Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at East Carolina University in the Brody School of Medicine, views are mine #Coronavirus, #COVID19

Greenville, NC
mRNA COVID vaccines are recommended TODAY by the US Gov under Trump and RFK. They are safe and effective. US recommend COVID vaccinations (3 companies, only 2 of them are RNA) #covid #covid19 #vaccines cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/cl…
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mRNA is in all your cells and in all animals and plants. it's the code for making proteins. it's called messenger RNA because it carries the 'message' from your DNA genes on how to make your proteins. Cell biology 101, See #mRNA #Pfizer #moderna en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messen…
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Many hospitals are requiring masks again because there's so much respiratory virus spreading. #CovidIsntOver Better masks work better. Lots of info here. N95s work, even in BSL3 virus labs. COVID, RSV and flu are still killing #covidisnotover fda.gov/medical-devices/pers…
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People are spreading false info when the truth is that COVID vaccinated people have better health outcomes in everything! These are UK data.Many who caught COVID have poor health even years later #mRNA #COVID19 #CovidIsNotOver @ECUBrodySOM #Pfizer #VaccineInjuries #COVIDisNotOver
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Get your flu vaccine now; it's increasing. Like all vaccines, it takes a couple of weeks to ramp up your immunity. Get it now & you'll be better protected for holiday travel and gatherings. If you're vaccinated, you also protect OTHERS because you're less likely to spread it #flu
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Please see this excellent article from top Virologists in THE Journal of Virology. "The best existing scientific evidence supports a direct zoonotic origin", ie not from a lab. The evidence is very strong! excellent summary journals.asm.org/doi/epdf/10…
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US is getting ~350 deaths/day from COVID. It's not over. You can get vaccinated/boosted anytime free at many drug stores some grocery stores. The COIVD vaccines are safe & effective, rare side effects similar to flu vaccine. If you don't like the RNA vaccines, you can get Novavax
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Replying to @crabb_vicki
Studies all over the world show the same thing. COVID vaccines saved millions of lives
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Replying to @OffThePress1
Inflation in the US is lower than most of the world. US is better than almost every country in S. America, Australia, most of Africa and Europe! Plus we have low unemployment, record highs in stock market and good GDP growth imf.org/external/datamapper/…
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I once gave a poster presentation and some Asian men came up and said 'oh, she's a woman, look!' They didn't know my first name was female and were apparently shocked when they saw me. Both men and women are biased against women, reviewed here ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3131…
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Replying to @twiglethecate
Please remember that viruses mutate and evolve; they don't stay stationary. Science explores viruses and how they change over time. We learn new things and update the information. Our article on mpox vaccines, diagnostics and treatment #Mpox doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.20…
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Replying to @beck_ayeee
don't worry! Papers get rejected all the time. Use their criticism to make your work better, then resubmit, until you make it. So much depends on luck - which reviewers you get. Sometimes a paper will be rejected from a journal and get accepted to a BETTER journal!
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Good news in Pitt County, we're over the hump. Let's keep the COVID cases down. Wear a mask with at least 2 layers covering your NOSE and mouth, keep physical distance, and wash hands. Avoid crowds. @ECUProfessor @EastCarolina
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Unvaccinated people always die at higher rates from COVID. Deaths are down now that most people have some immunity, either from vaccination or infection. The most susceptible are already gone, but anyone who's immunocompromised is still very high risk for death #CovidIsntOver
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Replying to @liz_churchill10
There is NO safety problem for COVID vaccine in pregnancy. More than 40,000 women have shown it's safe. There's just the NORMAL percent of problems. People are confusing normal bad outcomes with vaccine effects: they don't understand statistics. cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nco…
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Pitt County is really high for COVID now. Be super careful! wear a mask covering NOSE and mouth, keep distance from others, and wash hands after touching anything outside your home. @ECUProfessor @EastCarolina @ECUBrodySOM
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Replying to @liz_churchill10
