COVID-19 South African Variant - Will It Shape The Future?

[whole diary]

[Lee]

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says South African COVID-19 variant could reduce vaccine efficacy by half, and set efforts back to square one - https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-matt-hancock-says-south-african-variant-could-reduce-vaccine-efficacy-by-half-12195907

At the moment, the hope is that all the hardship and restrictions will be over in a few months time thanks to vaccine rollout.

But what if that's not how it turns out - What if instead these kinds of variants stay one step ahead of us and our attempts to control and subdue them?

Would we be heading for a seasonal future where say, everything was largely open with light restrictions between May-October, but largely closed with heavier restrictions between November-April? What would the effect of that be on society in general, and public transport and the railways in particular?

Or would there be other ways forward?

[grahame]

I thought last Monday (18th Jan / 3rd January of the year) was supposed to be the most depressing ...  let's hope that (a) it turns out to be a precautionary check and not 'back to square on' and (b) solutions are found which override the problems and work round to a future with some quality ... bus, rail, life!

[Lee]

Sorry to depress you, grahame! 

I guess i'm just one of life's planners of every eventuality, good or bad, as that tends to work for me. For example, by planning for the worst-case scenario of mass Beeching-style closures in the mid-2000s, I fervently believe (and have evidence to back it up) that we ended up preventing a fair few from happening.

[ChrisB]

Heard of the 'flu & it's vaccine?

That's how this one will eventually pan out too. At least annual vaccines needed (depending on how long the antibodies are discovered to last - current research points to around 5 months, but could be longer), across possibly more of the population than the current 'flu one is provided for, for free.

This one needs two jabs each time (at least 3 weeks apart), the flu one (at least a week apart from the Covid two), just a single shot. So 3 jabs across at least a month, each year, minimum.

[broadgage]

Most responsible pet owners have cats and dogs vaccinated anually against common illneses, yet many seen to regard anual vacinations for humans as being an unreasonable imposition.

[CyclingSid]

If you have had the first Pfizer-BioNTech jab it could be interesting as to what happens about the second jab as the EU^» (European Union - about) is threatening to ban exports outside the EU from the Belgian plant https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55805903