I’ve warned about this many times, but it always fell on deaf ears as everyone likes rushing things through clinical trials and doing emergency authorizations at warp speed. Convalescent plasma and antibody treatments can create a selective pressure for the coronavirus to mutate.

Some patients, especially the immunocompromised, can have several different coronavirus strains circulating within their bodies. Giving these patients convalescent plasma or antibodies can kill the susceptible strains of the virus while allowing the resistant strains to multiply.

It’s similar to what we see in bacteria from our overuse of antibiotics causing resistance. The most infuriating thing about all of this is that convalescent plasma and monoclonal antibodies have not been proven through clinical trials to improve survival. Only dexamethasone has.

This new coronavirus mutant in the UK has multiple mutations within the spike protein that causes it to bind to the ACE2 receptor more tightly and to avoid the neutralizing effect of monoclonal antibodies. That is in fact terrible news and may have been from our reckless actions.

We swore an oath to do no harm. Our ethical guidelines in medicine exist for a reason. We must be extra careful during a pandemic when society is scared and regulatory bodies will do whatever we want. We must never experiment on human beings like guinea pigs, just because we can.

Science does not happen at warp speed. No matter how much technology advances, nothing substitutes for evidence gathered over time unless you invent a time machine. I’m tired of all the propaganda and gaslighting convincing people it’s normal for clinical trials to go this fast.

There must also be more room for open discussion on Twitter where apparently all the policy decisions are made. Falsely accusing people advocating for more caution as “giving ammunition to anti-vaxxers” creates an echo chamber where everyone cheers reckless actions at warp speed.

I worry about things like antibody dependent enhancement. I worry about our novel treatments causing a selective pressure for the coronavirus to mutate. Being a skeptic and advocating for caution does not mean I am anti-science. I love science and don’t want it to be compromised.