thenerdhead

Weird headline. Feels like a distraction from the much more interesting underlying op-ed.

Very cool website! That sounds like a good next step, thank you so much!

no, vaccines were not available when I got covid and developed long covid months later.

thats strange as I thought Germany is the one investing over the next decade in these conditions?

having posted on this topic for years, your comment is the first I’ve seen come to this rational conclusion. usually people double down on their original perspective

strongest evidence so far in gut and immune cells for living organisms.

They did find it in the brain of one patient when doing an unrelated procedure at the NIH. That could be due to many things though. General findings around the CSF/brain have been negative.

Autopsy - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05542-y

Long covid - https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3...

Also this exists in both children and adults.

they’ve done 15 days all null and the 25 day one was null but has some unique labs they tested but haven’t posted yet.

Paxlovid does something to antiviral genes and shows there’s something there though in secondary analysis (not posted but has been presented at conferences)

sadly Paxlovid doesn’t actually get rid of the viral pieces remaining and a PROTAC or other therapy might be necessary to degrade the proteins.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-025-02539-7

evidence says yes, but bacteria and other antigens are being studied. ME/CFS shows antigen persistence like long covid has clearly shown.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45107-3

is a small proof of concept study not a study anymore? gastric biopsies aren’t exactly easy to obtain at scale.

they are pretty well understood now with growing evidence of viral persistence in the gut and immune cells, and immune dysfunction causing autoantibodies.

they are also distinct from other conditions like ME/CFS or other sequelae although they may share overlapping symptoms. A lot of research is going into different PAIS post acute infection syndromes

severity is only one factor in developing long covid.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3...

not quite. A grab bag of biomarkers being validated in research labs across the USA though

small study yes, meaningless no

what we’re seeing now is that the immune system can go into overdrive, where certain immune cells trigger sepsis-like illness, sometimes in milder or chronic ways. long covid and related conditions seem like part of that same spectrum of immune dysfunction.

there’s some great new research out of the university of virginia looking into this https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adq2509

mis-c and the adult versions are rare but real, and there’s early promise with a treatment called larazotide https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.adu4284

the nih recover autopsy studies are also finding viral persistence in multiple organs, with more results coming soon https://recovercovid.org/pathobiology

i work on multiple NIH RECOVER efforts on this topic and post long covid research on x, and honestly the picture is both fascinating and pretty grim https://x.com/atranscendedman

Have you heard of Novavax or any of the intranasal vaccines in late trials?

Yes and those are being funded well. Look at HIV and cancer mRNA breakthroughs. Those aren’t being cut.

This is specifically about COVID-19 and flu. Which after 5 years we have better science supporting how to combat them long term.

I think a lot of people miss that nuance because of who the message is coming from.

There are legitimate scientific efforts underway to explore next-gen vaccine platforms like mucosal and T-cell-based strategies.

That shift is happening regardless of what RFK Jr. says or doesn’t say. Let’s separate the messenger from the actual science for a moment.

> There has been nothing happening on the common cold virus with MRNA vaccines. In retrospect, it seems like CEOs pumping the stock price with wild promises.

So not true. There are numerous candidates for pan-flu and pan-coronavirus vaccines. mRNA and other vehicles.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/clinical-trial...