Brazilian new variant found in Scotland and South Glous

[PicsInRed]

That's it really.

Brazilian variant found here. Scotland and South Gloucestershire. Just breaking on Sky news.

Is this variant still considered vaccine resistant?

Poo.

Yes, there’s no real advantage to a virus that kills its host so quickly that it can’t spread. Those strains which spread more quickly tend to become the dominant ones

That sounds like an old wives tale as a lot of viruses are infectious before they have symptoms.

For goodness sake. It was never deemed vaccine resistant. It, like all the other variants, vaccines “may be” less effective against. Less effective does not mean vaccine resistant. And viruses mutate all the time, so they will not know until they have done all the required tests

As always, the media is largely to blame. I guess "Current Vaccines May be More Effective Against Brazilian Variant" is a less dramatic headline than the opposite.

@Octane

For goodness sake. It was never deemed vaccine resistant. It, like all the other variants, vaccines “may be” less effective against. Less effective does not mean vaccine resistant. And viruses mutate all the time, so they will not know until they have done all the required tests

As always, the media is largely to blame. I guess "Current Vaccines May be More Effective Against Brazilian Variant" is a less dramatic headline than the opposite.

Exactly and in terms of language it’s the same thing. Maybe means can be less than, the same as or more than, that simoly they don’t know.

This fear mongering and making shit up people really need to stop,posting

I honestly think mnhq needs to step in when people post stuff like this.

It may not be less effective but the resurgence of covid in Manaus after large numbers of infection last year has led scientists to believe it evades antibodies to an extent so there are legitimate concerns about the vaccine. And until we know it could mean easing of restrictions delayed further.

This is a source from the media:

metro.co.uk/2021/02/28/brazilian-variant-which-could-be-less-effective-to-vaccines-found-in-uk-14160906/

Reportedly, it's not the original Brazil variant. It's the Manaus Brazil variant - against which vaccines are, again reportedly, thought to be less effective.

@PicsInRed

Reportedly, it's not the original Brazil variant. It's the Manaus Brazil variant - against which vaccines are, again reportedly, thought to be less effective.

Yes, likely less effective. Not ineffective.

Imagine if we didn't have any approved vaccines yet. We're still in a much better position than we thought we would be at this stage and tweaks are being made for variants.

Honestly, if we all start panicking every time a new variant is flagged up, we'll be in a constant state of panic.

That's not living.

Yes, likely less effective. Notineffective.

I didn't say "ineffective", I said resistant, as in not totally effective.

The language has now been corrected and independent media source provided.

@PicsInRed

Reportedly, it's not the original Brazil variant. It's the Manaus Brazil variant - against which vaccines are, again reportedly, thought to be less effective.

Less effective and vaccine resistant does not mean th same thing op. Not remotely, and could be does not mean is.

@PicsInRed

Yes, likely less effective. Notineffective.

I didn't say "ineffective", I said resistant, as in not totally effective.

The language has now been corrected and independent media source provided.

Then report your thread and start a new one stating “is it thought that maybe it could be less effective, but could be as effective”

Then report your thread and start a new one stating “is it thought that maybe it could be less effective, but could be as effective”

The thread is about the new vairant being found.
I then asked a question as to vaccine efficacy against this variant. The answer is that the vaccines may indeed not be as effective against the Manaus variant.

MNHQ are welcome to edit the wording of the question I asked. No objection from me.

There is another thread running about the same topic.

Can MNHQ merge threads? If not, that would be a useful improvement.

Anyway, yes, this is shit and ENTIRELY FORESEEABLE that a new variant, and the widely known about, widely reported Manaus variant would get there when this crappy government won't impose proper travel restrictions or proper quarantine.

Even if and it’s a bit if it does turn out to be less effective against the vaccines the vaccines are proving to be more effective than we thought against the current variants (e.g. more protection than we thought from one dose) so surely this means 2 doses has a huge chance of still performing against these new variants? This isn’t negative news nor is it a surprise, however the scaremongering from the MSM will do a good job of boosting compliance for a little longer especially as it seems many are questioning the road map being too cautious.....

Sunny weekend - new variant. How convenient.
Cases start to come down - new variant. How convenient.
Just before Christmas, and Saint Boris desperately needs an excuse to U-turn: new variant. How convenient.
Is anyone noticing a pattern here?

