The Gurney Keeps Rolling
They are rolled down the hallway in a special gurney to the first stop on their journey to eternal rest. They are those who did not make it. Those who, despite our best efforts, lose the fight. BeRead More…
Category: SARS-CoV-2
How Good Is One’s Immunity After a Covid-19 Infection?
Several recent studies show that not all who get a positive COVID-19 diagnosis by RT-PCR develop antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus or seroconvert. An Israeli group showed that 5% of all their CRead More…
Covid-19 Vaccines: Do We Really Need Booster Shots?
As humans, our first line of defense against viral pathogens is the innate immune response. That includes things like the skin, cytokines, and macrophages. This response tries to hold the line till tRead More…
The Alphabet Soup of SARS-CoV-2 Variants: When Will it Cease?
It is more than 18 months since the first case of SARS-CoV-2 infection was diagnosed in the US. Most of us hoped for a vaccine which we believed will end the pandemic. Today we have several vaccineRead More…
Peering Through A Smoky Glass Screen: Visions of The New Post Covid-19 Workplace
Vaccine implementation across the country is giving way to easing of social distancing restrictions. With successful vaccine deployment many are getting ready to transition back to a physical work enRead More…
Vaccine Inequality & International Vaccine Diplomacy; What is The Solution?
In the past months with Covid-19 vaccines available in many countries, implementation programs are rolling out across the globe. The effectiveness of such programs is very important in curbing furtheRead More…
Did We Defend and Protect The Lives of The Most Vulnerable Among Us?
In the past one year we have lost more than half a million Americans to Covid-19. My worst estimate in March 2020 was a quarter of a million in a year. At that time I was very confident we would not Read More…
How Good Are We At Comparing Vaccine Efficacy?
Different countries have so far approved more than 6 Covid-19 vaccines mostly by Emergency Use Authorizations. With this development a few questions keep popping up. One such question is on how the vRead More…
What Are Our Healthcare Workers Who Have Completed Their Vaccines Are Saying?
This post is my attempt to bring the vaccine experience to a larger audience. To do this I polled about 500 vaccine recipients over about 24 days. A prior survey that I conducted suggested that manyRead More…
What Is The Neutralizing Antibody Response After The 1st Vaccine Shot in Those With Prior Infection?
Interestingly, two pre-prints were released this week that looked at the same issue. These papers were a comparison of the immune response to the first shot of an mRNA vaccine between those who have Read More…
I Am Pregnant; Is It Safe To Get The Covid-19 Vaccine?
As America continues to roll out vaccines across the country many questions are coming up. With the limited experience with our current vaccines some of these questions do not have easy answers. OneRead More…
What Are Our Covid-19 Vaccine Pioneers Saying?
As at January 10th, 2021 the death toll from Covid-19 was about 1.9 million globally and 372,522 in the United States. This is almost as many Americans as died in World War II. In the past week we haRead More…
Long Term Safety of The SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccines; How Worried Should You be?
US Response To Vaccine Implementation As public health authorities in the US roll out the Covid-19 vaccination program many issues beyond immunization logistics are beginning to surface. A receRead More…
The Elusive RN From Nashville With Bell’s Palsy From Covid-19 Vaccine
There is an anti-COVID vaccine video making the rounds on SM. It stars a black lady called Khalilah Mitchell who claims she works as a registered nurse in Nashvillee, TN. According to her heart wrencRead More…
SARS-CoV-2 Variants: What Are The Implications for Pandemic Control
Covid-19 What’s going on in the World: 81,126,416 cases worldwide since the start of the epidemic, with 1,771,407 deaths. It is likely we will, despite starting vaccinations, see another increaRead More…
Were The Covid-19 mRNA Vaccines Developed Too Quickly, & Can They Change our Genetic Code?
Brief History of mRNA Vaccines The first published human trial of an mRNA vaccines was of a rabies vaccine. CureVac a Dutch Company specializing in mRNA vaccines and scientists at the University Read More…
Attitudes Towards The Covid-19 Vaccine, Is This The End or A New Beginning?
About a year ago our world was upended when it became clear the respiratory virus spreading through China was not going to be contained locally. China dragged its feet trying to figure out how to hanRead More…
How is America Going to Respond To A SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine?
After almost 10 months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel. There are several SARS-CoV-2 vaccines on the horizon, with two approaching FDA approval. As Read More…
Synopsis of the Stanford SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in Dialysis Patients Study
Dialysis patients are a group with several risk factors ( advanced age, non-white race, poverty, and diabetes) for contracting SARS-CoV-2 and developing sever COVID-19. Therefore, they form a good grRead More…
What if I were the President?
My father died in 2014. Without a will! That was a remarkable thing for a well-educated man who always threatened us in childhood that for playing the fool, he was going to take us out of his will! TRead More…
Epidemic Control Using Science or Wall Street Ideology
Many countries have seen their peak in cases of SARS-CoV-2 in the rear view mirror. Unfortunately the United States is still forging ahead in this epidemic. I wrote a previous post about preparing fRead More…
Results from the Phase I trial in humans of a recombinant adenovirus type-5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine: a Synopsis
One of the vaccine candidates for COVID-19 at the Phase I stage is the non-replicating adenovirus type-5 (Ad5) vectored COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology (Beijing, Read More…
Did Coronavirus turn the US into a third-world country?
As a surgeon who has been working in the US healthcare system for the last twenty years. I never imagined I would ever see what has transpired in the first quarter of the year 2020. Never in my wildeRead More…
Something must kill a man!
In the past few days, the internet has been abuzz with the story of a nurse in a hospital in Tula, Russia. She showed up for her shift in the all-male COVID-19 patient ward with no clothing save for Read More…
Covid-19 Pediatric Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome
Since COVID-19 broke out, the data has shown relatively fewer children getting infected or severely ill. 2% of cases described in patients under age 20 (Wu et al. JAMA. 2020). The pediatric deaths frRead More…