The biggest challenge in vaccinology: Countering immune evasion
The claim below that Covid will evolve into something that is once again novel seems reasonable but we have coped with novel viruses before so it may not be as big a problem as he prophesies. We cope with novel flu strains every year
Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche
People are rightfully concerned, some even outraged, by my predictions of how this Covid-19 pandemic will end. Understandably, some also blame me for the timeline I proposed not being accurate. Of course, not everyone understands that the interplay between the virus/pathogen and the host population's immunity is complex and constantly determined by the pressure exerted by the population's adaptive immunity on the virus and the virus's adaptation to the changing immune environment. This game of cat and mouse continues because highly Covid-19 (C-19) vaccinated populations cannot develop herd immunity.
What we will eventually observe is that this highly effective process of viral adaptation will ultimately confer an absolute fitness advantage to a Coronavirus (CoV) that is both structurally and functionally completely different from SARS-CoV-2 (SC-2) and its variants. It will be featured by many changes in spike and other viral proteins and have additional O-glycosylation sites while being resistant to neutralizing antibodies (Abs), virulent and highly productive/ replicative. It will use polyreactive nonneutralizing Abs (PNNAbs) to cause Ab-dependent enhancement of infection, thereby causing enhancement of severe disease (basically, as a result of rapid virus dissemination and replication in all organs). It will spread as a ‘strange’ but dominating lineage as a kind of ‘extraterrestrial dictator’ that outcompetes all previously circulating SC-2 lineages.
The ongoing phenomenon of immune escape runs parallel to the increasing incidence of acute (IgG4 Ab-mediated) and chronic (CD8+ T cell-mediated) immune pathology (including cancers), both of which stem from dysregulation of the adaptive immune system in C-19 vaccine recipients.
The unvaccinated individuals who are in good health and have not previously suffered from severe C-19 disease will not be affected by this new CoV (I call it ‘HIVICRON’: a highly virulent CoV that will replace the entire Omicron family). This is because, unlike those who are fully C-19 vaccinated, they have managed to train their cell-mediated innate immunity through exposure to increasingly infectious variants (through epigenetic reprogramming).
As the immune escape pandemic will transition from its ‘chronic’ phase (i.e., characterized by a high prevalence of ‘Long COVID’!) to its final, hyperacute stage, we will observe a reduction in circulating Omicron descendants, and cryptic lineages will become increasingly undetectable in wastewater. Despite low virus concentrations in wastewater and low C-19 hospitalization and C-19 mortality rates, cases of Long COVID will continue to steadily increase. Given the insidious nature of the current evolution, I am referring to the current period as 'the calm before the tsunami’ and warning that ‘societies in highly C-19 vaccinated countries will be caught off guard’.
Those who naively believe that the pandemic will simply die out without major casualties or will be controlled by regular (updated) vaccine booster doses fail to grasp that it is no longer the C-19 vaccination itself but rather the recurrent vaccine breakthrough infections (even if largely asymptomatic in terms of acute C-19 disease!), initiated by Omicron as a result of mass vaccination (hence why Omicron has been a scourge, not a blessing!), that are fueling the progression of viral immune escape and immune pathology.
In other words, neither an extended period of vaccine abstention nor a recently updated shot will affect the remaining evolutionary trajectory of this immune escape pandemic (Hence the title of my book: ‘The Inescapable Immune Escape Pandemic’).
I can't help but conclude that all pieces of the puzzle are fitting nicely together and that the science behind all this is undeniably compelling. My analysis is the result of a thorough, prolonged, and painstaking exercise in deep diving into these matters, leaving no stone unturned. My journey through this pandemic has been quite different from that of our health authorities, so-called health experts, and leading scientists. To summarize the mess they have made of it, I prefer to use a quote from a good friend: “They have been throwing shit against a wall to see what sticks”! Some of that shit did indeed stick to the wall at the very beginning of the C-19 mass vaccination campaign, but then dripped off, first as watery diarrhea, then as pure bloody diarrhea…
I seriously doubt the stakeholders of this mass vaccination program were clever enough to realize that their ‘shit’ experiment would quickly emerge as the most spectacular gain-of-function experiment ever conducted in the history of biology (one that was directly conducted on our very own human species!!!). Whether intentional or not, I won't judge. The fact remains that soon it will become evident how, due to their actions, a fairly harmless virus was transformed into a bioweapon of mass destruction.
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Experts call for more research into long COVID, as study reveals high prevalence in Western Australia
Researchers say more support is needed for patients suffering from long-term illness associated with a COVID-19 infection, with new data showing a large number of West Australians have been left unable to work due to their crippling symptoms.
The Australian National University (ANU) study surveyed 11,000 people who tested positive to COVID during a significant outbreak of the Omicron variant in WA in 2022.
The study published in March found almost 20 per cent of those patients were still suffering symptoms of fatigue, memory loss and concentration difficulties three months after they first became sick.
Lead researcher Mulu Woldegiorgis said there was little pre-existing data available on the topic, but that the new research suggested there was a high rate of long-term COVID-19 symptoms in WA.
"It is more than double the prevalence reported in a review of Australia data from earlier in the pandemic, and higher than similar studies done in the UK and Canada," she said.
In their report, Dr Woldegiorgis and her colleagues acknowledged one of the limitations of the ANU survey was that it relied on subjective symptom descriptions from patients, and the reported impact of their symptoms on work or study was not independently verified.
Dr Woldegiorgis said it was important for patients' symptoms to be taken seriously. "I think it's real and it needs more investigation," she said.
"When we see its impact on work or study, more than one in six of those who used to work before their infection were not able to fully return to work or study due to their ongoing symptoms."
'Life has become small'
Joanna Lewis caught COVID almost two years to the day. When she still had symptoms weeks later she thought she might have contracted Ross River virus again. "I could be standing at the kitchen bench and I'd feel short of breath," she said.
"It was almost like my body had forgotten to breathe, which is really bizarre."
She experienced tachycardia and POTS – postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome – which meant her heart rate shot up more than 30 beats a minute when she sat or stood up.
She had to take leave from work and suffered financially, burning through her savings and taking on students as boarders to bring in enough money to survive.
These days the 42-year-old is most afflicted by fatigue.
"I do have, I've found, about six hours on average … upright, I do have to spend probably most of my day lying down and resting," she said. "It just means life becomes very small."
Government urged to do more
Rural GP Michael Livingston said he was seeing large numbers of people through his practice in Narembeen, in WA's Wheatbelt, with unexplained fatigue and brain fog. "I'm seeing younger people who just aren't bouncing back the way they thought they would do," he said.
"Some people think they have dementia, such is their concern about their memory and ability to recall simple tasks."
Dr Livingston suspects long COVID could be to blame and urged people not become complacent about COVID prevention. "We really need to be questioning the why of this and what personal choices we're making and how complicit we are being around this," he said.
Dr Livingston said authorities should develop a "clean air policy", and could consider fitting classrooms, workplaces and public transport with specialised air filters.
WA Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the government was keeping a close eye on any evidence relating to long COVID. "I think there's some conflicting views globally around the impact of long COVID but we continue to watch it closely," she said at a press conference on Tuesday.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-03/research-finds-long-covid-rates-high-in-wa/103647042
*************************************************Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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