One Shot if You Have Been Infected

Here’s noted microbiologist Florian Krammer:

This is now the third paper to find a very very good immune response after one shot of mRNA vaccine in people who had a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. Time to discuss policy changes, @DrNancyM_CDC@CDCDirector

Paper here.

In other words, as I wrote earlier, “for the 25 million to 100 million Americans who have already been infected by COVID it may be better for them personally to delay the second dose….[thus] a significant fraction of second doses have little to no value.”

It’s good that people like Krammer are signaling that it’s time for policy change. Still, I am frustrated. None of this is unexpected or surprising. It’s just that some people (n.b. I am not referring to Krammer in particular) do not have the training or the mindset to make cost-benefit decisions under uncertainty. That’s ok in ordinary times but during a war, pandemic or takeover fight it’s deadly.