Twitter X is just FULL of fake stuff like this!!! You can't trust anything on Twitter X/social media. You can only trust real news organization or US Gov websites. Here are current US COVID vaccine recommendations (3 companies, only 2 of them are RNA) cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/cl…
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COVID was a terrible pandemic, so people think somebody must have done something wrong. it's just natural evolution. Viruses jump ALL THE TIME! What makes a pandemic is when it jumps AND it has mutations that allow human to human transmission. These viruses area all over Asia
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In winter when you go outside, you can see your breath. That happens all the time, you just don't see it when it's warmer. That's why we all need to wear masks to help filter out those tiny droplets that are filled with virus if the person is infected @ECUProfessor @EastCarolina
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Replying to @bielleogy
Everyone should give students good advice and not be mean. Mentors should prepare all students for difficult questions. My mentor told me that we present research at conferences TO GET CRITICISM, that's what makes our work better. Being a professional requires toughness
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Pitt County now has 185 active confirmed cases of COVID, and hospitalizations have gone way up. Be careful! wear a mask when out where other people are close by, stay 6 feet away, wash your hands, don't touch your face @ECUProfessor @EastCarolina pittcountync.gov/672/Emergen…
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We have numerous virus families jumping into humans now, Marburg in Africa (filovirus), H5N1 in North American (orthomyxovirus), mpox in Africa. We can't know which group will cause the next pandemic, so virologists study all to make vaccines, drugs #Mpox #H5N1 #MarburgVirus
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Replying to @PeterHotez
Many people don't understand, they think if they took ivermectin and survived that it was because of the ivermectin, but COVID only kills 1-2% so they would have survived anyway and maybe have recovered more quickly. bbc.com/news/health-58170809
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Replying to @RealMattCouch
All of the approved COVID vaccines have been through Phase I, II and III human clinical trails. Pfizer Phase III clinical trial data were published in Dec 2020, 95% efficacy against original covid compared to placebo vaccinated controls, good safety. nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/ne…
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Replying to @PrezLives2022
Construction workers’ union Endorses Biden. “Donald Trump is incapable of running anything,” said Sean McGarvey #BidenHarris2024 #TrumpTrials #trump2024 #TRUMP2024ToSaveAmerica #Trump2024TheOnlyChoice #Trump2024AmericaFirst abcnews.go.com/Business/wire…
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COVID does long term damage in the body, heart and brain. Other studies show COVID infection increases Alzheimer's occurrence and progression. Get vaccinated and boosted, they protect #covid19 #Covid #CovidVaccines #CovidIsntOver
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Coronavirus deaths in the US are higher than reported. People dying at home aren't being counted, and it's 4 times normal. "In the last three days, 766 people were found dead in their homes, in NY city alone". mass graves. #COVID19US #COVID19 #COVIDIOTS msn.com/en-us/news/us/how-ma…
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Replying to @ASlowRiot1
The RT-PCR's are fantastically specific. There is no sequence similarity between COVID and flu. I never get a false positive PCR in my lab. We run negative controls every time, and never get a positive on them. Someone is feeding you lies.
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We have almost 500 active cases in Pitt County NC now!! Record high 1000+ hospitalizations in NC. Be careful, wear a mask that covers your NOSE and mouth or you could get sick or spread virus to all. @ECUProfessor @EastCarolina @ECUBrodySOM pittcountync.gov/672/Emergen…
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Ukraine is fighting Putin for the whole world. Russia invaded Georgia in 2008, Crimea in 2014, Ukraine in 2022. Why would anyone think Putin will stop there? We should give Ukraine anything they want! #UkraineRussiaWar️️ #Zelenskyy #trump #Putin
🚨 JUST IN NEW SRSS POLL: More Americans Support Ukraine Than Support Donald Trump 68% of Americans support aid to Ukraine. 46% of Americans Approve of Trump. s3.documentcloud.org/documen…
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Replying to @PrezLives2022
Trump has been indicted by 4 different grand juries of US citizens in 4 different areas, NY, Florida, Georgia and DC, 2 states and 2 federal indictments. found guilty of assault $5 Mil, and fraud $364 M apnews.com/article/donald-tr…
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We got $1M National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant for women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math THRIVING IN STEM! There is so much data showing bias damages careers of women. I've been working on this for 7 yrs @ECUBrodySOM news.ecu.edu/2020/08/27/thri… via @eastcarolina
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Replying to @SharkWeek
