Do We Need These Omicron-Specific Boosters? (w/Dr. Paul Offit)

A must-watch deep dive into some science!

Vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit is less than impressed with evidence to support the Omicron BA.4/5 "bivalent" booster shots now rolling out for everyone 12 and older. We also talk polio and monkeypox and flu 👍

Video: https://zdoggmd.com/paul-offit-10/

Topics & Timestamps:

00:00 Intro

1:10 A brief history of the Covid vaccines, groups that benefit from boosting

5:12 Incubation periods and vaccination "goals," preventing infection vs. severe disease

10:54 Bivalent vaccine, the FDA's EUA approach, crucial dosing issues (ancestral strain vs. bivalent)

17:15 BA.4/5 booster immunogenicity data (or lack thereof), mouse data & vax safety profile

21:40 Why Paul himself would pass on the new booster, incubation periods, why Covid zero is a fantasy

24:28 Paul's "perfect" bivalent vaccine

25:37 Yearly targeted boosters, myocarditis and the Thai children's study

28:39 BA.4/5: MIS-C, boosters & long Covid, data from JAMA's Italian study

31:28 Comparing BA.4/5 & the yearly flu vax, timing of the yearly flu shot

38:45 Polio's resurgence, injected inactivated vs. live oral polio vaccines, the role of sanitation

48:05 Monkeypox and a history of smallpox vaccines

56:43 Reflection w/Dr. Offit: what he's gotten right, what he's gotten wrong and where to go from here

1:01:57 Final thoughts

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