Dr. Peter Hotez: Researchers Have Been Planning For Virus Variants | The Last Word | MSNBC

Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, joins Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss the new South African variant of Covid-19. Dr. Hotez says because the durability of the current vaccines are still unknown, “everyone was pretty confident” an additional immunization would be needed, something researchers are already developing. Aired on 01/28/2021.
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Dr. Peter Hotez: Researchers Have Been Planning For Virus Variants | The Last Word | MSNBC

22 comments

    1. well that’s what happens when you let a raging pandemic loose on the globe. this is the least suprising thing I ever heard

  1. Very good point about the durability too. Its about being informed, not letting convenience drive the response. We need ROBUST data. and to get ahead of the curve.

  2. I assumed we’d probably need a yearly vaccination for coronavirus over the next few years. Not unlike the typical Flu shot.

    1. Are you a US citizen? Here’s a statistic for you. 1% of the US population is 3.3 million dead. Plus, those who recover have surprise time-bombs of future health problems planted inside their bodies due to the stress/damage from the virus. That will require lots of future health care that you and I will be paying for (because, in the US, even though we don’t have socialized healthcare, hospitals are required by law to treat those in need and, if the patient can’t pay for it, the bottom line is it’s the taxpayers who settle the bills).

  3. Everybody don’t let this moment pass you make the most of it by you making the best decision of your life right now by allowing God to come into your life by you praying to God everyday for his help in every decision of your life everyday and in every situation of your life everyday for I guarantee if you do this everyday then your life will get better, you will have more peace, you will be more successful, you will have more happiness, and all your dreams will come true that’s because when you pray to God then God will make all good things possible for you and you must not forget to read the “Holy Bible” everyday and a great place for you to start in the holy Bible is (Psalms 1) and everyday after that read a chapter in Psalms till you finish all the chapters in Psalms then after that start on (Proverbs 1) then everyday after that read a chapter in Proverbs till you finish all the chapters in Proverbs and after that read every chapter of the Holy Bible until you finish it for it will change your life in the most amazing way

  4. So how exactly do they already know that the first vaccine won’t work for the mutated virus. Has someone who has been vaccinated caught the new virus? That is the only way they would know right?

    1. I presume it’s because scientists are studying the mutated specimens. They know the mechanics of how the current vaccines work (e.g., what part of the virus is impacted by the vaccine to render it less harmful) and if they see alterations in the mutation that will affect how the vaccine attacks it, they say “Houston, we have a problem.” An analogy is: the virus is a lock. The vaccine is in the form of a key. If the virus mutation is studied and they see it no longer has a keyhole, the scientists know there’s a problem. This is all just my guess.

  5. “Nonono, the vaccine is perfect, even works against mutations. Keep buying for billions of dollars!”
    “You bought all of it? Ow, yeah … it might not work against that variant, though. Buy our new vaccine … researchers have been planning for it so this vaccine will work against all variants!”

  6. With constant human migration spreading covid variants, how do scientists keep up ?
    Sorry people we need to stop international travel completely to stop variants in each country.

  7. It seems that variants keep popping up with such frequency that needing a booster may be an ongoing thing for the foreseeable future. We will just keep taking the best available vaccine whenever it is our turn.

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