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Omicron evades Moderna vaccine too, study suggests, but boosters help

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Re: Omicron evades Moderna vaccine too, study suggests, but boosters help

#3
Less virulent, less dangerous than delta by far, according to the South African medical authorities who first identified and reported it. It's been a long established medical fact that viruses evolve to become less severe over time, due to selective pressures of being able to spread easier if you don't incapacitate your host. Micheal Crichton's Andromeda Strain featured this as a key plot point, written in the 70s.

For some reason, the international community treated South African scientists like third-world know-nothings, and overreacted, ignoring the fact that it's less severe.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/14/south-africa...

Most everyone is vaxxed that is high-risk. Let the rest deal with their consequences. We have a few treatments that are highly effective, including monoclonal AB and the new Pfizer pill that has been shown in clinical trials to be absurdly effective: https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/14/health/pfizer-paxlovid-pills-...

Let's move on from this fear and get back to living instead of just existing.

Re: Omicron evades Moderna vaccine too, study suggests, but boosters help

#8
post #3

Less virulent, less dangerous than delta by far, according to the South African medical authorities who first identified and reported it. It's been a long established medical fact that viruses evolve to become less severe over time, due to selective pressures of being able to spread easier if you don't incapacitate your host. Micheal Crichton's Andromeda Strain featured this as a key plot point, written in the 70s. F…

100% agree with you. If it turns out that it’s so much less deadly than the other strains, we should definitely be positive about it and stop the fear mongering. But all you can hear these days, is that how so much contagious Omicron is, without mentioning the chance of being a lot less harmful. This biased representation in the news turns me into being a skeptic of all the media outlets, regardless of their political agenda.

On the good side, even the inventor of mRna vaccines, Karikó Katalin says that Omicron could end the pandemic if it proves to be less harmful.[1]

1. https://hungarytoday.hu/kariko-omicron-pfizer-coronavirus/

Re: Omicron evades Moderna vaccine too, study suggests, but boosters help

#9
post #3

Less virulent, less dangerous than delta by far, according to the South African medical authorities who first identified and reported it. It's been a long established medical fact that viruses evolve to become less severe over time, due to selective pressures of being able to spread easier if you don't incapacitate your host. Micheal Crichton's Andromeda Strain featured this as a key plot point, written in the 70s. F…

As I understand it, the SA population is quite young and we are waiting for more data to come in on the effects of omicron (says so in the link you provided as well)... let's not forget we dismissed the whole virus as "just a common cold" at the beginning of the whole story as well.

The problem with letting others deal with their consequences is that they are overworking the medical staff, and are disregarding the population that cannot be vaxxed due to medical reasons.

I agree we should move from this fear, but I understand how for some the fear is still too real.

Re: Omicron evades Moderna vaccine too, study suggests, but boosters help

#10
post #3

Less virulent, less dangerous than delta by far, according to the South African medical authorities who first identified and reported it. It's been a long established medical fact that viruses evolve to become less severe over time, due to selective pressures of being able to spread easier if you don't incapacitate your host. Micheal Crichton's Andromeda Strain featured this as a key plot point, written in the 70s. F…

Mutating to lower virulence isn't a law of nature. https://medium.com/a-microbiome-scientist-at-large/do-viruse... Crichton wrote interesting books but not all his science was robust.
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