Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance has given Matt Hancock a slap on the wrists for claiming, without clear evidence, that the South African variant of coronavirus may make jabs 50% less effective.
The Health Secretary made the sensational claim in footage obtained by MailOnline on Friday, in which he warned allowing the variant to become the dominant strain in the UK could ruin Britain s vaccination drive and send the country back to square one .
The comments were made during an online webinar with travel agents this week, it is understood, to the shock of everyone on the call.
He said there was evidence in the public domain that the South African variant reduces vaccine efficacy by about 50 per cent . Although he followed up by saying: We are not sure of this data so I wouldn t say this in public.
Mutated COVID Virus Marketed to Justify New Lockdowns
Mounting mortality data show COVID-19 is hardly the deadly pandemic it’s been made out to be. But just as people were starting to wake up to this fact, the British technocracy came up with a new narrative to keep the fearmongering going.
Mere days before Christmas, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced there’s a new, mutated, and far more infectious, strain of SARS-CoV-2 on the loose.
1,
2 The answer? Another round of even stricter stay-at-home orders, business shutdowns and travel bans, just in time for the holidays.
According to The New York Times, the U.K. restrictions may remain in effect for months. Considering these unscientific strategies didn’t work the first or second time around, it strains believability to think they’ll work now.
Explained: The mutated coronavirus versus tests, vaccines
New coronavirus vs Covid-19 vaccines and tests: The coronavirus variant circulating in the UK is defined by many mutations. Which ones are of particular concern? Why has WHO advised that it may evade some PCR tests, and can it impact vaccination? Updated: January 1, 2021 12:36:54 pm
A phial of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at Guy s Hospital in London. While the virus has mutated in some areas, most vaccines target multiple parts. (AP Photo: Frank Augstein)
In emerging information about the new variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the UK,
one mutation has been of particular concern. The variant, called VUI 202012/01 and reported as being capable of transmitting faster among people, is defined by as many as 14 mutations and three deletions in its genetic material. Of particular concern is one mutation, N501Y. While the variant’s potential to impact testing and v
As a new COVID-19 strain emerges in the southeast of England that appears to be more infectious than previous strains, what do we know about this version of the virus so far? What is it and when did it first emerge? It is a new strain of the SARS-CoV-2, that is expected to be more infectious than the previous dominant strain of the virus. It is referred to as the B.1.1.7 lineage of the virus or VUI-202012/01. The first strain of this new variant was detected 20 September 2020 in Kent in the southeast of England with another detected in London.
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