Are we putting in too much hope in this first vaccine? Accounting for only older, less transmissible strains? And this with a new, more transmissible mutation surfacing in the UK earlier this month? Meaning even if we get vaccinated we’re still facing an uphill climb against further, inevitable mutations?
Rather than posting the video, I’ll paste commentary commentary from science journalist Dr Laurie Garrett during her cable news appearance last week:
Regarding variant strains: “I have to give you bad news, this is the fourth mutation…the first big mutational event occurred after the virus jumped to Italy, sometime in February or March. It was that very transmissible strain that made it to New York. The second mutational event occurred this summer when the virus somehow got into mink farms…the third one appeared in October and it is a significant change. It seems to make the virus more transmissible, and there are some indications from the South African Ministry of Health just today that it may also be more virulent in young adults. It’s spreading faster in younger adults and it seems to cause more severe disease in younger adults. And then we have the British strain, which was first noticed apparently in September. It has really swept the UK over the last three weeks. It now accounts for about forty percent of new cases in the UK and seems about 71% more transmissible compared to the routine strains of COVID-19…We may not be looking at a more virulent strain, but certainly a faster spreading strain. One set of studies seems to indicate once people are infected, their bodies actually start producing far more virus…they’re more likely to be infectious to those around them.”
Regarding the vaccine: “The general statement that’s being made by all parties associated with health departments and so on is it looks like the vaccine is going to work out. But we don’t actually have data to answer that question. It is interesting studies on using the routine nucleic acid tests to see if they are infected are missing this virus. They are tests that target the so-called S-Protein, the spike you see sticking out of the sort of ball-shaped virus. That protein is the key mutational event that seems to make this more transmissible. That protein is what logs on to a human cell and then opens the door and then the virus goes into the cell. Well it’s also what your antibodies recognize, and it does appear that at least those kinds of tests that target finding that S-Protein are missing a lot of the British infections.”
tl;dr: COVID is mutating beyond the effectiveness of what the vaccine can keep up with.
