Category Archives: Uncategorized

In honor of the Labor Day weekend and the coming of Fall, it is time to think about turning leaves, hot drinks, and, of course, respiratory infections! Three vaccines are being offered this year, and while they all protect against important respiratory infections, they could not be more different. The differences extend beyond their variedContinue reading “Understanding the three vaccines being offered this fall: RSV, COVID-19 and Flu.”

In my last blog post I suggested almost everyone should wait to get COVID vaccinated until the fall when a newly formulated vaccine was available. The FDA vaccine panel that met this month reinforced that opinion and took it one step further. First, the new vaccine will not contain material representing either of the BA.4/BA.5Continue reading “Take No COVID-19 Vaccine Until the Fall!”

Many of you who have been following http://www.Pandemicpondering.com will note that I have taken about a month off to get some perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic and work on other projects. The good news is that the pandemic is over with the United States government ending their “COVID National Emergency” tomorrow, May 11th, and the WHOContinue reading “Where do we go now that the pandemic is over?”

The announcement a few weeks ago that President Biden is suspending the COVID-19 emergency declaration on May 11th puts a formal end to this pandemic. As is often the case, this declaration comes long after our society has informally ended its own pandemic precautions. There are a few important implications for the president’s declaration, predominantlyContinue reading “The pandemic has ended. What should we do now?”

Every week or so there seems to be an impassioned announcement of a new Omicron variant of the COVID virus (SARS-CoV-2) that “threatens our population.” The latest, called XBB.1.5, has arrived with great fanfare. It even has been nicknamed “Kraken” because it is supposedly monstrous! XBB.1.5 was first identified in the Eastern United States whereContinue reading “What is really happening with these new Omicron COVID virus variants?”

I’ve been asked by several readers to evaluate an editorial in the Wall Street Journal with the provocative title “Are vaccines fueling new COVID variants?” This editorial by Allysia Findlay, a non-medical member of the Journal’s editorial board, proposes that vaccinating individuals against COVID-19 is now responsible for driving the creation of new COVID virusContinue reading “Are vaccines driving the development of COVID variants? A response to the Wall Street Journal editorial.”

While there has been considerable debate about the use and value of COVID-19 interventions in young people, there is no doubt that they are really necessary in older individuals. Essentially 90% of deaths from COVID right now occur in those over 65 years old, and the bulk of the hospitalizations come from people in thisContinue reading “Good COVID news for the over 50 crowd this Christmas.”

As we try to understand the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, it might be useful to analyze the course of the 1918 influenza pandemic, the closest similar event for which we have accurate public health records. There are interesting parallels and some important differences between what happened in 1918 and the COVID-19 pandemic of theContinue reading “Let’s all be thankful that it isn’t 1918.”