Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!

[coollino]

Why is this one 'potentially vaccine ending'?

There's not one variant so far that has been immune to the vaccines. And there almost certainly won't be. Plus, you've got loads of people (isn't it like forecasted that 70% or something of over 16s in the UK) who have had COVID now.

I think it's been said around 90% of UK adults have antibodies now

 

[BlueToff]

I think it's been said around 90% of UK adults have antibodies now

Cheers! I thought I'd seen that figure somewhere but couldn't be sure, and then did a quick search and both 70% and that 90% figure came up.

I mean yeah, even if I just think of my group of mates, there's like 11/15 of us that have 100% had it and confirmed to have had it, and then 2 more who are pretty sure they had it in the first lockdown. I imagine you're looking similar all over the country. 4/5 of my immediate family (including myself) have had it too - and we're all vaccinated.

 

[Wizard]

Omicron just sounds like a Transformer.

It just keeps on reminding me of these guys from Futurama

 

[coollino]

Cheers! I thought I'd seen that figure somewhere but couldn't be sure, and then did a quick search and both 70% and that 90% figure came up.

I mean yeah, even if I just think of my group of mates, there's like 11/15 of us that have 100% had it and confirmed to have had it, and then 2 more who are pretty sure they had it in the first lockdown. I imagine you're looking similar all over the country. 4/5 of my immediate family (including myself) have had it too - and we're all vaccinated.

That seems a lot. I think I only know of 4 people having it from a pool of say 50 friends, family etc.

Most of my mates are early 30's or have Kids younger than primary school, which may make a difference

 

[peteblue]

Omicron just sounds like a Transformer.

I wonder why they skipped Xi…….

 

[Seanjd]

Why is this one 'potentially vaccine ending'?

There's not one variant so far that has been immune to the vaccines. And there almost certainly won't be. Plus, you've got loads of people (isn't it like forecasted that 70% or something of over 16s in the UK) who have had COVID now.

Is it something to do with the amount of spike proteins? I think this variant is quite different to the previous we’ve seen. Here’s hoping it either doesn’t evade vaccines or that vaccines can be modified quickly for future roll out.

 

[BlueToff]

That seems a lot. I think I only know of 4 people having it from a pool of say 50 friends, family etc.

Most of my mates are early 30's or have Kids younger than primary school, which may make a difference

Yeah so it probably doesn't help in our case that like 6 of them all got it from going out to watch an England game during the Euros!

And then I likely caught it from my sister who passed it on to my dad, her fiance

 

[LinekersLegs]

Cheers! I thought I'd seen that figure somewhere but couldn't be sure, and then did a quick search and both 70% and that 90% figure came up.

I mean yeah, even if I just think of my group of mates, there's like 11/15 of us that have 100% had it and confirmed to have had it, and then 2 more who are pretty sure they had it in the first lockdown. I imagine you're looking similar all over the country. 4/5 of my immediate family (including myself) have had it too - and we're all vaccinated.

The concern, and I stress this is very preliminary and lab/field work needs to determine how it works in practice, is that the changes in this variant may make the current antibodies people have less effective. That is why you currently have a lot of scientists across the globe working long hours to figure it out.

Heavily mutated Omicron variant puts scientists on alert

Researchers are racing to determine whether a fast-spreading coronavirus variant poses a threat to COVID vaccines’ effectiveness.

www.nature.com

Moore’s team — which provided some of the first data on Beta’s ability to dodge immunity — has already begun work on B.1.1.529. They plan to test the virus’s ability to evade infection-blocking antibodies, as well as other immune responses. The variant harbours a high number of mutations in regions of the spike protein that antibodies recognize, potentially dampening their potency. “Many mutations we know are problematic, but many more look like they are likely contributing to further evasion,” says Moore.

 

[BlueToff]

Is it something to do with the amount of spike proteins? I think this variant is quite different to the previous we’ve seen. Here’s hoping it either doesn’t evade vaccines or that vaccines can be modified quickly for future roll out.

It'll be a case of them tweaking the vaccines for further roll outs perhaps, but there should be more than enough natural immunity plus the vaccine protection on top to fight off any variant.

There will be concerns, as @LinekersLegs just pointed out, but surely if it's a different amount of spike proteins altogether then is it even COVID-19?

 

[Diogenes the Cynic]

Yeah so it probably doesn't help in our case that like 6 of them all got it from going out to watch an England game during the Euros!

And then I likely caught it from my sister who passed it on to my dad, her fiance

Some family set up you've got there mate.

 

[BlueToff]

Some family set up you've got there mate.

Haha I meant my mates got it from watching the Euros.

My sister caught it in hospital when she went in to give birth...

 

[Seanjd]

It'll be a case of them tweaking the vaccines for further roll outs perhaps, but there should be more than enough natural immunity plus the vaccine protection on top to fight off any variant.

There will be concerns, as @LinekersLegs just pointed out, but surely if it's a different amount of spike proteins altogether then is it even COVID-19?

Fingers crossed.

I’d imagine it will still share most of the characteristics of Covid but I think there was talk about it potentially mutating within a host who had Covid chronically, and then being spread from there. Pretty mad stuff.

 

[Wizard]

Has anyone seen any information on death rates of people with the Omicron variant? I just had a look and couldn’t find anything. I realise it’s very early days and there aren’t loads of cases so maybe the information isn’t out there yet

 

[LinekersLegs]

Informative thread as are the two linked threads

 

[BlueToff]

Has anyone seen any information on death rates of people with the Omicron variant? I just had a look and couldn’t find anything. I realise it’s very early days and there aren’t loads of cases so maybe the information isn’t out there yet

All I saw is that it was feared to be more infectious