INDEX	Friday February 19, 2021
Lies, fears & Mutations
One of the arguments for giving away vaccine to third world countries is that if we don't new varieties may emerge which are resistant to the vaccine. This is true or trueish, but very unlikely. Diseases mutate in order to avoid vaccines in areas where high numbers of people are vaccinated; not in places where vaccination is rare. The reason for this is that if vaccination wipes out the ordinary strains, mutated strains able to dodge the immune response created by the vaccine, are more likely to thrive. So it's quite possible that a strain capable of dodging the vaccine may arise in a third world country, but there's no reason why it should be more successful than the ordinary existing strains. The real reason for handing over surplus vaccine may be that the government expects a mutated strain to arise and realises that there's no point in keeping a stock since even if people need to be vaccinated every 12 months, the existing vaccine will be useless. Now that really is frightening. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/uk-vaccine-surplus-to-poorer-nations_uk_602ecb97c5b6cc8bbf3a4230
Posted by Jonathan Brind.
INDEX
Friday February 19, 2021