There was a report on the ABC radio this morning that there is yet another new strain in the UK which experts fear may be resistant to existing vaccines.
Have you heard anything about this?
Yes Bruce itās called the āKent Strainā Hereās a report, it is the Daily Mirror thoughā¦
[I]The highly-contagious Kent strain of coronavirus has mutated again and it is feared the new version could be more resistant to vaccines.
The E484K mutation, which occurs on the spike protein of the virus, is the same change as has been seen in the South African and Brazilian variants that have made them partially resistant to immune response and caused international concern.
It means people who have already had Covid-19 could catch it again and it could reduce the efficacy of vaccines.
Professor Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told BBC radio: āThe mutation of most concern, which we call E484K, has also occurred spontaneously in the new Kent strain in parts of the country too.ā
He was referring to the UK variant, which scientists call B.1.1.7 and which was first detected in Kent last autumn.[/I]
It has just been confirmed that we have a new Covid mutation confirmed here in Bristol. 11 cases with the mutation have been confirmed so far.
The Telegraph is reporting this:
[SIZE=ā4ā]āCoronavirus latest news: Vaccines to tackle new variants expected by autumn, says AstraZenecaā[/SIZE]
'Sir Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of biopharmaceuticals research and development at AstraZeneca, told a media briefing the firm was working on vaccines against variants and wanted to have them ready āas rapidly as possibleā.
āWeāre working very hard and weāre already talking about not just the variants that we have ā¦ but also the clinical studies that we need to run,ā he said.ā
As the UK are world leaders in the genome sequencing which identifies new variants and with the new Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre due to open before the end of the year, the UKās strategy has the potential to keep delivering an effective solution not only for us but for the world with our innovation.
The VMIC is to aid scale-ups in production with different types of vaccines and this research facility and factory in Oxford alone will have the capacity to manufacture up to 70 million doses of vaccine every four to six months.
It isnāt just for Covid either; this was planned way back at the end of 2018 as a weapon against serious infectious diseases such as influenza, Ebola, Zika and Lassa fever.
The pandemic has however bought opening of the facility forward and has refocussed the main area of research and manufacturing towards Covid-19 for now.
I believe astra zeneka is a not for profit company Zaphod ?
I suppose they run on high overheads then ??
Donkeyman!
Iām not saying I subscribe to this stuff, but:
If somebody had engineered this virus to do the maximum damage to the human race, they have done a good job to make it undefeatable, when you consider all the new strains that are appearingā¦Itās certainly giving the scientists a run for their money.
No, thatās not correct.
AstraZeneca is like any company; it exists to make money.
I think youāre mistaking AstraZenecaās promise not to make profit from their Covid-19 vaccines during the course of the pandemic with the company as a whole being a not-for-profit company, the latter being incorrect.
AZ will not make a loss on these vaccines as all costs will be covered, but remember that as a company it has a turnover in the tens of billions of pounds per year and also it has considerable assets.
The AZ vaccine is the cheapest of all Covid-19 vaccines so far and they are AFAIK the only company to make their Covid-19 vaccines with the promise not to profit during the pandemic.
There has been some question as the the accuracy and the motives behind AZās claim but it is interesting to see that no other manufacturer has made the same promise at this, a time of global pandemic.
It seems that Switzerland has entered into the AZ fray by banning their vaccine until further results are available.
All the more for us then.
I hear you.
Iām not saying that I completely disagree but ā¦ if you wanted to design a virus to really damage the world wouldnāt you design it so that it killed more than just a few percent of the people it infected?
Viruses mutate, especially Coronaviruses.
The common cold is a strain of Coronavirus.
Over 40 years of research here in the UK might have helped with our understanding but they still couldnāt find a cure for the common cold; however we have progressed since those days.
Give it time Zaphod, they might be playing the long gameā¦
You would think that further data considering that millions of UK elderly have been vaccinated wouldnāt be long in being possible.
But hey, if a country would rather spend more on an expensive vaccine or - worse - subject its citizens to doing without thatās up to them since they are the ones that will be held responsible.
And so far already that isnāt going too well in the other countries restricting use.
Well if it was deliberate we all know that this is a typical Chinese tactic, the long game.
Quiteā¦
Reports here - British researchers say one of the latest UK coronavirus variants is up to 100 per cent deadlier than previous strains. (absolutely no idea what that means I would have thought 100% of anything was the same as before?)
The B.1.1.7 variant is also up to 70 per cent more transmissible, according to the study.
By the same logic surely 70% is less than 100%, so does that mean that this variant is actually less transmissable and not more?
Or is that supposed to mean that it is 70% more of whatever percentage the āoldā variant was transmissable, and how many percents was that transmissable exactly?
Ruddy pointless statistics.
The āExpertsā like to keep their foot on the gas to avoid complacencyā¦Come the winter and a new strain will manifest itself that will be 150% more transmittable than the latest UK strain just identified that is 70% more transmittable than the original covid, that was supposed to be 50% more transmittable than the common fluā¦
Iām going to brick up my front door and just have a serving hatch in the wall just big enough to accept one of Tescoās green boxes containing supplies, and it will have to pass through an airlock and disinfecting stageā¦:roll:
And meanwhile world population soars !!
Donkeyman!
Nothing is unsolvable. It just takes time and intelligent minds. This is why we are the most successful species on the planet. (cockroaches and bacteria asideā¦)
Why would any nationality deliberately create a virus that could also destroy them?
Iām not advocating some sort of tin-hat conspiracy theory here but rather looking at the facts so far, okay?
āThat could also destroy themā?
Youāre kidding!
China has reported just over 4.5 thousand deaths in a population of almost 1,440 million people!
Thatās less per head of population than most places and way, way less than anywhere in Europe or North America.
Then look at which countries have seen the most growth during this pandemic.
Of the seven largest global economies only Chinaās has grown in 2020, by 4.9%.
The rest are well into negative territory.
In other words in 2020 China grew whilst the other 6 major global economies shrunk.
Look also at Chinaās recent and ongoing actions, like their treatment of Uighers; Hong Kong and Taiwan; their building of islands in neutral seas to use as military bases and their huge military spending are just starters.
So yes the affects of Coronavirus on China might well just be a coincidence, but when does the evidence begin to suggest other possibilities in light of such facts?
There is a limit to how much can be coincidental before suspicion increases.