As they say in life, timing is everything. There are now claims that Covid-19 vaccines have caused the Delta variant of the Covid-19 coronavirus to emerge. For example, here’s something that was posted on Facebook:
(Photo: from Facebook)
From Facebook
There is however one big flaw in such claims. It has to do with the space-time continuum and the lack of a flux capacitor.
Usually a cause has to come before an effect. For example, the song “Friday” by Rebecca Black did not cause the stock market crash of 1929. That’s because the song came out in 2011. And Rebecca Black to the best of our knowledge does not have a time machine.
The same logic should apply when considering the origins of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Delta variant. Take a look at the “Tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants” website from the World Health Organization (WHO). This shows when the different “Variants of Concern” and “Variants of Interest” were first detected. As you can see, all of these variants emerged in 2020. Of the Variants of Concern, the Alpha variant was first found in the United Kingdom (U.K.) in September 2020, the Beta variant in South Africa in May 2020, the Gamma variant in Brazil in November 2020, and the Delta variant in India in October 2020. Of the Variants of Interest, the Eta variant was first detected in multiple countries in December 2020, the Iota in the U.S. in November 2020, the Kappa in India in October 2020, and the Lamba variant in Peru in December 2020.
Next keep in mind when Covid-19 vaccination actually started in different parts of the world. As Krishna N. Das and Mayank Bhardwaj reported for Reuters, Covid-19 vaccination didn’t really begin in India until January 2021, about three months after the Delta variant had emerged. Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna did not receive emergency use authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for their Covid-19 mRNA vaccines until December 2020, the same month that the Astra-Zeneca Covid-19 vaccine first received authorization in the U.K. All of this was after all four of the Variants of Concern had already been spreading.
Then look at where many of these variants have been first detected. Hmm, what do they have in common? Could it be that they have all failed to really control the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus? The U.S., the U.K., India, Brazil, and Peru wouldn’t be the answer to the Jeopardy question, “what countries have done the best at containing the SARS-CoV-2?” These countries are not Taiwan, South Korea, and New Zealand. The U.S., the U.K., India, and Brazil have consistently at or near the top of the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center list of countries with the most reported Covid-19 cases in the world. Peru has topped the globe with the highest per capita Covid-19 related mortality.
This brings us to the real reason variants of the Covid-19 coronavirus have emerged. “They’re multiplying” in the words of John Travolta from the movie Grease. In this case, they means the virus and not the hots for Olivia Newton-John. As I have described previously for Forbes, every time the virus infects a cell and uses the cell like a cheap motel to reproduce, the virus can make mistakes. The virus can be like that drunk person in an office party who decides to use the photocopy machine to make many copies of his or her butt. Each copy may be slightly off, resulting in butt variants when its the bottom line, so to speak, and virus variants when it comes to the Covid-19 coronavirus.
Copying mistakes basically mean that the resulting viruses (i.e., the progeny) may have mutations in them, slightly different genetic codes. Many of these variants may be weaker that the original virus. Such weaker versions may not spread as well. Problems occur when a new resulting variant has characteristics that allow it to spread faster and further like the Delta variant. As with Olympic judo matches or cheese rolling competitions, the stronger end up surviving and prevailing.
Gathering thousands of people together as was done late July at Lollapalooza in Chicago, Illinois, … [+] may not be the best thing to do to prevent the emergence of new variants. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
Getty Images
So the best way to prevent the emergence and spread of new variants is to better prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. The way to do that is to maintain Covid-19 precautions such as social distancing and face mask use until enough of the population is fully vaccinated to reach herd immunity thresholds. Once herd immunity thresholds are reached, the Covid-19 coronavirus will struggle to find new people to infect and no longer be able to continue spreading as it has.
The Covid-19 vaccines help protect against the Delta variant. Blaming the vaccines for the emergence of such variants would be like blaming the doctor after you’ve already superglued your genitals to a bobblehead doll. Chances are your doctor never used the words “superglue”, “bobblehead”, “genitals”, and “would be nice” all together in one sentence during a previous clinic visit. In fact, the words “superglue”, “bobblehead” and “genitals” probably shouldn’t be used jointly without special permission.