absolutely amazing footage! inside and outside of the sharks. I can't believe you inserted a tracker in the uterus - most amazing program!!!!!!!!!! A+++++++++
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Autopsy study shows COVID virus infects and causes damage all over the body. Scientists found virus in cardiovascular, lymphoid, gastrointestinal, renal, endocrine, reproductive, muscle, brain and other tissue. Vaccines protect #COVID19 #CovidIsNotOver niaid.nih.gov/news-events/co…
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COVID cases are at an all time high in the US. We got a break in summer, but it's roaring back. Vaccines won't be available to public for months. Wear a face mask covering your NOSE and mouth, keep distance, and wash hands @ECUProfessor @EastCarolina #CovidVaccine #Covid_19
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Replying to @PopularLiberal
Georgia's former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan “I think the more Americans can see…the quicker we're going to start to heal as a party... I think history is going to prove that Donald Trump was one of the biggest mistakes this country's ever made." npr.org/2023/08/16/119411516…
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Replying to @PeterHotez
Politicians silenced CDC when they wanted to tell facts and warn about COVID “If they were silent about the risks to the public, it was only because government researchers were muzzled by the Trump administration” .”. nytimes.com/2023/03/21/healt…
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There is some confusion about herd immunity. U.S. has 330 M people, if only 70% get infected and there’s just 1.4% fatality (many estimates are higher), that’s over 3 million dead Americans. So far, we have 99,000 confirmed COVID deaths, probably higher, 120 K. @ECUProfessor
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In the last 4 days, Pitt County has 27 new cases!! That's a big jump! Wear a mask/face covering anytime you're in public. It protects you and others @ECUProfessor @EastCarolina @ECUBrodySOM pittcountync.gov/672/Emergen…
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So far we have ~43,000 deaths from COVID in the US in 2024. COVID is killing way fewer now, but still killing. Masks, distancing, hand washing, and vaccines still help protect us #Thanksgiving2024 #covid #CovidIsNotOver #COVID_19 #COVIDー19 #vaccines #vaccineSideEffects
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Everyone should get their flu shot this year! to protect yourselves and your family/friends, so you don't have to go to the doctor or hospital with flu when hospitals will be overwhelmed with COVID. A few years ago we had 60,000 Americans die from flu @EastCarolina @ECUProfessor
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In 2024 every single scientific society, medical organization, government committee worldwide recommends COVID vaccination: CDC, NIH, FDA, WHO, EU, ACIP, AAAS, Am Academy Pediatrics, Am College Obstetricians Gynecologists, Society Maternal-Fetal Medicine acog.org/news/news-releases/…
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56 New COVID cases in Pitt County diagnosed since Friday. There are 148 active confirmed cases in Pitt County (so I'd guess 600+). Wearing a mask protects you and others. Cloth masks should have at least 2 layers. @ECUProfessor science.sciencemag.org/conte…
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We have viruses jumping species into humans ALL THE TIME. That's why virologists study them, to make drugs and vaccines to protect us. These are the virus families of top concern, but it could be anything #H5N1 #influenza, #pandemic #NIH #CDC #mpox #virus #Vaccines #vaccine
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Replying to @BBCAMERICA
I love your nature programs, but PLEASE STOP constantly focusing on death, dying, starving, dying of thirst, drowning, being lost. It's just a constant assault on the senses!! it's just awful to watch this all the time!
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Proud of my student who has finished his thesis, despite all the COVID problems, and is graduating! Congratulations Will! @EastCarolina
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100 new COVID cases in Pitt County in the last 3 days. Be careful everybody! wear a mask, keep distance from others, wash your hands anytime you touch anything outside your home (door knobs, gas pumps, pens, receipts, bags). @ECUProfessor @EastCarolina pittcountync.gov/672/Emergen…
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American Academy of Pediatrics (67,000 physicians) states "COVID-19 vaccine is currently authorized for children and adolescents 6 months of age and older. Pediatricians are encouraged to vaccinate at every opportunity" #COVID19 #COVID CoronaVaccine aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-…
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In 2025 every single scientific society, medical org, gov committee Worldwide recommends COVID vaccination: CDC, NIH, FDA, WHO, EU, ACIP, AAAS, AmAcademy Pediatrics, AmCollege Obstetricians & Gynecologists, Society Maternal-Fetal Medicine #covidvaccines acog.org/news/news-releases/…
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Replying to @Andre__Damon
I heard it on the news today on NPR and CDC made an announcement. it's going up in N Carolina too. I've been posting on that recently.
