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Comment by benlumen | Hacker News Reader

This was discussed in the press several weeks back, there was a Downing Street briefing that day about it - they hammered home two points

1) The data isn't in on severe disease and hospitalization - and they strongly suspect that it will still have a positive impact on that

2) B1351 is not our dominant strain (in the UK and elsewhere) and since it's not more infectious than our already very infectious strain, probably won't be

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But it will be dominant if it's the only strain capable of spreading within a population immune against other strains, no?

Yes but they made the point that by time it is we could already be rolling out a booster

So is it that it could be the next seasonal COVID-22 and vaccines will be ready by then?

Yup, trials have been happening for months already with mRNA vaccines targeted specifically for these variants, so if there is any risk of deadly seasonal COVID from them there will likely be vaccines to address them.

Interesting, did not know this. Any links / sources on ongoing trials?

Moderna ready to test version of Covid-19 vaccine aimed at worrisome variant: https://www.statnews.com/2021/02/24/moderna-ready-to-test-ve...

Covid-19: Where are we on vaccines and variants? https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n597

Sorry, yes - the context was that they were encouraging uptake of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the here and now.

Prof. Sarah Gilbert (who developed it) did the rounds on TV explaining that they're tweaking it for new strains and booster shots will be ready by autumn if needed.

Keep wearing masks and social distance.

The past year has taught me that this type of comment is generally anti-measures, so I am asking you this: do you think that letting it run loose through the population is a decent approach?

I was not being sarcastic.

After a year of watching a lot of people not do that, I am not particularly optimistic.

Well we are dumb. But We need to hold the line.

After a year of watching people do that and curves still going up, I am not particularly optimistic either.

I think it's pretty clear that some combination of mask wearing, case tracing, and social distancing can absolutely clamp down on this disease, as we've seen in Southeast Asia. I also think it's pretty clear that patience for such things in America is at an end, and compliance will be low even if the new variant continues to kill.

Not just America but Europe, too. Several health ministers have openly said that their populations are tired of restrictions and no longer observing them. Of course health ministers keep pushing for new restrictions regardless, because their job performance is mainly judged on how proactive they look, not whether those restrictions actually prove effective.

We can’t afford to be tired. Nonsense.

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