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Old 11-27-2021, 05:10 PM   #3
thebix
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Default The new variant appears to be spreading most quickly among those who are unvaccinated

Quote:
Originally Posted by WinnisquamZ View Post
The only thing we know for sure is those all infected have been fully vaccinated
Hard to understand where you get that information.
https://www.necn.com/news/national-i...icron/2624663/
The new variant appears to be spreading most quickly among those who are unvaccinated

We’re seeing a marked change in the demographic profile of patients with COVID-19,” Rudo Mathivha, head of the intensive care unit at Soweto’s Baragwanath Hospital, told an online press briefing.

“Young people, in their 20s to just over their late 30s, are coming in with moderate to severe disease, some needing intensive care. About 65% are not vaccinated and most of the rest are only half-vaccinated,” said Mathivha. “I’m worried that as the numbers go up, the public health care facilities will become overwhelmed.”

A key factor is vaccination. The new variant appears to be spreading most quickly among those who are unvaccinated. Currently, only about 40% of adult South Africans are vaccinated, and the number is much lower among those in the 20 to 40-year-old age group.

From the NBCNEWS story posted,
"The major concerns are that this variant seems to be at least as transmissible as delta, which is very transmissible indeed, and it has a large number of mutations in the crucial spike protein, which is targeted by vaccines," Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard University, said in an email.

"This raises the concern that it might be capable of side-stepping the immunity generated by vaccines," he warned.

Still, he said, as it stands, "we really have very little data ... as yet on exactly how transmissible it is in highly vaccinated populations, let alone on the sort of disease it causes in folks with prior immunity."

Jinal Bhiman, principal medical scientist at National Institute for Communicable Diseases of South Africa, said a key aspect of concern in South Africa, where there is a relatively low vaccination rate, is Bhiman suggested the variant was potentially "evading other immunity responses from other variants," she said.that those who have already been infected by the delta variant appear to be getting reinfected with the new variant.

Bhiman suggested the variant was potentially "evading other immunity responses from other variants," she said.

Still, she said that theory was based on early data, adding it was too soon to say what the variant's impact will be.
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So, the reason this variant is so concerning is the unknown effect vaccinations have on it. And in South Africa, so few are vaccinated there is little data known currently on what the impact will be on vaccinated people. Certainly, the spread in SA is in UNVACCINATED people mostly. The immunity from a previous delta variant does not protect from this one, but then it has always been said the current vaccinations are far better and more protective than the weak/limited immunity from a previous infection so that is not surprising, and does not indicate what vaccination protection may exist.

Certainly, "those all infected have been fully vaccinated" is far from reality in a mostly unvaccinated South Africa.
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