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The reports that ivermectin worked for COVID were retracted. All the later large proper studies showed it does NOT work. If it worked, we'd use it! ivermectin fake data. bbc.com/news/health-58170809
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10% of Emergency room visits are for respiratory viruses now. Be careful. Masks work. 417 people hospitalized for COVID last week in N Carolina. Get vaccinated/boosted for flu, RSV and COVID #mRNA #SARSCoV2 #RSV @ECUBrodySOM
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COVID is still much worse than influenza - causing way more hospitalizations all year (these are NCarolina data). Vaccines are very protective and safe #Covid #CovidLong #CovidIsntOver #CovidIsAirborne #SARSCoV2 @ECUBrodySOM @EastCarolina @WRALAaron #mRNA #pfizer #novavax
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Replying to @PeterHotez
It's sad that politics have endangered people's lives. Public health should be for all Americans. Study shows that death rate of Republican voters was 15% higher than that of Democrats. Some were misled. #mRNA #COVID19 cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/poli…
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Please wear a mask. Even if you don't care about others' lives, you should realize how much this will cost all tax payers. We won't let our hospitals go out of business because of the huge costs, it will end up being paid by taxpayers - YOU! @ECUProfessor @EastCarolina #COVID
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In 2024 every single scientific society, medical organization, government committee worldwide recommends COVID vaccination: CDC, NIH, FDA, WHO, EU, ACIP, AAAS, Am Academy Pediatrics, Am College Obstetricians Gynecologists, Society Maternal-Fetal Medicine acog.org/news/news-releases/…
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Replying to @DrNice2026
Paxlovid and molnupiravir work for COVID. Ivermectin does NOT work for COVID, and it can have toxicity. No one recommends it: not WHO, CDC, NIH, FDA, EU, any physician societies...just a few confused docs who don't understand properly controlled trials fda.gov/consumers/consumer-u…
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it would be great to see a list of red flags!
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Evan did a great job working on our paper! a lot of difficult analysis.
#ECUSummer Scholars | @BradnerEvan, M2 The COVID-19 test-based discharge strategy leads to unnecessary increased length of hospitalization, higher costs, and procedure delays. 📝 bit.ly/318mV1N Mentor: @Roper_Lab #ECUBrodySOM Scholarship Day ➡️bit.ly/2D5IYOB
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I'm presenting on COVID today for a general audience @ECUProfessor @ECUBrodySOM @ECU_Honors @EastCarolina ecu.webex.com/ecu/onstage/g.…
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Please see this excellent article from top Virologists in THE Journal of Virology. "The best existing scientific evidence supports a direct zoonotic origin", ie not from a lab. The evidence is very strong! excellent summary #covid #fauci journals.asm.org/doi/epdf/10…
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Average age of our hospitalized COVID patients is 50! more and more young people are being hospitalized. In NYC almost as many 45-64 years old died as those over 65. We had someone in mid 20's die of a COVID heart attack. No one is safe #COVID #COVID19 #COVIDー19 @ECUProfessor
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Replying to @HenryYin19
I tell my students they get 'extra credit' if they can prove me wrong. I want to learn too! sometimes we argue about what results mean and have different interpretations, I just say "do the experiment, let's see the results." We try to 'grow' grad students into professors 😀
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Replying to @PatrioticBabe_
Ivermectin does NOT work for COVID and it has toxicity. No one recommends it: not WHO, CDC, NIH, FDA, EU, any physician societies...just a few confused docs who don't understand properly controlled trials fda.gov/consumers/consumer-u…
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Replying to @Surgeon_General
Masks should be required not recommended. Come on! You know the data. Stand up!!! People who are not wearing masks are killing our citizens, disemboweling our economy and running up huge health care costs that will burden all our tax payers.
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I was the only woman hired in my department (16 male faculty) I was the first/only woman tenured, and now I've been promoted to (full) Professor. It is a difficult road, but YOU can do it @AWISNational #WomenInScience #WoCinSTEM #WomenInSTEM @AAAS_SEAChange @WEPAN @ASEEDiversity
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Analysis on sequences showed that the SARSCoV2/COVID 19 RNA was found WITH samples that also had racoon dog DNA/RNA. It's additional circumstantial evidence and may identify the intermediate animal from bats. There are lots of these viruses around Asia. nature.com/articles/s41586-0…
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We have a SECOND bus driver that has COVID 19 on bus route 6- all over from downtown to south central and western Greenville NC! be careful @ECUProfessor #Pirates
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Autopsy study shows COVID virus infects and causes damage all over the body. Scientists found virus in cardiovascular, lymphoid, gastrointestinal, renal, endocrine, reproductive, muscle, brain and other tissue. Vaccines protect #COVID19 #CovidIsNotOver niaid.nih.gov/news-events/co…
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I looked up Israel and it says "Do not travel to Israel and the West Bank due to COVID-19, travel restrictions, and quarantine procedures instituted by the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority respectively"... it adds terrorism and civil unrest, armed conflict.
