"Lambda variant shows vaccine resistance in lab"

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Olivia Messer 🌊
@OliviaMesser
“Lambda variant shows vaccine resistance in lab” is one of the more terrifying phrases I’ve ever read. Goodness, sometimes the tragedy of how preventable this moment was is overwhelming.
People queue to receive a dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine at the Central Middlesex Hospital in London, Britain, August 1, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Delta infections among vaccinated likely contagious; Lambda variant shows vaccine resistance in lab

The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19.
reuters.com
5:56 AM · Aug 3, 2021

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/delta-infections-among-vaccinated-likely-contagious-lambda-variant-shows-vaccine-2021-08-02/


*snip*

Lambda variant shows vaccine resistance

The Lambda variant of the coronavirus, first identified in Peru and now spreading in South America, is highly infectious and more resistant to vaccines than the original version of the virus the emerged from Wuhan, China, Japanese researchers have found. In laboratory experiments, they found that three mutations in Lambda's spike protein, known as RSYLTPGD246-253N, 260 L452Q and F490S, help it resist neutralization by vaccine-induced antibodies. Two additional mutations, T76I and L452Q, help make Lambda highly infectious, they found. In a paper posted on Wednesday on bioRxiv ahead of peer review, the researchers warn that with Lambda being labeled a "Variant of Interest" by the World Health Organization, rather than a "Variant of Concern," people might not realize it is a serious ongoing threat. Although it is not clear yet whether this variant is more dangerous than the Delta now threatening populations in many countries, senior researcher Kei Sato of the University of Tokyo believes "Lambda can be a potential threat to the human society."

Third mRNA dose may boost antibody quantity, but not quality

Among fully vaccinated people who never had COVID-19, getting a third dose of an mRNA vaccine from Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech or Moderna (MRNA.O) would likely increase levels of antibodies, but not antibodies that are better able to neutralize new virus variants, Rockefeller University researchers reported on Thursday on bioRxiv ahead of peer review. They note that in COVID-19 survivors, the immune system's antibodies evolve during the first year, becoming more potent and better able to resist new variants. In 32 volunteers who never had COVID-19, they found that antibodies induced by mRNA vaccines did evolve between the first and second shots. But five months later, vaccine-induced antibodies were "equivalent" to those seen after the second dose, with "little measurable improvement" in the antibodies' ability to neutralize a broad variety of new variants, said coauthor Michel Nussenzweig. Therefore, he said, giving those individuals a third dose of the same vaccine would likely result in higher levels of antibodies that remain less effective against variants. "At the moment, the vaccine remains protective against serious infection," Nussenzweig said. "Should we learn that efficacy is indeed waning for serious infection, which is not really the case to date," then a booster dose of "whatever is available" might become appropriate, he added. Should an updated vaccine become available that protects against specific variants, "then that would be the choice."

*snip*

[lapucelle]

1. "bioRxiv posts many COVID19-related papers. A reminder: they have not been formally peer-reviewed

and should not guide health-related behavior or be reported in the press as conclusive."

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https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.28.454085v1

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Caveat lector ... especially when getting medical news from twitter

[BannonsLiver]

4. If it's doomy then it does not need peer review.

People only care about the peer reviewed stuff when it’s positive news.

Read an article yesterday that said this variant is the least efficient spreader of all the variants of concern. Bet we don’t see that one posted.

[lapucelle]

10. Medical research reports and updates via twitter

by way of the round up in the business section of Reuters website.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/delta-infections-among-vaccinated-likely-contagious-lambda-variant-shows-vaccine-2021-08-02/

[StClone]

12. Lamda "least efficient spreader"

That would be good news. I am not on TWITTER, FB, or ANY social Media blackwater.

When Covid-19 was rising in January 2020 I had read all information I could. In the ensuing March, I then went on a vacation to Latin America. There I was on a tour with an MD and we had a long discussion about the virus. With all the information available I predicted almost exactly how bad it would get, vaccine production, and new variants would occur. looking back now it is because I read major publications, books on the 1918 influenza, and reliable sources.

The 1918 flu was influenza, not a coronavirus. The former can be spread faster as it has a shorter incubation period before symptoms. Its origins can be traced back to the Great Plains as best as can be determined. Swine Flu also, likely, had a start in North America!

[Pantagruel]

2. "Nature" seems to be trying to kill us

"Mother" is retaliating for our neglect of the planet. Malthusian type of response to our ecological sins.

[dweller]

3. Didn't know this

They note that in COVID-19 survivors, the immune system's antibodies evolve during the first year, becoming more potent and better able to resist new variants.

✌🏻

[global1]

5. Did I Read Or Hear That The Delta Variant Is Disapating In India?.....

If so - what is the cause of that and will it be replaced by this Lambda Variant?

[SKKY]

17. Yes, and in the UK as well.

[Hortensis]

6. Yes, more info needed, like how resistant. I tried searching on just Pfizer and lambda

but didn't find discussion of tailoring a vaccine to it yet. But it's spreading among many nations, and if it's a real danger labs will already be working on it. I always worry that one will come along that hits children bad, but no mention of that.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

9. I believe it is spreading through nations that used the Chinese vaccine

Which sounds to be a pretty sketchy vaxx to begin with.

[LisaL]

15. I believe Chinese vaccine uses inactivated covid virus.

It's an old school vaccine technology.

[Hortensis]

16. I've read that some nations that opted for the Chinese vaxs

at least have achieved relatively good vaccination rates and very low death rates, even if a lot of people are getting Covid. And as you say with the geographic overlap...

[liberal N proud]

7. Instead of heading this off we get more and more deadly

All because of ignorance and politics

[StClone]

8. Fully vaccinated in March with *no side effects

My Delta variant 'breakthrough" infection in mid-July was called *mild. With a booster shot, it seems I should be as well prepared for the Lamda variant, with other infection protocols in place, as I can be.

*No side effects may be a sign it "appears" my body had a low response, and was ill-prepared for a Covid-19 infection.
*Mild, means you get pretty sick but not hospitalized. My list of symptoms truly amazed me: Hair loss, pink-eye, bodywide phantom itching, along with the first being intestinal distress, lethargy, slight fever, then cold-like chills, sweats, and lastly a total loss of smell (which hints of returning now after a week).

[Hortensis]

18. Whoa! Reading all those "amazing" symptoms I was tempted to

make the sign of the cross at them, "Get thee away," or at least find wood to knock, but I was glad to read on and learn your sense of smell is returning.

My DIL lost her sense of taste and some smell, as well as changed tastes she'd enjoyed to unpleasant ones. It took a couple months altogether, but she's back to normal. And happy with her weight loss.

[StClone]

20. Thanks, I still get "dizzy spells" for want of a better word

At times it feels like my brain is swollen and I have lingering inner ear damage? I have not had a cold in many months and rarely miss a couple of days of work every few years. So this is hard for me to realize my vulnerability in Trump's world.

I was almost in tears when after my mild case, I felt horrible, dizzy, confused, and apparently still in recovery. By the way, two other oddball things to finish off my list of what happened while having covid: cold sore outbreak (still scabs on the corner of my lips) and sores on the roof of my mouth (which are all better). Pretty darn amazing array!

[GPV]

11. What if Delta and Lambda had a baby?

[Celerity]

13. ...

[LisaL]

14. I rather have higher antibodies than lower antibodies right now.

That's also the first time I heard a claim that natural immunity somehow improves with time.

[dweller]

19. Remember early on when they were using

Plasma from COVID survivors as treatment ? I’m guessing it conveys natural immunity antibodies, or the better ones

✌🏻