.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new rules for the covid pandemic, pronouncing “a new strategy [that] moves from a broad technique to focusing on the most vulnerable. “Coinciding with the opening of schools throughout the country, the relaxation of certain restrictions, such as quarantine and physical distancing, will help keep children in school, a fundamental goal. Unfortunately, the CDC missed the opportunity to help older and highly vulnerable Americans.
In late December 2021, with the attack of the Omicron BA 1 wave, the CDC proposed a five-day isolation policy without any evidence that it would prevent the spread of infections to others, and without recommending the need for an immediate antigen test. . . In fact, several studies have shown that most people remain contagious after five days, even with rigorous evaluation showing that the virus can grow in other people inflamed with Omicron at two weeks. Ending isolation by arbitrarily opting for a short-term one, with or without symptoms, and advocating for the use of masks has certainly encouraged the spread of infections. By resolutely proceeding to endorse those CDC guidelines, our public fitness firm has failed in its eponymous project to control and save Covid disease.
For over a year, we’ve had strong evidence that the number one Covid vaccine series, consisting of two injections of mRNA, doesn’t offer good enough coverage due to reduced immunity. However, the CDC refuses to replace its definition that “fully vaccinated” corresponds to two injections. Not only does this ignore a lot of knowledge, but it gives the impression to many that a withdrawal is not necessary, which helps explain why the withdrawal rate in the U. S. is not necessary. UU. es pathetically low, at 32% of the population, in stark contrast to the highest in other countries. Peer countries in cooperation and economic progression (OECD) with rates above 65%. The United States ranks below more than 70 countries, in addition to Panama, Rwanda, Tajikistan, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan and Iran. This is just the knowledge of a retreat, the third shot.
As we move through the Omicron wave and its subvariants, the need to remember a moment has become very justified for other people over the age of 50. Five other studies, with other age groups older than 50 to 80 years, showed advanced coverage with lower mortality for other people who received 4 injections (two boosters) compared to 3 injections. But the one-time recall rate among Americans over the age of 50 to 64 is only 11% and for those over 65, it’s 26 If the CDC were literally interested in protecting other vulnerable people, it would be a competitive effort to make the public aware of the life-saving possibility of a fourth vaccine and review what “fully vaccinated” means. as evidenced by extensive data. All of this is consistent with CDC’s reluctance to endorse the retirement imperative, approving them fully for adults only as of November 2021.
With the revised guidelines, the CDC continues to push a synthetic metric it calls a “network point” to “know your threat of serious illness. “and hospital bed parameters, based on the existing point of new cases consistent with a population of 100,000 in the last 7 days. The map on the right of the United States is “network transmission,” which only reflects the number of instances displayed in the past seven days across the region. point is only 39. 7%.
This is a misleading way for the CDC to provide a lower-risk pink eyeglass appearance. This also unnecessarily promotes the spread of Covid to others, especially vulnerable people, whom it claims it needs to protect. Nothing less, it further worsens the toll of the long Covid, a condition suffered by millions of Americans, due to the great and unbridled spread of the pandemic virus.
When it comes to protecting more than 7 million highly immunocompromised Americans, we have the Evusheld monoclonal antibodies, for which intramuscularly administered injections save you from Covid for up to six months. The United States has bought 1. 7 million doses, but as of the end of July, fewer than 400,000 more people had gained this protection. That’s less than 6% of our immunocompromised population, the point of vulnerability, that hasn’t been protected.
All of this is diminishing as the U. S. The U. S. Department of Disease Control and Prevention is still in the midst of its BA. 5 wave, the variant with the maximum immune evasion and transmissibility noted so far, now with more than 100,000 new cases shown consistent with the day (the actual number is unknown, but very much in agreement with), more than 40,000 people hospitalized and more than 500 deaths per day. Although we have reached a plateau in hospitalizations, there are no strong symptoms of a decline in those parameters, with the exception of some decrease in the highest levels of Sars-CoV-2 in wastewater, so the duration of this wave is uncertain. We were expected to have gone through the BA. 5 wave at the end of August, judging by the time it took many countries in Europe. , which preceded us, to come through it.
Where will this take us in the coming months?In the United States, there is only one other variant with considerable expansion, called BA. 4. 6, with a genomic series reassembling BA. 5, but it has been shown to have the possibility of evading Evusheld coverage. Although it accounts for about 5% of new cases here now, and in Australia, it could continue to show an expansion advantage, and there would be some coverage conferred by the large number of other people who have had BA. 5 infections.
Theoretically, the recall of the ba. 5 express vaccine that could be available later this fall could be offering greater coverage against BA. 4. 6 infections than the original vaccine, but it remains to be demonstrated. The imminent increase of this However, the variant may simply prolong the existing wave. More troubling is the prospect of a new all-out circle of relatives of variants like Omicron emerging in the coming months, which has yet to make its impression on genomic surveillance radar, but may simply pose more disruptions to our vaccine- and infection-induced immunity.
That is why now is the time to prepare and avoid the “leakage” of existing vaccines – coverage or minimum duration compared to existing variants, despite smart coverage against serious diseases. that’s why Professor Iwasaki and I have called for Operation Nasal Vaccine. We will also have to continue with a universal variant-proof coronavirus vaccine that would overcome potential pathogenic mutations in the virus rather than look for express variants, the unsustainable strategy like the virus. it continues to adapt faster than our response.
It is mandatory to anticipate resistance to Paxlovid, on which we rely heavily in high-risk individuals, given recent discoveries of multiple herbal mutations of the virus that may affect its effectiveness in the future. This requires speeding up testing of rescue pills or combinations thereof. that prevent the replication of the virus. All these measures do not connote any feeling of rest in the face of Covid. The CDC’s position that we will have to “live with Covid,” as it continued with its guidance, will need to be countered by harnessing science. and our apparent talents to absolutely engage the virus, once and for all.
Eric Topol is the founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, professor of molecular medicine and executive vice president of Scripps Research.