Certain “experts” should be quite ashamed for pushing fear mongering tweets and using misleading studies to fit their rhetoric concerning the efficacy of these vaccines. Since they rely on the fact most will not understand the studies since it’s not in layman’s terms allow me. 🧵

Firstly, the conclusions being drawn from this study and this “expert” is that the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 variants would render these vaccines ineffective. This is highly unlikely. It will take a large amount of genetic diversity to completely render the current vaccines useless.
Not to mention Ding is using an older study to push this rhetoric when Pfizer and Moderna have recently established their vaccines will be effective against these variants. Perhaps someone should pass THOSE studies onto him. For the record, if you’re going to claim these vaccines
are ineffective the last thing you should attempt to utilize to push your rhetoric is a study that concerns monoclonal antibodies. Why? Vaccines are polyclonal. Unlike monoclonal antibody therapies, vaccines (especially those utilizing the whole spike protein) make polyclonal
antibody responses. This means that the antibodies you make after vaccination will be able to bind the coronavirus spike in multiple places not just one. You cannot possibly attempt to relate the effectiveness of a monoclonal antibody treatment against these variants to the
vaccines, don’t even try. Two independent platforms. Carrying on. Secondly, the study looks at OLD (Spring 2020) blood sera from NATURAL infection. Therefore they already contained low antibody levels. Why is this an issue? Because everyone knows antibodies from natural infection
with COVID do wane eventually so of course neutralization assays are going to be low? Next, the vaccine sera neutralization assays. Taken from participants shortly after their second dose. I’m not sure what researchers expected. Does anyone realize immunity is not instantaneous?
Key fact, you have to allow the vaccine time to work and take effect before you just dive in there and measure nAbs. They don’t just spring up like daffodils. Measuring them at the intervals this study did no wonder why they saw the antibody titers they did. Not to mention the
study TOTALLY disregarded T-cells. Once again. How are you going to disregard our actual immune systems and their ability to make antibodies for later? Which may I remind you are DRIVEN by vaccines. They teach our bodies to make antibodies for later, not just during active
infection (memory T-cells anyone). That’s immunity! T-cells stimulate B-cells to make antibodies. Antibodies are just your first line of defense which is what is initiated when you get this vaccine. It’s our T-cells that are responsible for long-term immunity. When antibodies
diminish after your initial inoculation, your T-cells-will tell your B-cells it’s time to produce more antibodies. As long as your T-cells still recognize this virus and inform your B-cells they need to produce antibodies, the vaccine is still doing its job.
Antibodies being built up over and over again is nothing new or unique-to this vaccine, this is how vaccines have always worked. This study does not account for this information concerning T-cell immunity AT ALL. The study being utilized is here.
https://t.co/fbkzRDlw90
So do me a favor, if you don’t have the ability to gain traction on your tweets without being completely transparent then don’t tweet it. I only wrote this up because I’m tired of seeing it circulate. It’s misleading. Know your facts. This study ignores the general basic science
and understanding of the immune system and how these vaccines work and their effectiveness against these variants as does this individual apparently. I have people in my DMs fearing about protection after being vaccinated due to tweets like his. I implore you, do not give

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Patriotism is an interesting concept in that it’s excepted to mean something positive to all of us and certainly seen as a morally marketable trait that can fit into any definition you want for it.+


Tolstoy, found it both stupid and immoral. It is stupid because every patriot holds his own country to be the best, which obviously negates all other countries.+

It is immoral because it enjoins us to promote our country’s interests at the expense of all other countries, employing any means, including war. It is thus at odds with the most basic rule of morality, which tells us not to do to others what we would not want them to do to us+

My sincere belief is that patriotism of a personal nature, which does not impede on personal and physical liberties of any other, is not only welcome but perhaps somewhat needed.

But isn’t adherence to a more humane code of life much better than nationalistic patriotism?+

Göring said, “people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”+

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This is a pretty valiant attempt to defend the "Feminist Glaciology" article, which says conventional wisdom is wrong, and this is a solid piece of scholarship. I'll beg to differ, because I think Jeffery, here, is confusing scholarship with "saying things that seem right".


The article is, at heart, deeply weird, even essentialist. Here, for example, is the claim that proposing climate engineering is a "man" thing. Also a "man" thing: attempting to get distance from a topic, approaching it in a disinterested fashion.


Also a "man" thing—physical courage. (I guess, not quite: physical courage "co-constitutes" masculinist glaciology along with nationalism and colonialism.)


There's criticism of a New York Times article that talks about glaciology adventures, which makes a similar point.


At the heart of this chunk is the claim that glaciology excludes women because of a narrative of scientific objectivity and physical adventure. This is a strong claim! It's not enough to say, hey, sure, sounds good. Is it true?