I bet the media loves when a new variant is found

Shock. A virus doing what a virus does.

Sunny weekend - new variant. How convenient
Cases start to come down - new variant. How convenient
Just before Christmas, and Saint Boris desperately needs an excuse to U-turn: new variant. How convenient
Is anyone noticing a pattern here?

You've got the right idea but the wrong tense, wanderings; some of us (yourself included I believe ...) noticed it long ago, roughly at the time SAGE published their advice about the language which needed to be used because people didn't feel sufficiently "threatened"

@Katie517

very convenient timing of the announcement after a weekend of people enjoying the sun and the lowest case and death numbers we have had in a long time... cue the panic, all viruses mutate we are the only country looking so in-depth into new variants no where else seems to care!

I don't think others have the capability.

@wanderings

Sunny weekend - new variant. How convenient. Cases start to come down - new variant. How convenient. Just before Christmas, and Saint Boris desperately needs an excuse to U-turn: new variant. How convenient. Is anyone noticing a pattern here?

I want to come out of this as soon as possible. The media will pick up on an increase in testing and the passengers on the flight are being contacted so better to announce.

What if one of the variants is more serious and need to change the time scale for opening up? The media and the public would be rightly very angry if it was just sprung on us.

What if one of the variants is more serious and need to change the time scale for opening up? The media and the public would be rightly very angry if it was just sprung on us.

Just my opinion, but I think we need to continue opening up no matter what. Keep vaccinating, booster shots for new variant when available, but keep opening up in the mean time.

We simply can't afford any more lock down, financially or psychologically. As an entire nation, we've really given lock downs our best go, until lockdown fatigue has now set in and many are no longer able to keep to it.

If "variants of concern" are going to come up even once or twice a year, it's time to find a new way forward. That way cannot be more lock down.

@PicsInRed I think you could be right. If government do decide to go down that path they can say that they have been following the variants as they appear. (Agree though that if they follow Sage may very well delay.)

@Katie517

very convenient timing of the announcement after a weekend of people enjoying the sun and the lowest case and death numbers we have had in a long time... cue the panic, all viruses mutate we are the only country looking so in-depth into new variants no where else seems to care!

I was thinking this too

@PicsInRed Absolutely. Lockdown simply cannot happen again, or be extended: it's already set to go on for too long. We are one of the countries most ahead in vaccination, yet we seem to be the last to open up. Even the fortress islands of the Isle of Man and New Zealand are discovering new cases; that didn't keep variants out, did it? Many businesses simply will not survive more lockdown, children's education and mental health have already been hugely damaged, for a dubious cause, and if it goes on any longer than what has been said, there will be riots. (I'm still surprised that this hasn't happened; a scary indication of how well the spin machine works at keeping people docile, when they should be totally fucking furious.) The country has been massively damaged; we know this, the government knows this, no matter how much Saint Boris and his merry men try to spin it otherwise. We cannot keep hiding from the virus like this, sacrificing our young people on the altar of Covid and the much-deified NHS, which appears to be taking over as the new religion of England.

If we didn’t want to sacrifice the country on the altar of Covid, perhaps we should have done a better job of dealing with it in the first place.

This long extended rolling lockdowns with restrictions in between is what we get for not handling it like NZ or IoM or any number of Asian countries that don’t still have continuous lockdowns. If we want long periods of no restrictions with short sharp, sometimes localised lockdowns we need to change policy.

leaving this here in case anyone is from Bristol
Bristol Post is reporting more info related with the Gloucesteshire cases
Health officials are following up with people who were on the same flight as the South Gloucestershire patient - Swiss Air LX318 which travelled via Zurich on February 10.
It appears one person who had very recently arrived home to South Gloucestershire from Brazil - they were isolating at home - and another person who is a close contact, and that makes up the two cases in Bristol.
The surge testing of as many people as possible is taking place across five postcode areas, that cover Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Patchway.

The five postcodes are:

BS32 0
BS32 8
BS32 9
BS34 5
BS34 6

A major worry is that if the virus can no longer infect the elderly, because they've all been vaccinated, it's possible it could change direction completely and start targeting the younger generation.
Younger people are fitter and have better immune systems than the elderly, so to be able to have the best possible effect, the virus would have to mutate into something much strongee and far more contagious than it already is.
This is the major worry with some of the new variants. Imo.