5 ms·

> Rather than play roulette with variants over the next several years, we can safely end this crisis by accepting an increased yet still exceedingly small risk

by bko 5y ago

> Rather than play roulette with variants over the next several years, we can safely end this crisis by accepting an increased yet still exceedingly small risk of side effects that have not been seen to cause medium-term problems, let alone long-term ones. Whats the relationship between vaccinated population and variants? Articles like this have an underlying claim that vaccines prevent variants from being created and spreading, but I've also heard that vaccines can select for variants as more innocuous strands aren't spread.

twirlock 5y ago
The relationship is whatever it's convenient for the relationship to be next time some public expert or journalist is explaining why they're still important.
hedora 5y ago
The variants to really worry about are the ones that come from other mammals. The more isolated and different a group of hosts are from the rest of the population, the more evolution is able to work its magic. Related reading: reservoir populations and Malthusian population dynamics. However, there’s zero chance of eradicating the virus. It readily crosses species barriers, so we’d have to vaccinate all mammals to wipe it out. (The same can be said for COVID’s closest relative, the common cold.) This is no reason to avoid getting vaccinated.
Tarsul 5y ago
the more the virus spreads, the higher the possibility of variants. Since vaccination reduces the spread of virus, it helps (tremendously) to reduce the chances of variants.
csnover 5y ago
A (preprint) study published today by researchers at nference and the Mayo Clinic looked at the genetic variation of breakthrough infections versus infections in unvaccinated patients and found that the viruses in breakthrough cases had significantly lower diversity. Per the abstract, this suggests that COVID-19 vaccines also restrict the evolutionary and antigenic escape pathways available to SARS-CoV-2.[0] [0] https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.01.21259833v1 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.01.21259833v...

by bko 5y ago

twirlock 5y ago

The relationship is whatever it's convenient for the relationship to be next time some public expert or journalist is explaining why they're still important.

hedora 5y ago

The variants to really worry about are the ones that come from other mammals. The more isolated and different a group of hosts are from the rest of the population, the more evolution is able to work its magic. Related reading: reservoir populations and Malthusian population dynamics. However, there’s zero chance of eradicating the virus. It readily crosses species barriers, so we’d have to vaccinate all mammals to wipe it out. (The same can be said for COVID’s closest relative, the common cold.) This is no reason to avoid getting vaccinated.

Tarsul 5y ago

the more the virus spreads, the higher the possibility of variants. Since vaccination reduces the spread of virus, it helps (tremendously) to reduce the chances of variants.

csnover 5y ago

A (preprint) study published today by researchers at nference and the Mayo Clinic looked at the genetic variation of breakthrough infections versus infections in unvaccinated patients and found that the viruses in breakthrough cases had significantly lower diversity. Per the abstract, this suggests that COVID-19 vaccines also restrict the evolutionary and antigenic escape pathways available to SARS-CoV-2.[0] [0] https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.01.21259833v1 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.01.21259833v...