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Comment by nradov | Hacker News Reader

SARS-CoV-2 is endemic worldwide in humans and multiple animal species. It will never be eradicated no matter how many people are vaccinated. The vaccines are good at preventing deaths, however they don't reliably prevent infection or transmission.

The current thinking is that new variants are most likely to evolve in immunocompromised patients who experience persistent infections. Vaccines aren't very effective for such patients.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/covid-variants-ma...

I completely agree that we should donate vaccines to low income countries. The US federal government has donated 264M doses so far with more on the way.

https://www.state.gov/covid-19-recovery/vaccine-deliveries/

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Vaccines are in fact absolutely critical to not only prevent variants in immunocompromised patients but save their lives.

You seem to be a little confused about how vaccines work. While I encourage everyone eligible to get vaccinated, vaccines aren't very effective in immunocompromised patients. Even those who are vaccinated are at risk of persistent infections (depending on their specific medical condition).

I think their point was that you need to have EVERYONE vaccinated in order to reduce spread and protect people for whom vaccines are ineffective.

I encourage everyone eligible to get vaccinated, but the virus is so contagious that there will be no significant protection for those whom the vaccines are ineffective.

https://www.businessinsider.com/delta-variant-made-herd-immu...

If this is true I hope the world can reach this conclusion quickly, and get on with our lives.

If you're talking about herd immunity, you might not be as up to date on the newest variants. We could theoretically reach herd immunity against the original covid-19. But there was no practical way to get to herd immunity with delta without mandating three vaccine shots at gunpoint which would be about as popular as burning Medicare to the ground.

With Omikron herd immunity is impossible. 100% vaccinated population wouldn't get us there.

> With Omikron herd immunity is impossible. 100% vaccinated population wouldn't get us there.

But, as the linked page says:

> Transmissibility: It is not yet clear whether Omicron is more transmissible

We do not know enough about Omicron for you to be able to make a statement like that. Do you have a source that has a better understanding than the WHO?

In addition, even if there are covid variants that our current vaccines are not effective enough with a 100% vaccinated population to cause herd immunity, that doesn't mean it's impossible, just that we need better vaccines. There are some viruses that mutate so quickly that it's unlikely for us to ever have full herd immunity (i.e. the flu, though even for the flu, if we had good enough vaccines and coverage, it might cease to exist), but I don't see you making a compelling argument about that.

It will be weeks until we're certain that Omicron is significantly more transmissible in the uninfected/previously infected/vaccinated groups than Delta.

But lots of preliminary data suggests it will be. That's why Omicron was designated a variant of concern. I think this guy has made a pretty compelling case. https://twitter.com/DrEricDing

What do you think the chances are that Omicron is more than 20% more transmissible among the 1) infected : 85% 2) vaccinated : 80% 3) unvaccinated/uninfected : 75%

We may not be able to achieve full herd immunity, but better herd resistance may be the only way to help those who can't benefit from the vaccine.

If the Delta and other contagious variants are spreading more in communities with lower vaccine adoption, then I think it would stand to reason that immunocompromised people would be safer in communities with higher vaccine adoption.

It is you who is confused. Immunecompromisation is not 100%.

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