Covid Brazil variant? How serious is it?

[Kestrel]

The TV news today was talking about the Brazil variant of Covid, how it has the "potential" of infecting those that have had Covid already, as well as those previously vaccinated.

How serious is this? Is it just the media hyping news? Can the medical folks weigh in, please?

[MommyAllison]

Not a health care professional, but I did read an article saying that the Pfizer vaccine seems to be effective against the Brazil variant: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-pfizer-brazil/pfizer-biontech-covid-19-vaccine-neutralizes-brazil-variant-in-lab-study-idUSKBN2B02JC

[bisous]

OK TWIV fans, back me up here. I was listening to this while in the car yesterday so I wasn't taking notes. The TWIV team was talking about how some of the fears about the Brazilian variant stem back to the idea that Manaus was supposed to have reached 75% of the population infected with the virus last fall, yet there is a pretty severe outbreak there right now. Several of the panel took issue with that statistic, thinking that it must have been incorrect. If it is incorrect, then the likelihood that the variant is causing a widespread reinfection is probably not quite accurate. This discussion occurred during the email portion of TWIV episode 729.

[carolinamama]

OK TWIV fans, back me up here. I was listening to this while in the car yesterday so I wasn't taking notes. The TWIV team was talking about how some of the fears about the Brazilian variant stem back to the idea that Manaus was supposed to have reached 75% of the population infected with the virus last fall, yet there is a pretty severe outbreak there right now. Several of the panel took issue with that statistic, thinking that it must have been incorrect. If it is incorrect, then the likelihood that the variant is causing a widespread reinfection is probably not quite accurate. This discussion occurred during the email portion of TWIV episode 729.

Yes, I heard this segment and agree with your take on it. The Manaus situation had concerned me but the more info we have, the less I worry. Viruses will mutate, and we should take note but our current course is still the best option we have. Vaccinate as quickly as possible (Pfizer and Moderna are already working on boosters based on the variants should that become necessary) and continue non-pharmacological measures such as masking and distancing.