I wrote “Arabic”:
Over the past 18 months, the original COVID-19 vaccines – first two-dose, then boosters – have done an exceptional job of protecting against disease, recovery and death. Globally, vaccines saved nearly 20 million lives in 2021 alone.
Even today, the unvaccinated are twice as likely to test positive as those who have been vaccinated, and six times more likely to get sick or die, according to US data reported by the website. Yahoo.
But the virus is evolving, so vaccines must also evolve.
That was the big picture reflected in a pivotal meeting this week of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Advisory Committee of Experts, and the question before them was simple: Before the expected winter wave, should vaccine manufacturers adjust their next booster doses to target the omicron mutant, the highly contagious mutation that has emerged during The past seven months have seen a spike in infections worldwide, or should they stick with the tried and true 2020 recipe?
The panel voted 19-2 on Tuesday in favor of the Omicron mutant-specific enhancers. However, the question now is which “mutant version of the mutant” should the next round of vaccines target?
The most dangerous version
As a reminder, in the midst of our coexistence with the virus, the Omicron strain that caused the massive Corona wave that struck last winter, known as BA.1 Now extinct! In March, it was replaced by a copy BA.2 The most infectious, which replaced it in MayBA 2.12.1 Which is superior to portability. The latter has also now removed a copy BA4 And BA.5 !
Experts say that BA.5 It is cause for concern, as it is “the worst version of the virus we have seen so far,” as Dr Eric Topol, founder of the Institute of Scripps Research Translational Institute.
Each of the . represents BA.4 And BA.5 Closely related people account for the majority of new COVID-19 cases in the United States, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but BA.5 It spreads much faster than BA.4. By early July, it will be the dominant strain in the United States.
This is annoying for a number of reasons. For our immune system, distance from BA.1 to me BA.4 And BA.5 The heavily mutated virus is “much larger,” wrote Topol, than the distance from the virus BA.1 Native to previous popular variants such as Alpha And Delta, making it more difficult to identify and respond to them. According to the latest research, this may mean what he says Yahoo:
*More penetrating injuries, especially among people who have previously had a copy BA.1 from the mutant.
Compared with BA.2considered as BA.2.12.1 More antibody resistance in immunized and booster individuals. but BA.4 And BA.5 Significantly more resistant.
*More symptoms. It is considered BA.4 And BA.5 Also better for lung cell replication compared to BA.2a shift that may mean, according to one experimental model, that they are more “disease-causing.”“.
*More resistance to treatments. At the same time, it seems that BA.4 And BA.5 20 times more resistant than BA.2 for EvusheldIt is an important monoclonal antibody therapy that provides protective protection for immunocompromised persons.
square one!
None of this will get you back to square one. Despite the high levels of cases, there are now fewer Covid patients in intensive care units than in the previous stages of the epidemic, and America’s national death rate (about 300-400 per day) is close to its lowest level ever, in light of immunity. Acquired, multiple rounds of vaccination and improved treatment options.
But combined with diminishing vaccine protection, the virus’s accelerating evolution and aggressive new path—toward greater transmissibility, evasion and possibly pathogenicity—can cause significant infections and disruption if not addressed. It could also put vulnerable people at risk in the coming months.
Pfizer said it was “ready” to deliver the new boosters by the first week of October, and modernized it by the last week of the same month or early November, “assuming there are no clinical data requirements.”
(Arabic)