SARS-Cov-2 Readily Mutates and Thrives in the Vaccinated
Source: (
https://bit.ly/3HlTVui)
A principle of infectious diseases is "antimicrobial stewardship"
which involves choosing the right antibiotic for the right patient
and never over-prescribing or blanket covering patients who don't
need treatment. Another principle is "narrowing the spectrum"
of a drug once the organism is identified by culture or other
methods.
These fundamental approaches to the use of antibiotics work to
limit the problem of bacterial resistance and the development
of "superbugs." Every year hospitals each produce their antibiogram
or report of their common infections encountered and what
antibiotics either are effective (organism is sensitive)
or ineffective (organism is resistant). In the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic
these principles have been applied to the use of monoclonal
antibodies and the process explains why various EUA products
(e.g., bamlanivimab) were pulled from the market when they
were understood to be no longer effective at neutralizing
SARS-CoV-2.
This entire thought process has been thrown out the window for
COVID-19 vaccines. For 18 months the ancestral strain Wuhan
Institute of Virology Spike protein was the featured antigen for
Pfizer, Moderna, Janssen, AstraZeneca, and Novavax vaccines
Within a few months, there was mounting evidence that SARS-CoV-2
easily mutated to escape the reach of antibodies generated by the
vaccines which would apply to serious invasive illness (IgG and IgM).
Because the COVID-19 vaccines have never been demonstrated
to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in the nasopharynx, the only theoretical
benefit would be for systemic disease.
It has now become apparent that nature has the upper hand over the
vaccine manufacturers as SARS-CoV-2 has far greater alacrity.
Because replication can allow changes in genetic code that rapidly
allow continued survival, SARS-CoV-2 enjoys a library of ~28k
mutations of which ~4.5K are in the receptor binding domain of the
Spike protein or the tip of the spear.
Wang and colleagues using detailed modeling techniques of the
mutations prevalent in the more intensely vaccinated countries has
shown indeed mass vaccination is backfiring and fueling more viral
resistance to the limited antibody library that could be generated
by the vaccines.
Wang's analysis suggests that future vaccine development against
SARS-CoV-2 is hopeless. The virus is simply too nimble and can
manipulate the "binding free energy" between the RBD and its human
target the ACE2 receptor. This means the more vaccinations are
delivered the greater the number of mutant stains and the longer the
virus will propagate and extend the pandemic. Thus, a key step
in ending the pandemic will be termination of mass vaccination.
The virus doesn't stop until mankind stops.
