UK “Experts” Warn New Cicada CONVID Variant Could Target Children
UK experts are warning that pre-school aged children need to be vaccinated against Covid to stop another pandemic.
A new variant of Covid is about to become the dominant strain in the UK, officials have warned, prompting experts to call for Covid vaccinations to be included in preschool immunization programs.
Dubbed the ‘Cicada’ variant, the BA.3.2 virus is already rapidly spreading across the US, with cases now having been detected in 23 other countries including the UK. Named after an insect, the new variant could disproportionately affect children, according to one leading microbiologist.
Professor Ravi Gupta, of Cambridge University, believes the virus could spread most with children who have no covid immunity, increasing the risk of a new wave.
The Mail Online reports: UKHSA bosses have not revealed how many cases of the strain have been detected in the UK so far, but experts are concerned that the mutations it carries will allow it to sidestep immune defenses provided by existing vaccines.
Symptoms remain similar to that of the original virus including extreme fatigue, fever and body aches, but school-aged children seem to be more susceptible to the strain.
According to Professor Stephen Griffin, viral oncologist at the University of Leeds, this is partly the fault of ‘short-sighted’ advice forwarded by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to make vaccines ‘optional’ for children.
He said: ‘At present the dynamics of this virus don’t appear consistent with a fast-growing epidemic wave, more of a slow-building one we saw last year.
‘Nevertheless, more infection means more rolls of the dice and a greater chance that more advantageous changes may occur.
‘The risk of reinfection and juvenile long Covid were not taken into account back then and as such we must remember that many people remain relatively unprotected by vaccines.
‘In my view, regular boosters should have expanded eligibility and Covid vaccines should be included in the preschool regimens, with boosters as per influenza,’ he concluded.
The variant’s spike protein, which vaccines train the body to recognise and attack, has now undergone around 75 mutations, analysis suggests, making it an entirely new threat to the immune system.
But, as Professor Paul Hunter, a microbiologist at the University of East Anglia, explains, this does not necessarily mean we will see an increase in deaths.
‘It is not surprising that a new variant has been described,’ he said.
‘The issue is whether the new variant poses a significant increased risk to public health.
‘It is likely that any new variant that is able to out-compete the other variants will increase infection rates but that does not mean that this will necessarily lead to substantial additional burden of the disease.’
This is partly due to the fact that mutations such as these don’t help the virus to spread. The issue is that vaccination rates are continuing to fall, the experts say.
‘We must remember that severe acute Covid is far less likely nowadays thanks to our vaccines, but this protection will be best when that vaccination is recent,’ Prof Griffin said.
‘Yes, there will be a high degree of ‘mismatch’ between BA.3.2.2 and current vaccines, which is unfortunate, and may mean the population as a whole experience more infections.
‘However, at present we don’t seem to be on the brink of a pandemic.’
source thepeoplesvoice.tv