TWiV reviews findings that increased fitness of the Omicron variant is due to immune evasion, not an increase in intrinsic transmissibility, and determination of infectious viral load in patients infected with wild type, Delta and Omicron viruses reveals lack of correlation with RNA loads determined by RT-PCR, similar levels of shedding among Delta and Omicron, and greatly reduced shedding in vaccinated people. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Dickson Despommier, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Travel Award Applications (ASV) 2:11 Omicron transmission in Danish households (medRxiv) Infectious viral load in vaccinated and unvaccinated patients (medRxiv) Fred Murphy on TWiV 625 Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Weekly Picks Dickson – Favorite Science Photos of 2021 Brianne – Viruses, Vaccines, and COVID-19 videos from American Museum of Natural History Kathy – Klompas et al. “Current insights into respiratory virus transmission…” Rich – Leviathan Falls by James S.A. Corey Vincent – Ebola (1996) by David Molesky at The Incubator Listener Picks Randall – Robert Malone & Peter McCullough: A litany of untruths Suellen – Omicron and the case of the hidden evolution – Understanding Evolution Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to [email protected]