Indian Variant of Concern

[MakkaPakkasSpongyThing]

Would like to ask those who have more knowledge than me!

1. there is no evidence - as yet, that it could evade the vaccine?
2. is it too early to tell (lag effect)?
3. could it become more problematic come winter time, if so why?
4. is it a variant of concern to all countries worldwide, or just some?
5. with a potential 3rd jab on its way to protect against variants, how is it possible to protect against a variant when it’s potential impact is not yet know? Surely it takes more time?

There 2 main Indian variants. One of them is very dangerous. You're seeing what it does in India right now. We don't need to wait and watch.

There is no vaccine that covers it yet. Its not the one that's been found in the UK.

What have you heard about a 3rd vaccination for variant?

Booster for variants in September

I’m intending to go back to as normal, socialise as normal - however guidelines suggest. However I will be providing care to an elderly family member, and I need to stay mindful of the risk I may pose to her.

I get the impression that there will be no further lockdown - even if cases rise.

As an over 50/vulnerable person - it’s proposed that she will receive a third jab before winter?

So far signs are really positive re: vaccines. It definitely won't completely evade the current vaccines.

However even a small impact on the vaccine effectiveness can have an impact on transmission and then it's a numbers game, especially when such a large part of the population is still not vaccinated or only had their 1st vaccine.

The variants like we've seen so far won't be as much of a concern when almost everyone is vaccinated as then they can't spread as easily.

@nordica I feel like here - in the UK, we are entering summer time. Something? means that flu/other viruses (Covid?) are generally not so prevalent. I don’t think we would see any worrying signs at this point. I think October time will be the test.

@Torvean

There 2 main Indian variants. One of them is very dangerous. You're seeing what it does in India right now. We don't need to wait and watch.

There is no vaccine that covers it yet. Its not the one that's been found in the UK.

What have you heard about a 3rd vaccination for variant?

Please link the evidence that there is no vaccine that covers it.

I wish they would ban international travel for now. If we end importing the second type of the nasty Indian variant we will all wish we locked up the borders- really don’t want to back into the mess and lockdown. No matter how many time Boris says we won’t go into lockdown, it is meaningless. Repeating something won’t make it come true, especially if it’s a variant that evades our vaccines. He just says things that he wishes for and that make him popular.

@Mybigbed my understanding is - that the Indian variant found in the UK - is unlikely to be vaccine resistant, but the data is not fully clear as yet.

@Torvean

"There 2 main Indian variants. One of them is very dangerous. You're seeing what it does in India right now. We don't need to wait and watch.

There is no vaccine that covers it yet. Its not the one that's been found in the UK.

What have you heard about a 3rd vaccination for variant?"

This is complete speculation and probably totally rubbish. What is your source for this? This dangerous Indian variant that evades the vaccine? That hasn't been seen in this country yet... how could you possibly know it evades the vaccine considering very few people in India have had their vaccine yet?

@Torvean you’re talking out of your bottom!

I'm sure I've seen something about AZ being effective against the India variant.

There are 3 Indian variants (already in UK)
One of them looks more transmissible (spreading fast) than many other VoC
So strict closing borders not much point now for these specific variants
Key reason the VoCs may cause harm is because no vaccine offers 100% protection against infection
However Vaccines could be reformulated for escape mutations
So there is a race between mutations, control of any continued spread, new vaccine formulas & vaccinating the world

[quote enjoysun]@Torvean

"There 2 main Indian variants. One of them is very dangerous. You're seeing what it does in India right now. We don't need to wait and watch.

There is no vaccine that covers it yet. Its not the one that's been found in the UK.

What have you heard about a 3rd vaccination for variant?"

This is complete speculation and probably totally rubbish. What is your source for this? This dangerous Indian variant that evades the vaccine? That hasn't been seen in this country yet... how could you possibly know it evades the vaccine considering very few people in India have had their vaccine yet? [/quote]
Thank you for challenging this because I went cold when I read it, and thought I must have missed a news item (I haven’t watched much news lately). I believed it because Torvean sounds so sure

@Torvean you'd better be backing that statement up with evidence or we might assume you're deliberately scaremongering here.

@Torvean

There 2 main Indian variants. One of them is very dangerous. You're seeing what it does in India right now. We don't need to wait and watch.

There is no vaccine that covers it yet. Its not the one that's been found in the UK.

