Blake Wondrasch

Biologist. Pre-med. Former professional (and still certified) EMT. Intellectual with far-ranging interests.

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

More people (4.4 mil) live in Kabul than Los Angeles (3.9 mil). The Taliban are going to maim, rape, torture, and kill anyone they can find who strongly supported American presence in Afghanistan.

We should be evacuating tens of thousands more from Kabul- or humanitarian crisis

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

A year after I wrote this (March 2021) I got Covid a 2nd time, 9 months after my first infection, and Long Haul symptoms for 3 months after...

A warning to the unvaccinated who think they're safe: you CAN get Covid twice!!

I only wish the vaccine had been available to me then!!

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

Am I reading latest WHO news release correctly? (Got a look at it but then closed by accident, van't seem to find again- links appreciated!!) Sounds like there's preliminary- but inconclusive- data that #Covid19 *might* be able to cause re-infections of the previously infected!?

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

@CBNGordon so, your network had Pat Robertson on recently, talking about the "horror stories" of the Budget Reconciliation Bill for helping the sick and needy by providing them healthcare.

When is caring for the sick and needy NOT what Jesus would do?

Be a real Christian.

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

Societies must choose between oppression and investment in their population. Oppressing people costs more in the long run...
https://t.co/HHR87I5KbT

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

https://t.co/3N9ZbcVE4F

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

@DrDenaGrayson @FT @jburnmurdoch The US never was going to have the political will to keep up necessary restrictions for long...

A rather large reason we should be spending 9-10x what we do now on virus/treatment research (instead of a billion here or there, how about 100 billion in funding over the next year?)

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

I've said this before, but will say it again: the single biggest flaw in the #Coronavirus response, has been inadequate #funding for medical #research for #treatments & #vaccine. There's been money: but not proportionate to the disruption of #COVID19. More money= faster research.

[Michael Thomas Mitchell @llMichael]

If you bought a pizzeria and 3 years later if you ran out of flour, aprons, sauce, cheese, gloves and hair nets. Can you blame the previous owner?

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

Am I reading latest WHO news release correctly? (Got a look at it but then closed by accident, van't seem to find again- links appreciated!!) Sounds like there's preliminary- but inconclusive- data that #Covid19 *might* be able to cause re-infections of the previously infected!?

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

#Covid_19 has also shone a light on systemic problems with America: particularly lack of adequate housing supply, and having too few medical practitioners/resources. Overcrowded cities helped #COVID19 spread faster, and overcrowded+understaffed hospitals+clinics made it deadlier.

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

We spent 250x as much $ on the $2 trillion #COVID19 aid package as we did on the latest $8 billion package to accelerate a vaccine! This is illogocal: we should be spending AT LEAST 1/20th as much on finding a vaccine as on dealing with consequences. So we can end this sooner!!

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

#Biden supporters will ignore this, but #Bernie didn't lose because he was 'too divisive', and 2020 was NOT an anti-Bernue vote. Bernie lost because of relentless media attacks and an unwillingness to go for the jugular v. Biden. See old #Obama 2008 clips.
https://t.co/NTADQ2PTdc

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

Funny #JohnOliver bit on #Covid19 and current events
https://t.co/2IimtJtgye

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

(2/2) our economy and scientific expertise. Research not only averts pandemics and saves lives, but develops the basis for new pharmaceuticals we can sell here and overseas. The scientific fields can soak up Unemployment- particularly of underemployed youth w/ advanced degrees.

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

https://t.co/1Srmis8Jw1

Vaccine research funding by the NIH never exceeded $3 billion/year for the past 10 years. Funding for developing the basis for new antivirals and nonspecific (innate) immunity adjuvants was even less during that time period.

Not researching cost us more

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

And this is not some attempt just to pump some particular research goal.

NIH spending, though it should be carefully prioritized by cost-benefit analysis to maximize efficiency in how awards are given out, should be at least 20x what it is now to maximize the growth of... (1/2)

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

Research. We could have developed a much broader repertoire of antivirals, and work like research I was involved in on stimulating nonspecific innate antiviral immune responses to clear certain infections. We spent less than $10/American/year on vaccine research the last 10 yrs.

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

As a biologist who did his first Master's degree in virus research, but couldn't find a job in it after because most virology is funded by government, and not well- my 2 cents are, we could have greatly reduced the scope of this crisis if we had invested more money in... (1/2)

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

@Synsei1 @DrJenGunter Exposes the snobbery and shallow reading/thinking that dominates much of social media. This wasn't "mob rule" over science- it was a symbolic petition to relax regulations in an overly-bureaucratic country (France) originally put forward by a former health minister there.

[Blake Wondrasch @BlakeWondrasch]

@Synsei1 @DrJenGunter But he had to be the first to publish! Lol.

This exposes much of what's wrong with the incentives for researchers.

As the lash-back against simply relaxing a few regulations (rules that should have been relaxed anyways, to get experimental treatments out faster in France)...