Posted on 04/30/2021 3:26:55 AM PDT by impimp
It’s just the flu, bro.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/explainer-what-we-know-about-the-indian-variant-as-coronavirus-sweeps-south-asia/ar-BB1gcHdl
Indian variant...there are a bunch of words like “global concern”...but I know I certainly don’t care about variant B.1.617. Rest assured this variant will raise the alarm of the media when someone gets this variant in the US, even though it is essentially the same as all the other variations. How exciting...the media sort of gets a whole new fresh pandemic every time a new variant spreads to any new country. And they get to use the word “concern” in every article that discusses it.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3955023/posts
Indian variant is now in Israel and is raising “concern”.
It’s just the flu, bro.
Indian variant...there are a bunch of words like “global concern”...but I know I certainly don’t care about variant B.1.617. Rest assured this variant will raise the alarm of the media when someone gets this variant in the US, even though it is essentially the same as all the other variations. How exciting...the media sort of gets a whole new fresh pandemic every time a new variant spreads to any new country. And they get to use the word “concern” in every article that discusses it.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3955023/posts
Indian variant is now in Israel and is raising “concern”.
Ping freepmail Impimp to go on the ping list
India will have to have between 3-5 Million deaths to have the death rate of New York City, but nobody talks about a “New York City Variant”
When over 6 Million Indians die of Govid, THEN I will be concerned about an “Indian Variant”.
“Variants”
Got that one tried on me in a discussion of natural immunity.
Told I could be shedding the virus (like my immunity is...what...Teflon?) and infecting others; I laughed.
Told I could get COVID again; I called that out as a media lie.
Told I could get a variant and maybe have a worse sickness; I pointed out the use of “could” and “maybe”.
Overall I asked, “If my natural immunity can’t stop me from getting COVID again (a dubious assertion of the media) and can’t stop the variants from infecting me, what good will the vaxx do since it purports to provide immunity?”
Yep - whenever an argument uses “Could” or “maybe” for it’s side, but refuses to look at all the “coulds” and “maybes” as far as the potential bad side effects, they have no argument.
IBTAK
Overall I asked, “If my natural immunity can’t stop me from getting COVID again (a dubious assertion of the media) and can’t stop the variants from infecting me, what good will the vaxx do since it purports to provide immunity?”
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In my humble (and reasonably well informed) opinion EITHER having had and recovered from COVID-19 OR having been vaccinated (by an American approved vaccine) gives you near individual immunity. Thank you for your contribution toward our herd immunity.
The US has 201 confirmed cases of the B.1.617 variant. First recorded case of it here was Feb 23, 2021 (https://www.gisaid.org/hcov19-variants//). Existing vaccines do provide protection, though with the specific mutations this variant has, they’re likely at a somewhat reduced efficacy. That said, they should still be effective in reducing the spread and the severity of symptoms for those who catch it who’ve been vaccinated.
It’s here and it’s being handled the same as the rest of the variants. Not a big deal. The thing worth watching is what else comes out of India, since they’re selling off most of the vaccine doses they’re making and leaving most of their people to act as hosts. Each host gives the virus 10,000,000,000–1,000,000,000,000 opportunities to mutate (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7685332/). So worth keeping an eye on, but certainly not worth any panic. The boosters in testing right now provide much more targeted protection against the mutations in this variant.
That's a good question, and the answer is that if you've had a mild or asymptomatic case of COVID-19, the levels of neutralizing antibodies in your body tends to be fairly low and don't last very long (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20247-4). Meanwhile, the vaccines induce a much stronger immune response than a mild or asymptomatic case, leading to better protection that last longer (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03324-6).
This becomes more important when we talk about variants like P.1, which has slight structural changes to the S protein such that the neutralizing antibodies based on the April 2020 variant (or the original Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 for that matter) don't bind as effectively. Sort of like trying to unlock a lock with a key that's been altered slightly. It can still work, but it requires a lot more time, effort, and luck.
The city of Manaus, Brazil is a stark example of this. Widespread serology (antibody) testing showed that 70% of the city had been infected previously. Then P.1 showed up and suddenly massive waves of COVID-19 struck the city again. They had already been hit incredibly hard before. They should have had immunity from infection recovery. P.1 didn't really care. (Source)
So, the only truly immunity comes from death?
Makes sense.
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