What have you heard about a 3rd vaccination for variant?

@Torvean I don’t agree with your statement . My understanding is as follows - . B.1.617.2 is the Indian variant that they are concerned about. There are suggestions that it’s out competing the Kent variant and may be more transmissible. There is not enough evidence yet to know about immune escape .Because it lacks the EEK mutation some people believe it might not be as much of a concern in that way compared to the South African variant. But if it’s more transmissible than can cause a lot of problems.

The situation in India is dreadful but they are not doing much sequencing and there are so many confounding factors with the lack of public health measures that’s it’s impossible to know exactly what’s making things so terrible . It’s probably a combination of factors and not just about new variants.

Happy to be corrected or read any evidence to the contrary

@Torvean the situation in India is due to a multitude of factors including a poor health care system, mass gatherings earlier this year, difficulty re lockdowns due to poverty and the impact these would have on families, low vaccination rates to name a few. In parts of India it’s been the Kent strain that’s causing issues. I believe it’s thought that the AZ vaccine works in relation to the Indian variant though possibly with a lower rate of efficiency as with some of the other new variants. We won’t see what’s happening in India replicated here however this isn’t to say it’s not a worry.

It’s a concern because we don’t yet know the implications of the mutations but what we do know is that it’s at least as transmissible as the Kent variant, we are also seeing that the percentage of the Indian variant of concern is rising when positive cases are analysed. Cases of this variant are growing much faster than the South African and Brazilian variants of concern. Quite simply we don’t yet know many of the answers but it is a concern. We are fortunate that our vaccination effort is going well and even if the vaccinations are less effective against this strain they should protect against hospitalisation and death.

It's devastating watching the death count there on a daily basis isn't it. I'm not sure how much we should be concerned; but I am keeping up with the numbers in most countries just to see if the deaths are up or on its way up.

DH seems to believe that we are not going to be affected due to vaccines. I just don't know.

I'm in Bolton,the Indian variants are inbolton and we are currently an area of concern ,I'm fully vaccinated as is my DH so I'm not overly concerned about our health,I'm worried about schools closing ,though .

As awful as what's happening in India is it needs to be kept in perspective. They are a country of 1.3 billion (1300 million) with 3-4k covid deaths a day. We are a population of 70 million and at the peak of our last wave were having over 1k covid deaths a day. Our death rate was far far higher than India's is at the moment. You absolutely can't make a comparison between a developing country and a first world country, and declare a variant more concerning because their health care system is failing to cope with it.

[quote CHiSOCG]@Torvean you’re talking out of your bottom![/quote]
No I'm not. So no need to be rude. I read a lot of vaccine papers. I cannot be bothered to look back at them all.
Maybe you would all be more informed if you read more.

There is one of the 2 variants scientists are more concerned over. Its not factored into any current vaccine.

As for boosters they're not confirmed. As now they may use a joint flu/covid vaccine that has been manufactured.

So for those of you who were rude. Read wider sources and quote anything that you say. As fir all I know you get yoyr views from The Sun.

@amylou8 You honestly think that deaths are being recorded properly in India? You can take their government's published death rates with a pinch of salt.

@amylou8 that’s interesting. I wonder if the Kent variant is responsible for most deaths in UK/Europe? Indian variant - most deaths in India? Brazilian variant - most deaths in Brazil - or South America as a whole? Which variants cause the highest death rates in which country/continent?

Does the virus mutate to adjust to the climate/other factors in it’s country of origin - and would that make it less deadly if it was transferred to a country that had significantly different climate etc..

Here is something useful

BBC News - WHO says India Covid variant of 'global concern'
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-57067190

I never posted saying it was coming to the UK. I was talking of the variant and India.
If someone read that incorrectly it's not my fault.

I don't scaremongering I leave that to the anti-vaccers and now the I'm only having 1 dose of AZ.

I'm off this thread. Going back to rational , polite ppl in mn

@amylou8 your post makes sense until you look at the Indian covid graph. It was bobbing along at a low rate for the last year until recently and all of a sudden It’s a steep curve, so while yes you have to take into consideration the population of their country, but the data shows a sudden exponential increase in their infection rate which doesn’t follow the previous infection rate averages.
Their death and infection rate is likely to be 3-4X higher than reported if not more. Their testing capacity has probably reached its limits, people haven’t got the means to go and get tested, others think what’s the point of getting tested as we will either survive it or die.