COVID Transmissions for 5-25-2021
Myocarditis cases being investigated by the CDC
Greetings from an undisclosed location in my apartment. Welcome to COVID Transmissions.
It has been 555 days since the first documented human case of COVID-19. 555 is a number we’ve all seen before—it’s the generic exchange code used in telephone numbers given in US television, to ensure that actual phone numbers are not given out in mass media entertainment. It’s a protective measure.
Speaking of protective measures, we’ll talk about a safety event that the CDC is investigating, and then in the reader comments section there is an update about Chinese-made vaccines.
Bolded terms are linked to the running newsletter glossary.
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Now, let’s talk COVID.
Reports of myocarditis in younger patients with COVID-19 vaccine
Recently the CDC announced that they were looking into reports of myocarditis in younger patients receiving COVID-19 vaccines: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-cdc-investigating-heart-problem-few-young-vaccine-recipients-nyt-2021-05-22/
This story is actually not a new one for this newsletter. In fact, it was covered in a reader discussion thread some weeks ago.
Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle. It can happen after various infections, and in severe cases, it can be life-threatening. Typically, myocarditis does not last for a long time and resolves in most cases, though.
The thing about this observation is that there are many causes of myocarditis, things that people who are vaccinated can get incidentally to living their lives. There are a variety of virus infections in the world, and a few rare cases of myocarditis after vaccination could be completely incidental.
Furthermore, the cases all appear to be transient and low-severity so far as I understand it.
Even so, this is something that is worth keeping an eye on. Any potentially serious safety signal is worth investigating, particularly if it impacts the heart, an irreplaceable organ that is essential to life. We would not be having a conversation about this at all if the situation were inflammation of the spleen, for example.
So far I see no reason to believe that the vaccine is the cause of these cases, but I am glad that the CDC has its eyes on them. I do not think that this represents any reason to be concerned about young people receiving the vaccination, and bottom line I am unconvinced it is related to the vaccination at all, but that doesn’t mean it should be ignored.
What am I doing to cope with the pandemic? This:
Chesterwood
One of the places I went during my vacation is a landmark called Chesterwood, so named because it was the residence (at least for the warmer months) of Daniel Chester French: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Chester_French
Originally, I thought I was going to be visiting the home of the man who sculpted the Lincoln Memorial. Instead, what I found was the home of an artist who sculpted so many classical sculptures that I’ve seen with my own eyes that I think reducing him to that single-item description is almost an insult. It’s worth looking through what is listed in his wikipedia article, because I can nearly guarantee that you have seen at least one thing by him that is not the Lincoln Memorial.
What I was also pleasantly surprised by is the beauty of his former home, which is now a museum maintained by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (a private, nongovernmental organization in the US). The grounds are gorgeous, and as it turns out a local dairy farmer who is independently wealthy donated land through from the former sculptor’s studio all the way to the foot of Monument Mountain in order to preserve the spectacular view that Chesterwood has. That view was the reason that French and his wife bought the house in the first place, according to our tour guide.
There are also a number of hiking paths, also with beautiful views as well as some modern sculpture displays, behind the museum buildings. Here’s me at an overlook near the end of one of them:
Carl Fink gave me a heads up about a situation regarding several Chinese-made vaccines:
Just wondering if you'll be commenting on the recent (as in hours ago) announcement from China that they are now recommending a booster 6 months after vaccination, apparently for all their vaccines (or possibly all vaccines from anyone, it isn't clear in the coverage I have seen).
Taking the more conservative assumption: what? They have ... let me count. Two Sinopharm vaccines, Cansino, Coronavac ... four vaccines approved for use somewhere? Using different technologies? Yet somehow, immunity caused by all wanes at the same rate? It has to be pretty dramatic stuff for the Chinese Communist Party to publicly admit the problem, they're allergic to any bad press.
So, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Unfortunately, I don’t really have thoughts about this because there aren’t any data available to support this decision, to the best of my knowledge. Here’s my reply, for what it’s worth:
Considering that yesterday I saw a paper saying that antibodies from the Western vaccines last for at least 12 months if not longer (not ready to report that story yet though), I'm not sure what to make of that. I don't know what evidence they're basing it on.
I’ve heard a few reports so far where people close to various vaccines said that they expect boosters to be necessary. At the same time, I’ve seen no data supporting these claims. I don’t really know what they’re looking at to justify this. I don’t know if this is just a way to require more vaccine to get purchased, either. I’d like to think it’s not that. But without data, it’s hard to say what is actually the story here.
You might have some questions or comments! Send them in. As several folks have figured out, you can also email me if you have a comment that you don’t want to share with the whole group.
Join the conversation, and what you say will impact what I talk about in the next issue.
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Part of science is identifying and correcting errors. If you find a mistake, please tell me about it.
Though I can’t correct the emailed version after it has been sent, I do update the online post of the newsletter every time a mistake is brought to my attention.
No corrections since last issue.
See you all next time.
Always,
JS