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US National Institutes of Health funds $millions in medical research in all US States; universities, companies, medical centers. Cutting NIH will hurt cancer research, diabetes, autism, heart, Alzheimers... damage economies across the country #DOGE #NIH report.nih.gov/award/index.c…
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There is tremendous bias against women & people of color in STEM, data @AWISNational @WEPAN @BLACKandSTEM @ECUOED @ARCEquityinSTEM @AAAS_SEAChange @UNC_TEAMADVANCE @AllianceAspire @TTUADVANCE @AdvanceMtu @TigersAdvance @BSOM_Diversity @blackinMicro @EDIinGeo @NovaNSFADVANCE
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When our governments offer something free, it means it's paid for by our tax dollars. If you want low taxes, wear a mask, keep distance, and wash your hands to save money for us all - and save businesses and lives! @ECUProfessor #COVID19 nypost.com/2020/04/03/us-gov…
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H1B VISAs are incredibly important for biological/med science in US. There aren't enough PhD's to work at that level (post-docs) in US. We need foreigners -and they get better training in US! And it's good for our international relationships. They understand US better #H1B #h1b
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Pitt County NC has 36 new cases since Monday (one day), 9 dead so far. All time high hospitalizations for NC 989. Wear a mask, be careful! @ECUProfessor @ECUBrodySOM @EastCarolina newsobserver.com/news/corona…
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Replying to @WmHaseltine
My estimate is aorund 3 million dead in the US if we just let it sweep through, but it could be 6 since we don't really know the correct fatality rate. Through history, people have never gotten herd immunity from natural viral infections - only through vaccines
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The second COVID shot gives much stronger side effects because the immune response was primed by the first vaccine. The now-prepared immune response goes on full attack mode because it thinks a dangerous virus has invaded, so people get fever, fatigue, headache maybe even chills
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What the heck is wrong with Ron DeSantis? Look at how he is standing when they pan back and you can see him behind the podium. It's like his arms are sticking forward. Is his jacket stuffed? #GOPDebate #republicanDebate
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For DNA vaccines, the DNA must go into the nucleus and then make RNA & then make protein. RNA vaccines just go straight into the cytoplasm & make protein, so they are more efficient. The problem is that RNA is so unstable, it falls apart so quickly. Many ways to create vaccines:
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This is how we monitor pandemics. We know many viruses are jumping into humans all the time. Right now, we're at level 4 for mpox, level 3 for influenza H5N1. COVID was a 6 #h5n1 #influenza #pandemic #SARSCoV2 #Mpox #Covid_19 #COVIDisAirborne #COVIDRoyalCommission
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East Carolina University Y'all Means All (T-shirt) campaign to show the we invite ALL people to be part of our community- diversity, equity and inclusion! @ECUBrodySOM @EastCarolina @ECUOED @EcuThrive @AnneTicknor @AmandaAnnKlein @ECULGBTQ @ECU_BSOM_FacDev @BSOM_Diversity @BSOM
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We had a Women in Microbiology reception & panel of winners of women in Micro awards at AmSoc Microbiology Conf. One was 90! We thank & honor the women pioneers in science who paved the way for us all! @ASMicrobiology @ASMnewsroom @AWISNational @WomeninSTEM23 @ARCEquityinSTEM
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I’m a Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and my salary is paid by the medical school. I teach future docs, virology, diagnostics, vaccines. You can see publications here. I'm not a bot, just efficient with useful links to real data scholar.google.com/citations…
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Replying to @DrTomFrieden
Who pays for the vaccines, vaccinations, hospitalizations, PPE, diagnostics, treatments and health care workers? We all do - it's our tax dollars and our insurance payments. this is expensive! don't be surprised. There is no such thing as government money. it's our taxes.
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American Society for Microbiology Conf, DC. I presented on PCR detection of COVID in HVAC systems (and on diversity & inclusion in science). We all had to be vaccinated and wear masks at the conference- we understand the virus @ECUBrodySOM @ASMicrobiology #COVID #COVIDisAirborne
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People are spreading false info when the truth is that COVID vaccinated people have better health outcomes in everything! These are UK data. Many who caught COVID have poor health even years later. #mRNA #COVID19 #CovidIsNotOver #Pfizer #VaccineInjuries #VaccineGenocide
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If you test negative for COVID, it doesn't mean you don't have COVID. It only means you don't have enough virus to detect. You could be in the incubation phase. Every person who ever got COVID would have tested negative one day and positive the next @ECUProfessor @EastCarolina
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COVID Deaths in NC Apr-Aug. We have the highest deaths /day now. First there are cases, later hospitalizations rise, then later death begin to accumulate. Be careful everybody, more people together=more cases. @ECUProfessor @EastCarolina
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NC deaths are going up again now that more people are out- be careful. We have 53 new cased in Pitt in the last week. @ECUProfessor @ECUBrodySOM @EastCarolina pittcountync.gov/672/Emergen…
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