Again, if you don’t want varying copies of your butt to circulate in the office, don’t sit on the copying machine and press the “Copy” button 1 trillion times. Similarly, failure to control the Covid-19 coronavirus will ultimately lead to more variants. The longer countries like the U.S. go without achieving herd immunity thresholds and without seriously implementing other Covid-19 precautions in the meantime, the greater the chances that worse variants will emerge. Spreading misinformation about the Covid-19 coronavirus and the vaccine may be causing people to not get vaccinated and not maintain Covid-19 precautions now. The unfortunate effects of all this may come later.
Some Ontario doctors have started offering a free shot that can protect babies from respiratory syncytial virus while Quebec will begin its immunization program next month.
The new shot called Nirsevimab gives babies antibodies that provide passive immunity to RSV, a major cause of serious lower respiratory tract infections for infants and seniors, which can cause bronchiolitis or pneumonia.
Ontario’s ministry of health says the shot is already available at some doctor’s offices in Ontario with the province’s remaining supply set to arrive by the end of the month.
Quebec will begin administering the shots on Nov. 4 to babies born in hospitals and delivery centers.
Parents in Quebec with babies under six months or those who are older but more vulnerable to infection can also book immunization appointments online.
The injection will be available in Nunavut and Yukon this fall and winter, though administration start dates have not yet been announced.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
-With files from Nicole Ireland
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free.
Since January, health officials have confirmed 39 new polio cases in Pakistan, compared to only six last year, said Anwarul Haq of the National Emergency Operation Center for Polio Eradication.
The new nationwide drive starts Oct. 28 with the aim to vaccinate at least 32 million children. “The whole purpose of these campaigns is to achieve the target of making Pakistan a polio-free state,” he said.
Pakistan regularly launches campaigns against polio despite attacks on the workers and police assigned to the inoculation drives. Militants falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Most of the new polio cases were reported in the southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province, following by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and eastern Punjab province.
The locations are worrying authorities since previous cases were from the restive northwest bordering Afghanistan, where the Taliban government in September suddenly stopped a door-to-door vaccination campaign.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the two countries in which the spread of the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease has never been stopped. Authorities in Pakistan have said that the Taliban’s decision will have major repercussions beyond the Afghan border, as people from both sides frequently travel to each other’s country.
The World Health Organization has confirmed 18 polio cases in Afghanistan this year, all but two in the south of the country. That’s up from six cases in 2023. Afghanistan used a house-to-house vaccination strategy this June for the first time in five years, a tactic that helped to reach the majority of children targeted, according to WHO.
Health officials in Pakistan say they want the both sides to conduct anti-polio drives simultaneously.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of people with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter methods like condoms, the “morning after” pill and birth control pills for free under a new rule the White House proposed on Monday.
Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including prescription birth control or even condoms that doctors have issued a prescription for. But the new rule would expand that coverage, allowing millions of people on private health insurance to pick up free condoms, birth control pills, or “morning after” pills from local storefronts without a prescription.
The proposal comes days before Election Day, as Vice President Kamala Harris affixes her presidential campaign to a promise of expanding women’s health care access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to undo nationwide abortion rights two years ago. Harris has sought to craft a distinct contrast from her Republican challenger, Donald Trump, who appointed some of the judges who issued that ruling.
“The proposed rule we announce today would expand access to birth control at no additional cost for millions of consumers,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “Bottom line: women should have control over their personal health care decisions. And issuers and providers have an obligation to comply with the law.”
The emergency contraceptives that people on private insurance would be able to access without costs include levonorgestrel, a pill that needs to be taken immediately after sex to prevent pregnancy and is more commonly known by the brand name “Plan B.”
Without a doctor’s prescription, women may pay as much as $50 for a pack of the pills. And women who delay buying the medication in order to get a doctor’s prescription could jeopardize the pill’s effectiveness, since it is most likely to prevent a pregnancy within 72 hours after sex.
If implemented, the new rule would also require insurers to fully bear the cost of the once-a-day Opill, a new over-the-counter birth control pill that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved last year. A one-month supply of the pills costs $20.
Federal mandates for private health insurance to cover contraceptive care were first introduced with the Affordable Care Act, which required plans to pick up the cost of FDA-approved birth control that had been prescribed by a doctor as a preventative service.
The proposed rule would not impact those on Medicaid, the insurance program for the poorest Americans. States are largely left to design their own rules around Medicaid coverage for contraception, and few cover over-the-counter methods like Plan B or condoms.
