(I never used to care about this stuff, but I had a stem cell transplant right before Covid hit, so I had to have ALL of my vaccinations redone. Masking was a non-issue, because I had been masking in public for a year before Covid. But now I make sure that every shot I can get goes in my body.)
...
@robert There is a huge difference between COVID and flu: flu is demonstrably seasonal, and COVID demonstrably is not.
Furthermore, immunity from the COVID vaccination wanes after 4–6 months.
For these reasons it never made sense for the CDC to recommend annual COVID boosters; they should have recommended every six months. And this is why I get COVID boosters every six months and encourage others to as well.
...
...
@jbond @robert Yes, we do! I am not a doctor or a scientist, so I will probably get some of the words wrong, but here is the general idea…
Some of it is indeed the fact that the virus evolves rapidly, but it's more about how the immune system works.
Our bodies have many different types of immune cells, but the two biggest categories are cells that can fight infection immediately vs. cells that remember how to make the fighter cells when they're needed.
(continued)
...
@jbond @robert For some time after you're immunized, you have both types of cells in your bloodstream, so if you are exposed to COVID, your body starts fighting the infection immediately. Fighter cells, however, wane over time, and eventually you're left with mostly just memory cells.
If you're exposed to COVID then, your body needs some time to "ramp up" to be able to fight the virus. Less time than if you hadn't been vaccinated at all, but more than if you'd just been vaccinated.
(continued)
...
@jbond @robert Therefore, if you get vaccinated frequently enough to keep fighter cells in your bloodstream most of the time, you're more likely to avoid infection entirely if you're exposed to COVID.
But that's not guaranteed. The COVID vaccine is not a "sterilizing" vaccine, i.e., it doesn't guarantee full or nearly full immunity for any period of time. If you breathe in enough COVID virus in a short enough period of time you'll get sick regardless of how recently you were vaccinated.
@jbond @jik @robert I have read many of the new COVID vaccines and boosters too have a hard time keeping up with variants BECAUSE so many fewer people are is trying to reduce the evolutions and slow the spread of resulting variants (we could make those vaccines more effective longer, by masking), which is important and recommended for everyone right now. It's how we could flip these trends and the immune harms and organ damage that's been disabling all sorts of people. #MaskUp #N95
...
@themaskerscomic @jbond @robert Yes, if there were less spread than the virus would absolutely evolve more slowly and everyone would be better off, and yes, more masking (and better ventilation and air purification!) would help with that.
There have also been promising developments in universal coronavirus vaccines which aren't variant-specific. I'm hopeful that maybe they'll be generally available within a few years.
...
@themaskerscomic @jbond @robert However, universal vaccine availability may be slowed down by the ongoing disruption by Trump to medical research in the U.S.
And if they end up being developed in a country other than the U.S. then what Trump is doing to the FDA may make it difficult to impossible for them to be approved and distributed in the U.S.
Yet another way Trump is f*cking up America and the world.
@jik @jbond @robert Yes I had been following those but they have t panned out yet but I'm really hoping for more variants proof covid vaxces and boosters soon! ,(I'm also not a doctor but am on immunosuppressants and been surviving a lot by masking, cleaning air, and sheltering the past ,5-6 years,)
...
Right now it seems as though XEC and the LP8 series seem to have stalled. That doesn't mean more won't appear, but that we're in a short slow down in the evolution. There's no obvious new wave about to break. This is a big change from even just a year ago and especially 2-3 years when new and highly infectious & immune escape variants were appearing every 3 months or so.
...
@jbond @jik @robert do u have any research saved on this that you can share? I'm just curious bc I haven't kept track of it in a few months but was seeing that trend fircyears with increased immunoevssion and with newer variants not being covered long it as well with boosters so I need to catch up on the recent trends
...
@themaskerscomic @jik @robert Not enough that's accurate and long term. UKHSA dashboard has a scan from Jan 2021 to Apr-2024
https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/respiratory-viruses/covid-19
Then the current weekly surveillance report has from then to now.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2024-to-2025-season/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-report-10-april-2025-week-15#laboratory-surveillance
The exact details of variants and how they changed is beyond my amateur sleuthing.
...
@jbond @jik @robert I'm an amateur skleuther too... Looking up stuff like https://ada.com/covid/what-strain-of-covid-is-going-around/ and trying to figure out if anything has changed ... But I'll prob be masking for life
...
@themaskerscomic @jik @robert
UK History
Jan 20 - May 21 Alpha
May 21 - Jan 22 Delta
Rapid succession Jan 22 - Mar 24
Omicron BA1, BA2, BA5, XBB, JN1
May-24 Jul-24 JN1.11
Jul-24 Nov-24 KP3
Oct-24 now XEC
Feb-25 now LP8
Right now It's a messy mix with no single variant dominating. XEC is fading, LP8 not rising much. Each previous wave has been quite clear in the data with a single new variant dominating.
Alt...
To account for reporting delays, we report the proportion of lineages within COVID-19 cases that have had a sequenced positive sample between 3 March 2025 and 16 March 2025. Of those sequenced in this period 26.47% were classified as XEC, 19.12% were classified as LP.8.1.1, 13.24% were classified as JN.1, 13.24% were classified as JN.1.11.1, 10.29% were classified as KP.3.1.1 and 5.88% were classified as MC.1. Note that low sequencing numbers will impact the accuracy of the prevalence estimates.
...
@jbond @jik @robert ok I looked up LP8 that my helped me searching looks like it follows trenfs if munoinvasion still https://www.contagionlive.com/view/global-spread-of-the-lp-8-1-sars-cov-2-variant-insights-into-transmission-dynamics-and-immune-resistance
I mainly tell ppl don't friend just in the vac, mask too, in the US i think it's like 23% with the updated booster and thats by choicr but im lots ifvimmunosuppressants for an autoimmune disease so I wont gain much from vaccines bc if those and do masks help protect u, others, abdd slow down evolutions by actually stopping infection and transmission,
...
@jbond @jik @robert and vaxcxes for covid just can't keep up, but seems now I think the cdcs gonna lower these things even more, by reducing recommendations and I think that's not s good idea eso bc most ppl are t masking or doing anything else plus .... They think this is just bc COVID is over when it's not... And hospitalizations prob will go up and immune evasion and new variants will prob get worse as a result. But most weren't doing it right before either