Why is COVID-19 getting so good at immune evasion? The COVID virus uses spike proteins to recognize and enter host cells. Recent COVID variants contain changes, or mutations, at a key site on the spike protein called the receptor-binding site (RBS).
Some of these mutations render antibodies that fought earlier virus strains less effective. This allows the variants to partially escape the immune response produced after vaccination or prior infection. It raises concerns that new variants could make existing vaccines less effective and draw out the pandemic.
Antibodies created by COVID-19 vaccines or natural infection by the original pandemic strain are often ineffective against the new variants of concern. COVID hijacks human cell machinery to blunt the immune response, allowing it to establish infection, replicate and cause disease.
The latest COVID variant in the United States is XBB.1.5 which seems to be the most immune evasive variant so far. It is the first recombinant COVID variant expected to become dominant in the United States. It is called “recombinant” because it was created when two Omicron sub-variants merging inside the same human cell. By doing so, it gained, a mutation for immune evasion as well as an increased ability to bind to and infect human cells. The variant was first noticed in New York State in December 2022 and became dominant in by mid-January, so it’s too early to tell whether it causes more severe illness. The numbers of reported cases keep doubling every 7-10 days.
With so much at home testing it is hard to know just how wide spread it is. Meanwhile excess deaths keep rising as young and old alike die from heart failure and organ failure. COVID attacks the linings of blood vessels, causes blood clots, attacks the nerves, the brain and the heart. People seem confused by all these unexplained deaths. The answer, COVID, is staring everyone in the face.
So many politicians and medical experts however have been gaslighting the public into believing the pandemic is over. It isn’t. “Recovering” from an infection, does not mean the virus is done causing damage. COVID surges have been links to heart attacks in people of all ages but particularly ages 25-44. Heart attacks rose by almost 30% with each wave of the pandemic. A heart attack is likely a COVID delayed effect. The German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, admitted that COVID causes incurable immune deficiency. “Letting it Rip” just isn’t working.