Covid19 - Danger of more big waves

Fully vaccinated people infected with Covid variants may be likely to pass the virus on, researchers have said....

Researchers at the University of Washington in the United States sequenced samples from 20 health workers who went on to contract Covid after receiving both doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.

The study showed that all 20 were infected with variants of concern that have been driving second waves of Covid in many parts of the world – eight had the UK variant, one the South African variant, 10 had one of the two California variants and one had the Brazilian variant.

The researchers then compared the samples collected from this group with samples collected from 5,174 non-vaccinated individuals who had Covid.

While everyone in the vaccinated group had a variant of concern, only 67 per cent of non-vaccinated individuals did. The study also showed that the vaccinated individuals infected with Covid had high viral loads....

Dr Pavitra Roychoudhury, the lead author of the study, said the "prevailing understanding" was that while vaccine breakthrough cases would occur, they would be mild.
"But in contrast to that, what we saw among our 20 samples was that a number of them actually had quite robust viral loads. That was concerning in the sense that there was definitely enough virus to sequence, and potentially there might be enough virus to transmit," she said.

Report by Anne Gulland from the Telegraph, 'Fully vaccinated people who catch Covid variants may pass virus on, study finds'

The above report says that the potential risk of spreading more deadly variants would come from people that have been vaccinated.  These people would have mild symptoms of infection or even asymptomatic. Some would carry unusually higher load of virus in them but appearing to be healthy and normal.

And with many irresponsible govts and even scientists encouraging those that have been vaccinated to go around living as normal, no need to wear masks, go socialising, make close contacts, promiscuity etc etc, you can bet this group of people would be happily passing their viral loads to their contacts and causing more waves of infection, and may even spread more new variants that could prove even more deadly, having survived the vaccination regimes. Those who have been vaccinated think they are safe. This may be the case, they are safe themselves, but unsafe and a danger to others if they are carriers of heavy loads of virus in them. They could become the big spreaders.

The pandemic is not going away and could carry on for a long while to come, and with more adverse consequences. It just goes on to the next level of lethality. 

In Hsien Loong's address, Singapore is trying to go for herd immunity quickly by vaccination. It is good to reach heard immunity, but the danger of reaching herd immunity is that we are safe to open the island and allow more travellers to come in, loosening up of control measures so that life can be as normal as before. 

Why is this dangerous? How can we be safe and open up when some countries are losing control with the virus, in many dangerous variants in their people, and let these people easier access to our country because we think we are safe, because we have achieved herd immunity?  The eagerness to open up too early means risking more deadly variants hitting our shores from high risk and unsafe countries.

The mutation of the virus is very dynamic and unpredictable.  It is not going to stop at B117 or B1617.2. The only thing predictable is that many new variants would crop up, and can be more deadly and can still infect people that have been vaccinated. The vaccinated may not be protected from the new variants. Until the rest of the world is safe, we cannot be safe even if we have herd immunity. Don't end up like Taiwan or India. Don't be reckless.

280,000 seniors are still not vaccinated. I am one of them. I am still waiting for the Chinese vaccines that somehow are yet to be approved after such a long time. OK, mRNAs are safe.  But I prefer traditional vaccines that are safer. Please approve the Chinese vaccines in warp speed, better if the one shot vaccine is made available. The people must be given a choice to choose what vaccine they are comfortable with. It is their lives being affected. Let the people decide.

PS.  It is reported today that Sinopharm vaccines could be used on conditions that it would only be available in the private sector.  The govt would not use it nor would the govt subsidise it. Why, why, why? Sinopharm is definitely cheaper and easier to administer.  Why is the govt distancing itself from this Chinese vaccine?