In this radio conversation, John Batchelor and I discuss the effectiveness of vaccines and the challenges posed by new variants of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) such as the now-dominant JN.1.
Omicron variant
Virtue signaling, how deadly are the new variants, Metaverse?, and medicine is an art.
Yay! We have another variant. But this time, the scientists who isolated it named it after themselves. Shameless? I say yes.
We know that Omicron is more contagious than Delta. Those 30 mutations on the spike protein alter its activities in ways we are just uncovering. A new study suggests that those nasal swabs may be so last year.
It's no secret that yet another nasty COVID variant has emerged; omicron is spreading even faster than delta and there will be consequences. And other variants will surely emerge. Where? Impossible to say, but its name will be pi. Should this happen in the US, we might get stuck with a catchy, but unwanted name.
South Africa took a punch to the gut recently as the "dreaded" omicron variant, aka the "South African Variant" emerged and scared the hell out of the world, at least for a few days. South Africa also paid a heavy price economically for being tagged with that name. And it was all unfair because the name was the result of the excellence of scientists who discovered it, and prompt reporting by health officials – which came back to bite them. Once again, no good deed …