Why is the fourth wave of outbreaks resurfacing as the Chinese Communist Party’s virus vaccination progresses? What are the dangerous variants of the virus behind it?
Editor’s Note: Just after the global outbreak of the Chinese Communist virus (COVID-19) has dropped significantly, which is a relief, it has started to rise again. Why is the fourth wave of the epidemic resurfacing despite the rapid progress of vaccination? What are the dangerous variants of the virus behind it? Dr. Yuhong Dong, a European virologist and chief scientist at Biotech, explains. The following is a compilation of the essence of Dong Yuhong’s interview.
The rising trend of the fourth wave of the epidemic forms a steep curve
The fourth wave of the global epidemic is now on an upward trend, and the last four weeks have been more severe than the last week, reaching the peak of the pandemic again. As this trend continues, the situation is not optimistic.
The fourth wave of the global epidemic is now on the rise. (WHO / Epoch Times)
The epidemic had been slowing down in January and February, but now it has changed again.
The outbreak in the United States, which was already stable, has recently started to rise again, and on Monday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Varensky said with concern that “a disaster is coming” and “I’m scared.
Why is the epidemic rising again despite the global acceleration of vaccination?
According to the University of Oxford (Our World in Data), as of April 2, 4.4 percent of the world’s population had received at least one dose of the vaccine and 1.7 percent had received a full dose.
As you can see, the current rate of vaccination, globally, is still very low. The decline in the third wave of the epidemic in January and February may not be fully explained by the vaccine effect, but more likely stems from the inherent pattern of the spread and spread of the variant virus.
However, it is difficult to conclude all this because scientists have only known about the new coronavirus for more than a year, and everything is still under continuous exploration and understanding.
The 7 major variant viruses behind the rise of the CCP virus epidemic
The main reason for the rise of the fourth wave of the epidemic is the rapid spread of variant viruses, especially the UK variant.
The influential variant viruses that have driven the global epidemic since the outbreak are the following.
The top 7 influential variant viruses that have driven the global epidemic since the outbreak. (Health 1+1 / Epoch Times)
The CCP virus has been mutating since the discovery of D614G in February last year. d614G mainly increased transmission, and by the time the UK variant came along, not only did transmission increase, but lethality increased as well. Then, in the South African and Brazilian variants, there were mutations of immune escape, so the mutation of the CCP virus seems to be in progress in a systematic way.
D614G: The transmission is 5 to 10 times more potent than the original strain, and the subsequent variants of the virus, all mutated from it.
British variant: The variant that has had the greatest impact worldwide, not only in terms of increased transmissibility, but also in terms of increased lethality by 64%, according to research published in the British Medical Journal.
South African variant: increased transmission and a strong immune escape function. This is because it contains an important mutation site, E484K, which has the potential to diminish the effectiveness of antibodies produced by the body itself, as well as the effectiveness of the vaccine.
Brazilian variant: It was first found in the city of Manaus, Brazil, and later detected in passengers flying into Japan from Brazil. It is 150% more transmissible and 45% more lethal, and also has a strong immune escape function. The Brazilian variant is the reason behind the continued spike in the epidemic in Brazil.
Not only that, but the Brazilian variant has also spawned second and third generation variants.
Philippine variant: The recently discovered variant of the virus in the Philippines is the third generation variant of the Brazilian variant. The outbreak in the Philippines has also increased dramatically recently. However, the Philippine variant virus has not been definitively studied because of the short time of discovery.
California variant: An important variant native to the United States with a 20% increase in transmission. The California variant was discovered in July last year, but only began to spread rapidly late last year, when cases in California rose sharply. Its main variant locus is L452R, with moderate immune escape.
New York variant: It was found in New York, USA, last November, and also has a potential for immune escape.
In fact, the virus is constantly changing as it spreads in order to constantly adapt to the stress of the immune system in a new host environment. Viral change is a constant, but the vast majority of mutations are not of concern. The ones that do cause concern are the variants that have a greater impact on the population and pose a greater threat to human health.
Recently, a variant of the virus was also discovered in India, but the Indian Ministry of Health has stated that the percentage of people infected with the Indian variant is very low, arguing that the rapid increase in the epidemic in India has nothing to do with the Indian variant.
How efficient are the 8 major CCP virus vaccines against variant viruses?
One of the biggest concerns about virus variants is whether they will affect vaccine efficacy. in March, the British Medical Journal published a review summarizing the effectiveness of the current eight C.C.V. vaccines against variants of the virus.
The current study found the efficacy of eight CCP virus vaccines, including Pfizer, Modena, and Johnson & Johnson, against variant viruses. (Health 1+1 / Epoch Times)
It is worth mentioning that the latest data released by Pfizer on April 1 showed that the latest effectiveness of Pfizer vaccines for preventing the CCP virus was 91%, while for the South African variant virus, it showed early signs of protection. In an 800-person trial, the Pfizer vaccine had a 100% protection rate. However, because of the small number of subjects, the medical community is still observing.
Results from other human trials show that the two vaccines, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax, had more significant decreases in protection against the South African variant, only 57% and 60%.
And the efficiency of different vaccines against the British variant is not yet clearly reported in studies, except that Modena has a report suggesting that it is possible that the vaccine has reduced neutralizing antibody binding against the British variant. Vaccine companies are also stepping up their efforts to develop “booster shots” to combat the variant virus. It will be interesting to see how this develops in the future.
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