Alt Middle Pediatrician

Board certified inpatient pediatrician, former fellow of the AAP.

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

If all “misinformation” were eliminated, I think COVID Twitter would be mostly reduced to:
🔹people asking ?s, with others responding “I don’t know”
🔹long threads consisting mostly of caveats before attempting a meaningful stat/statement (e.g.👇)
🔹summaries of complex preprints

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

My children’s hospital has seen 3 sequential resp viral waves in late ‘22 that each caused a large # of ED visits and hospital admissions:

🔹Rhino/Entero (likely driven by EV-D68) — peaked late Sept

🔹RSV — peaked mid Nov

🔹Flu A — still going up

Brief 🧵, including a 📈

1/6

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

@MartyMakary & @VPrasadMDMPH were never good fits since they’re neither anti-science (RFK), pro-pharma/“right to try” (WSJ), nor kiss-ups (eg Bondi, Patel)

Anyone who thought otherwise doesn’t understand that being against “The Science” during COVID doesn’t make one anti-science

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

Congratulations to @NBSaphierMD for her nomination as Surg Gen

Turns out that Senate R’s can force President Trump to nominate a competent qualified doctor when they put their minds to it

Here’s hoping she can figure out how to help them walk back some of the extra crazy stuff

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

Ok, we finally have a very high-quality paper showing what most knowledgeable people should have expected once the first Omicron wave provided a major boost to worldwide SCV2 immunity: Paxlovid isn’t particularly helpful, even for people with risk factors

https://t.co/Pau8Mlh3SJ

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

@Loretta_Torrago We don’t know that Paxlovid is valuable in vaccinated people, and we certainly don’t know that to be true in younger vaccinated people. I would personally not bother with Paxlovid if I had COVID, but I’d happily enroll in such a trial to help advance knowledge.

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

What’s the logic driving some GOP senators who confirmed the country’s most prominent antivax advocate as HHS Sec to now consider blocking a Surg Gen nominee who won’t endorse vaccines?

It’s certainly true that Casey Means is an unqualified quack, but why grow a spine now?

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

Even by the absurdly low standards that one has to judge Pres Trump by in order not to be offended/embarrassed by him on a daily basis, his comments about Rob Reiner are truly unacceptable

It’s remarkable that among our very large population, he’s the one we picked (twice!)

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

@ebennett74 I suspect we’re mostly aligned on COVID and childhood vaccines, but I don’t think we’re aligned w Dr Marine, who would likely be unwilling to say something like “Despite all the errors by public health officials, babies really should get Hib, Prevnar and DTaP vaccines on time.”

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

Voting no (or abstaining) this time and no last time were Pollack, Stein, Blackburn, Hibbeln and Meissner. Kulldorff voted no last time but is no longer on the committee.

The crazy ones (yes both times): Milhan, Malone, Griffin, Pebbworth, Levi and Pagano.

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

Between today’s absurd ACIP vote on checking titers between doses of Hep B vax (which passed 6-4 with 1 abstaining) and last meeting’s equally absurd vote to need a prescription to get a COVID vax (failed in a 6-6 tie), we can now clearly see who the crazy folks are on ACIP…

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

As I get farther into today’s meeting, I can say that Dr. Malone is also a terrible pick to run this meeting, although that’s more about how he conducts himself rather than his understanding of science—his snide asides while pretending to care about decorum are quite disruptive

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

I’m no Dr. Malone fan, but I’m glad he’s running this ACIP meeting (vice chair) rather than this quack Dr. Milhoan (new chair, but joining remotely)

I’m sure he’s not unique, but it is scary that we’ve got a board-certified pediatrician w such a poor understanding of vax science

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

Dr Levi is even more confused (as per usual), but he’s obviously unqualified to be on ACIP given his lack of knowledge re: medical science, medical practice, biology, or really anything useful to the work of the committee, which is very different from the situation w Dr. Milhoan

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

Among the ACIP members, Dr. Meissner is obviously very competent—and quite possibly the only qualified member of the committee—but the person who impressed me the most today is Dr. Hibbeln

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

Today, ACIP tried to make decisions re newborn hep B vax in babies w HBsAg neg moms

This is a legitimate—although obviously low priority—topic, but this clown show of a committee is certainly not a group that can sort it out (or even figure out what it is that they’re voting on)

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

My comment👇 from their prior meeting seems to still apply

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

I’m still working through the 2 days of ACIP (at 2x speed), but the one thing I can say is that while RFK undoubtedly chose these folks w some broad predetermined outcomes in mind, they don’t have their act together enough to possibly predetermine the outcome of any specific vote

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

https://t.co/OsWMtqpuwb

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

@harvardcrimeson “Ethicist, Should I Let Go of My Zionist Friends?” is—other than definitively asserting genocide in Gaza—well-written & broadly applicable to moral/political disagreements

But we all know they’d never publish “Should I Let Go of My Friends Who Protest Israel?”

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

@TheFP As someone who had no idea if Teen Vogue still existed, had never heard of Lauren Duca, has never personally used the term “gaslighting,” and had never imagined that Tucker Carlson would interview a Teen Vogue writer, I found this retrospective article to be quite interesting

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

@HHSGov @US_FDA @DrMakaryFDA It’s too bad you’re working for an HHS Sec & a Pres who often make too-good-to-be-true unscientific claims while you have to nod & pretend it’s not nonsense

People—like you & Dr Prasad—who care about data/evidence could do a lot of good at the FDA under different circumstances

[Alt Middle Pediatrician @AltMiddlePeds]

@vinu_arumu21560 @JonHaidt Even if specific vaccines contribute directly to the development of peanut allergy—which seems fairly unlikely—the finding here is that peanut allergy rates in kids < 3 yrs old was down 43% in ‘17-‘20 vs ‘12-‘15

Something other than vaccines clearly play a very important role