Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #DocsforVax
Most recents (10)
COVID sitrep: The situation in NHS hospitals hasn’t changed much since last week. A worry in itself. The number of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 continues to rise slowly. The current COVID wave now seems certain to combine with winter pressures in November. 1/10 
The daily number of COVID infections continues to trend steadily upwards, as does the number of patients admitted to hospital. This means the NHS COVID workload is building. 2/10
It takes a long time to recover from severe COVID. Patients stay in hospital for some time. The NHS workload is best reflected in the number of patients in hospital, which remains high. Even if this turned round soon, many patients would still be in hospital in December. 3/10
COVID sitrep: We are definitely now entering another wave of hospital admissions in the UK. In the NHS Trust where I work, we are admitting more COVID-19 patients to hospital and more to intensive care, although the pattern seems different to the winter.... 1/8
What we are seeing locally in east London fits with the national pattern of infection rates. The number of patients coming to our hospital group who test positive for COVID had dwindled to single figures but is now back up to 40+ each day and rising. 2/8
Hospital admissions are rising too. Both older patients yet to take up the invitation to be vaccinated, and young fit patients in their 20’s and 30’s who have not yet had the chance. There are ~1500 COVID patients in NHS hospitals. The January peak was just under 40,000. 3/8
Not the first time in the past year that a non-expert has offered a simple narrative on a complex healthcare problem...
Let's gloss over the use of percentages without explanation of what they mean, and the failure to quote a data source, and look at some facts....
Firstly, many NHS staff are not clinically trained eg porters, cleaners, managers, admin staff, etc. They don't have any more reason to understand vaccination than any other members of the public.
Media reports of pressures on the NHS are all true. The situation in London is now MUCH worse than the first wave, and still deteriorating. Sad to see long queues of ambulances outside the hospital where I work. Re-visiting reasons for hope and also words of caution…. 1/10
1. We understand the disease: The baptism of fire in the spring taught us how COVID-19 behaves. NHS teams have reflected on what worked and what didn’t. For example, we know we will see problems like blood clots and kidney damage more often than usual. 2/10
2. Treatments are more focused: The media furore around wonder drugs was a massive distraction but @NIHRresearch and others have rapidly delivered major clinical trials which busted a few myths eg hydroxychloroquine and showed simple things can save lives eg dexamethasone. 3/10
Lots of doom scrolling this evening, so I thought I would share some positive thoughts, after spending the afternoon prescribing in our covid vaccine clinic.....
The Pfizer vaccine has been through all the phases of safety trials, and the data scrutinised by the regulators. It is safe. This article helps explain how it jumped all these hurdles and got to patients so quickly... theguardian.com/society/2020/d…
It is a tricky vaccine to work with! It needs very cold storage, can only be moved a few times and it tricky to draw up. Our pharmacists (legends) have been drawing up 0.3ml doses into syringes all day, over 300 times per day 😳
Spoke too soon. Two weeks ago I was hopeful that the second COVID tide was starting to turn. Things weren’t easy but had stabilised and national numbers were down. Now we're seeing rising numbers at national level in and several regions, including where I work in east London. 1/7
The number of people testing positive for SARS Cov-2 is definitely up in the last 7 days, while the number of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 is beginning to rise, and the number of deaths (which lags behind admissions) was falling but has now levelled off. 2/7
Government data fit with the independent data from @ICNARC describing intensive care admissions. The number of patients in ICU with COVID-19 appeared to be falling 7 days ago but not any more. 3/7
I’m not a vaccine expert so it’s reasonable to ask why I am confident that I want to be vaccinated for COVID-19. I will have the jab for myself, my family, friends, my work colleagues and even for people I don't know. A few reflections... #DocsForVax 1/9
First of all, I have seen first-hand too many times what COVID can do to people. It’s a truly horrible disease. It damages the lungs, the kidneys, the heart. It causes blood clots. It kills people and those who survive can take a long time to recover. #DocsForVax 2/9
As an ICU doctor, I know that every treatment I give can bring benefit or harm to my patient. I routinely balance these risks in my mind. Like all drugs, vaccines can have side-effects, but they will likely be rare compared to the harms of COVID-19. #DocsForVax 3/9
The Background
1860s: nucleic acids discovered
1940-50s: the concept that “DNA makes RNA makes protein” is developed (& is called the central dogma)
1960s: messenger RNA discovered
1/n
1860s: nucleic acids discovered
1940-50s: the concept that “DNA makes RNA makes protein” is developed (& is called the central dogma)
1960s: messenger RNA discovered
1/n
Path to the vaccine
1989: use of lipid nanoparticles to get mRNA into cells
1990: RNA injected into muscle can cause local synthesis of a protein
1994-9: RNA vaccines shown to induce immune response
2008-11: early phase trials
2/n
1989: use of lipid nanoparticles to get mRNA into cells
1990: RNA injected into muscle can cause local synthesis of a protein
1994-9: RNA vaccines shown to induce immune response
2008-11: early phase trials
2/n
2003-2012: studies to generate a vaccine against 2 new severe coronavirus diseases SARS and MERS identify the spike protein as a good target for protective antibodies
3/n
3/n
Themes of the week: vaccine roll-out, the COVID tide turning, and the lockdown ending. This is where I think we’re at, having talked again with friends across the UK and compared this all with the national data. 1/9
Friends in many (not all) badly hit hospitals tell me the second COVID tide is beginning to turn. BUT the NHS is still really busy keeping surgery services going, as well as winter pressures of acute medical admissions, and then COVID on top of all that. 2/9
News from ground level fits with the national data which show a consistent decrease in numbers of people testing positive for SARS CoV-2, a decrease in patients being admitted to hospital with COVID-19, and in subsequent deaths. 3/9
Fantastic news that the first COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for routine use so quickly. Here is why I am happy to be vaccinated and why I want my family and friends to have a vaccine too... 1/10 #InjectionforProtection #DocsforVax
bbc.co.uk/news/health-55…
bbc.co.uk/news/health-55…
Widespread vaccination was always our best and only route out of the pandemic. The fewer people who carry the virus, the slower it can spread. By being vaccinated, we protect not only ourselves but our family, friends, work colleagues and so on, even strangers on the bus.... 2/10
The UK has one of the best and strictest drug regulatory processes in the world. Testing new drugs is a thing we are really good at. Anyone who has worked on a clinical trial will vouch for the rigour and safety of @MHRAgovuk and @HRA_Latest processes. 3/10
