Who is Yves Smith and why should I care?

 I was directed to a post on the nakedcapitalism blog authored by someone called Yves Smith entitled “US as failed state: COVID bosster shot mess.” The post is a farrago of snark, innuendo and misdirection. When you don’t know your topic, the wise thing to do is either research it or shut up and listen to people who have. Sadly, Smith chooses self-indulgence over wisdom.

Here are some facts:

• thanks in large part to the Trump Administration, the US was ill-prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. When it did arrive, Trump lied about it (“hoax,” “it will be gone by summer,” “just like the flu”) and his administration bungled efforts to supply masks and respirators;

• for the NIH and CDC, dealing with the virus and the novel mRNA vaccines was like the fog of war with continuous sniper fire from the American right. Mistakes occur in the fog of war, and of course, members of the 86th Chairborne will generously offer their unsolicited advice after the smoke clears;

• getting the American public on board during a public health crisis is necessarily an exercise in persuasion and messaging, with the messaging sometimes unable to keep up with the science.

Smith’s Monday morning quarterbacking is juvenile and fatuous. Referring to “sainted Dr. Fauci” tells me more about Smith’s envy of Fauci’s expertise and authority than it does about Fauci. Tony Fauci is a world-renown virologist; I never heard of Yves Smith before I was directed to this post. There are those who use the word “expert” as an epithet, but when I need surgery, give me an expert surgeon. YMMV.

“So the Administration, having put all its chips on the magic vaccines . . .” I haven’t seen any Biden Administration claims that vaccines are magic. Or maybe Smith believes the vaccines are “magic?” What is her point?

The post features tweets from J. Kyle Bass, a hedge fund manager, calling Tony Fauci a liar. Seriously? Does Smith see Bass’s bleating as some kind of badge of authority?

Buried in the tedious invective and innuendo is a brief discussion of the decline in neutralizing titer after 6-8 months and the modest effect of a booster on neutralizing titer. Absent was any mention of the fact that vaccine durability rests on the number of specific memory T- and B-cells generated by vaccination. This is harder to measure than antibody titer, but is the more meaningful parameter if one is serious about discussing long-term vaccine protection.

Smith concludes with this ominous line: “It would be better if I were wrong, but we look set to have an ugly autumn.” It is by no means clear how ugly autumn will be WRT the pandemic; it may have already peaked in the US on Labor Day, based on the data. But if we do have an ugly pandemic autumn, blame the anti-vaxxers, not the vaccines, the Biden Administration or Dr. Fauci. And Yves Smith has done nothing to improve the odds.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/09/us-as-failed-state-covid-booster-shot-mess.html