Pascal Soriot, CEO of Astra Zeneca, up to his old tricks. The press have taken up his statement that the AZ vaccine might offer longer protection against the virus than the mRNA versions (Pfizer, Moderna), because of something to do with T cells. It’s the lead headline of the Daily Telegraph. Now, I really hope this is true because I had the AZ vaccine. But there is zero, nil, no evidence to support this statement as Soriot himself admits. Just a guess based on hospitalisation rates in the U.K. As the leader of a science based enterprise this bloke should really know better. Do the ****ing study before you make claims! It might also encourage some people to skip having a booster on the grounds that ‘I’m already protected with AZ’ - I have already heard of aged friends of my mum saying they ‘don’t need’ another jab as they have already ‘had enough vaccine’ (before, admittedly, this story came out). Soriot came out with a lot of this bringing the industry into disrepute **** while the vaccines were being developed. He and his company were then treated very poorly by the EU and several European countries, ultimately to their own detriment, and he got a bit of sympathy from me, which he’s now burning. By the historical standards of vaccine efficacy the AZ jab really is sensationally good, but the message is, whatever you have had to date, get a booster when it’s your turn.
And another 3 months after that no doubt and if you don't get all your boosters then you will be treated no better than the anti vaccers
Yes mate, it will be very interesting to see how shots over long term will affect the body and as to whether it has the reverse effect and weaken it. We are all guinea pigs to some extent, throw in those of us whose immunity is already weakened by illness and levels of medication and it’s a Pandora’s box.
ADVERTISMENT Delta Variant May Have "Mutated Itself Into Extinction" In Japan, Suggest Researchers 0 SHARES HEALTH AND MEDICINE please log in to view this image Mutations help viruses evolve, but they may also kill them off. Image Credit: Lightspring/Shutterstock.com BY JACK DUNHILL 25 NOV 2021, 09:48 In July, Japan was hit by its largest COVID-19 wave yet. Driven by the introduction of the more infectious Delta variant, cases surged to a record of nearly 26,000 daily cases, over four times that of the wave before it. Then, as quickly as cases rose, they fell once again, and within two months of the peak, cases now rest at around 140 per day. Scientists are aware the rapid rise was due to the Delta variant, but they failed to understand how cases plummeted back down while other nations continue to battle against the virus. Now, researchers from Japan’s National Institute of Genetics have proposed that the Delta variant may have fallen victim to its own success – the rapidly-mutating strain may have mutated itself into extinction within Japan. According to the Japan Times, Ituro Inoue and colleagues believe the virus gained a mutation in its error-correcting protein, allowing for genetic errors to accumulate to such a degree that it could no longer replicate. While it would likely not be the first time a virus has "self-destructed" under the weight of its own rapid evolution, it is a phenomenon poorly-documented and a lucky escape for the nation. ADVERTISMENT “We were literally shocked to see the findings,” Inoue told The Japan Times in an interview. “The delta variant in Japan was highly transmissible and keeping other variants out. But as the mutations piled up, we believe it eventually became a faulty virus and it was unable to make copies of itself. Considering that the cases haven’t been increasing, we think that at some point during such mutations it headed straight toward its natural extinction.” The idea began when the researchers delved into the genomic profiles of the Delta variant and compared them to the Alpha variants. The expectation was that the Delta variant would be extremely diverse, with multiple lines branching out from the original strain. Instead, they discovered the Delta variant actually had just two major groups, before it seemed to abruptly halt. The Delta variant, at least in Japan, was no longer mutating and diverging into sublineages. Looking deeper, the researchers examined the viral protein nsp14. This protein has been previously shown to be a proofreading enzyme in RNA viruses – that is to say every time the genetic code of the virus replicates, nsp14 scans through the newly-created genetic material to make sure no errors have cropped up. Mutations in proofreading enzymes spell disaster for organisms that don’t replicate often, so in a virus (which enters the cell, replicates into thousands of virions, and bursts from the host cell in around 10 hours), a faulty enzyme would spell utter catastrophe. They found multiple genetic changes at a site within nsp14, called A394V. These mutations appear to contribute to a crippled virus that is unable to replicate, which could explain how the Delta variant simply vanished from Japan in a matter of months. ADVERTISMENT The theory is certainly interesting but doesn’t quite explain why the crippled virus would outcompete the dominant strain. There are of course other explanations – Japan has one of the highest vaccination rates and people are extremely disciplined at wearing masks, meaning outbreaks in populated areas are likely to be quashed fast. However, it certainly highlights a possible reason behind the decline in cases, and even suggests a possible therapeutic against RNA viruses.
So another, potentially more potent variant found in Africa and Israel...... This sh*t is never going away is it.
Would have a better chance of going away, or at least being manageable, if we actually helped poorer countries vaccinate their populations. Without this they will always be massive breeding grounds for new variants.
But with good vaccine. Too much of the vaccine being given are the Sino xxxx vaccines which only tested around 51% effective against the original virus, are not much use against variants, and with which numerous reports of very bad side effects abound. Many people want the MRNA vaccines which maybe widely available in Europe and N.America, but haven't been in many other countries, including where where I am. But there are indications this will be improving.
I agree, this is never going away. If my flight to lanzarote is cancelled next week i will be well pissed off!!!
With a vaccination rate of under 10% in many African countries it's going to be a long time til this all gets ta ****
2 cases of new variant omicron already in the country. Assuming that these cases were detected only because the person has symptoms. It's already too late. Fingers crossed the variant isn't as clever as they think it is
Probably here and elsewhere in Europe in decent numbers as well, surely they don’t sequence every positive test? Fingers crossed. Aren’t viruses meant to mutate to be ultimately more transmissible but less harmful? I read somewhere that the Spanish Flu is now just a strain of the common cold. Let’s hope we are on this path, but it would be handy to vaccinate more people in poorer countries to restrict this lovely mutation pool the virus has.
2 cases of this new variant have turned up at Munich airport and another one in Frankfurt. They kept 2 plane loads of passengers from Cape Town at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport for 4 hours in one room waiting for tests - from 600 plus passengers 10 were positive but they don't yet know which variant they had. It's always a shock to realize how many people are actually engaged in inter continental travel at any one given point in time, which you only realize at times like this. It's not the disease which is the main enemy here but the scale of globalization, and unnecessary travel, which we have become accustomed to.
They didn’t have globalisation in 1349 but the Black Death spread pretty effectively. As did Spanish flu. Viruses are transmissible by nature (not by design, no intelligence involved in this), they will spread whatever. We can only impact the speed of spread.