https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1351686170044989442 not posting links is the 14th form of liberalism or something like that
https://twitter.com/drericding/status/1351686170044989442 not posting links is the 14th form of liberalism or something like that
First of all, South Africa does not have a "CDC", the organisation that did this research is the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, or NICD. It's even in the screenshot this person posted! While the NICD in South Africa may serve a similar function as the CDC in the USA, it's not the same and I hate the Americanisation of calling other countries government branches and organisations the names of their American counterparts for no reason.
Also the South African variant of Covid 19 has been around since November last year and while it is more transmissible, the illness it causes is not more serious. While the antibodies from previous Covid 19 infection do not respond well to the South African Covid 19 variant, this is not the only form of immunity and T-cell immunity should still provide some protection. Herd immunity without a vaccine was never viable anyway so reinfection isn't as big of a deal as the increased transmission of this variant, which is the most worrying factor by far. Impact on Vaccines should be little to none thankfully.
Fun Fact: Africa has a continental CDC.
very cool
Certainly the titles are different, however the purpose of the two organizations is extremely similar, with goals of epidemiology and public health, so as a general terminology I feel the comparison can be used for some convenience. But fair nonetheless. Obviously many variants of the disease have been around for some time, but as we increasingly see people get resistant we can anticipate more and more of these strains that can slip away from immunity being developed, which is concerning. and as they chip away at what immunity was provided by B cells and via the vaccine(few percentage points here and there) it definitely seems possible as Jesse Bloom mentions in a linked thread that we could run out of this current vaccines efficacy before long. necessitating another intense round of vaccine development that as we've seen in the USA, despite stunning initial results, are being rolled out like a train wreck. And T cell immunity will be important but absent cleaner data about vaccine persistence and without seeing what new strains are cooking up in the dakota's im just concerned.
get the vaccine, but damn covid is slippery.
If only the rest of the world had adopted China and/or Vietnam's Covid 19 policies in January/February of 2020. But alas, a combination of western arrogance, neoliberal capitalism and sinophobia has left us in this mess. I just want to go outside again.
:deeper-sadness:
absolutely. thats really what keeps on hitting me. When will i feel good about going outside without a mask? the answer seems to get fuzzier and fuzzier. and the western world just keeps pushing people to "move on" it feels . BLEH