Susan60 on Nostr: ...
https://theconversation.com/the-emergence-of-jn-1-is-an-evolutionary-step-change-in-the-covid-pandemic-why-is-this-significant-220285
Before vaccinations arrived, we discussed the probability that the virus would mutate & evolve into new strains wherever there were large outbreaks. Suppressing transmission was spoken about as a way to reduce the opportunities for this to occur as well as protecting vulnerable people and the health care systems & workers. (We were all potentially vulnerable, but some more obviously so than others.)
After vaccinations arrived & were widely distributed within developed nations, caution was abandoned. Plans to adhere to “vaccination plus” approaches, where masking, testing, isolation etc would still be used to prevent major outbreaks & protect vulnerable people, were shelved. Short term thinking about the economy prevailed. We needed to get people working & spending again & anything that might interfere had to be cast aside.
Little was said in the media or by politicians about the impact this was likely to have on developing nations that still hadn’t received adequate supplies of vaccines. Little was said about the remaining vulnerability of the aged and other immune compromised people. Anger and outrage were expressed in social media, but few social & political leaders took notice. Some wondered if this new approach was the result of a eugenicist attitude, of a feeling that maybe it was time to let nature do its thing.
And in the meantime, a small but growing number of people were falling prey to long Covid, to severe damage to various organs, rendering once healthy people incapable of holding down a job or performing their roles as parents or carers, & reducing their quality of life, usually radically. Some, of course, were misdiagnosed, told they were anxious or depressed, or maybe were just malingerers.
People who expressed concern were told to get over it. They too were suspected of being overly anxious, drama queens. (I wonder how many of us are autistic, logical thinkers who are inclined to consider & plan for all contingencies.)
And now we know that the number of Long Covid sufferers and people suffering significant organ damage, some dying prematurely as a consequence, is growing, and not that slowly. And we know that the virus is continuing to mutate, making it more and more vaccine resistant. We’re used to vaccines being used to eradicate diseases like polio and measles, until some anti vax conspiracy theories pop up and the disease sprung up again. We’re used to flu & Covid vaccines reducing the risk of catching a disease & the consequences if we do catch it. We’re not used to a less effective vaccine & poor disease management making us all more vulnerable , as individuals, & as whole societies.
What are we going to do about it?
Before vaccinations arrived, we discussed the probability that the virus would mutate & evolve into new strains wherever there were large outbreaks. Suppressing transmission was spoken about as a way to reduce the opportunities for this to occur as well as protecting vulnerable people and the health care systems & workers. (We were all potentially vulnerable, but some more obviously so than others.)
After vaccinations arrived & were widely distributed within developed nations, caution was abandoned. Plans to adhere to “vaccination plus” approaches, where masking, testing, isolation etc would still be used to prevent major outbreaks & protect vulnerable people, were shelved. Short term thinking about the economy prevailed. We needed to get people working & spending again & anything that might interfere had to be cast aside.
Little was said in the media or by politicians about the impact this was likely to have on developing nations that still hadn’t received adequate supplies of vaccines. Little was said about the remaining vulnerability of the aged and other immune compromised people. Anger and outrage were expressed in social media, but few social & political leaders took notice. Some wondered if this new approach was the result of a eugenicist attitude, of a feeling that maybe it was time to let nature do its thing.
And in the meantime, a small but growing number of people were falling prey to long Covid, to severe damage to various organs, rendering once healthy people incapable of holding down a job or performing their roles as parents or carers, & reducing their quality of life, usually radically. Some, of course, were misdiagnosed, told they were anxious or depressed, or maybe were just malingerers.
People who expressed concern were told to get over it. They too were suspected of being overly anxious, drama queens. (I wonder how many of us are autistic, logical thinkers who are inclined to consider & plan for all contingencies.)
And now we know that the number of Long Covid sufferers and people suffering significant organ damage, some dying prematurely as a consequence, is growing, and not that slowly. And we know that the virus is continuing to mutate, making it more and more vaccine resistant. We’re used to vaccines being used to eradicate diseases like polio and measles, until some anti vax conspiracy theories pop up and the disease sprung up again. We’re used to flu & Covid vaccines reducing the risk of catching a disease & the consequences if we do catch it. We’re not used to a less effective vaccine & poor disease management making us all more vulnerable , as individuals, & as whole societies.
What are we going to do about it?