I have been asked to write on this subject, in order to provide clarity in a very muddy and non-transparent issue. I have been hesitant to do so, due to the increasing polarization and media drama that is fueling what can only be described as a chaotic societal meltdown. It has become apparent that people are desperate for facts, and whether anyone can discern fact from fiction should not be my concern, only that truthful information is presented. This is the 7th installment in the Wuhan Series of articles, and I will allow my track record to speak for itself.
People I have talked with are scared, confused, and skeptical of news media and public health advisories. Considering the history of misinformation in the pandemic, this is a very reasonable reaction. The following article is NOT given as medical advice, but is simply a review of scientific facts, mixed with some personal observation based upon my long and extensive studies on these issues (my research into SARS, Vaccines, and Influenza related illnesses going back almost 20 years).
(SECT. I) Recent Virus Mutations
(SECT. II) Covid Vaccines
(SECT. III) Original Antigenic Sin; and the Potential Implications.
Hopefully the following information will help some people to reach well thought out, and informed decisions.
(SECT. I) Discussion regarding historical and ongoing mutations to the Wuhan Virus
Let’s begin with an important clarification regarding the “name” of this virus. The News Media & Health Community may have settled on the dramatic “Covid-19” for a name, but when you read the majority of the scientific papers, they refer to it as “SARS-COV-2”. That is because Wuhan-CoV/Covid 19 is “genetically closely related” (1) to the original SARS, which emerged in late 2002 (2), and was formally identified in February 2003. I named the virus WUHAN-CoV in my first article, before the names SARS-2 or Covid-19 were in use, and for the rest of this article, the current virus will be referred to as WUHAN-CoV (or WUHAN Virus).
The initial strain of WUHAN Virus originated in Wuhan, China. It is referred to as the “L Strain” (aka D614), and the first known cases were in Nov/Dec 2019 in Wuhan China. The widespread strain that has caused most of the global damage to this point is known as the “G Strain”. (3) The G Strain is estimated by some to spread up to 10x as efficiently as the original Asian strain. (13) The G Strain was first detected in January 2020 in a German multinational traveler from Wuhan China, who subsequently took a Ski Vacation in the Swiss Alps. The G Strain subsequently spread into Northern Italy, Iran, Spain, and the U.K., from whence it spread into the U.S., primarily through international travel into New York. The initial L Strain was weaker against the Asian population, has mostly died out, and was the source of the original U.S. West Coast infections, which also rapidly died out (i.e. Washington State, San Diego, etc). While the L Strain was rapidly eliminated from China and most of the Asian countries, the G Strain thrived in Europe and North America. (11) (12) (13)
The latest mutation strains of significant interest are the U.K strain, and South African strain. There are actually hundreds of sub-strains out there, but the changes are small and inconsequential to the degree that it really doesn’t change the virus enough to matter. The U.K. and South African strains have a higher spread rate, and cause higher viral load in infected persons. In both cases the changes have been substantial enough that there is concern that they may have experienced “vaccine escape” (meaning the vaccine doesn’t work against the new strain). In both the U.K. and S. African strains there have been identical changes to the S-Spike, specifically a mutation at position 501 in the spike protein. (6) Of great and disturbing importance is that the strains appear to target younger people (under 20) much harder. (4) (10) The U.K. strain has lately been getting the most press, but the S. African strain is also spreading quickly, and has seen new sub-mutations in Brazil & Japan. Brazilian strains are perhaps highest on the World Health Organization’s radar, specifically a mutation at E484K which many believe has led to vaccine escape (14) (15). Health Officials claim that these new strains do not cause cause more serious disease, and while the new strains may not be more lethal in the manner in which they technically attack the body, the fact that they cause much higher viral load within the body CAN CAUSE higher degrees of sickness, lethality, and spread rate. Health Officials are playing a dangerous and misleading “game of words” regarding these substantial and disturbing developments in viral load / disease severity. Furthermore there is already evidence of reinfection (6) (a person who was previously exposed to the G Strain was reinfected with the new mutant strain) which provides clear evidence that some level of viral escape has occurred. On January 15, the World Health organization held an emergency session regarding recent developments. The following video snippet demonstrates some of the concern and developments in Brazil. You’ll have to skip the advertisement at beginning of link: https://youtu.be/yVQ6mgRQR0A?t=3532
We could go on and on about the variety of strains, but for the purpose of this article, there are a few critical pieces of information that have already been identified here, and which will guide us into the next discussion topics. The important takeaways so far are:
- Wuhan is genetically closely related to SARS
- Mutations have been happening at a sudden and alarming rate.
- Recent mutations have targeted the S-Spike protein.
Without further adieu, let’s just jump to the next section.
(SECT. II) Discussion on Vaccines as they relate to existing, and emerging new Covid strains. Two sub-sections:
(A.) Vaccine vs. Original Strain
(B.) Vaccine vs. New Strains
(A.) Vaccine vs. Original Strain
There are several different vaccine types that have been rolled out. Those touted as most effective, and the most widely distributed, are Pfizer (mRNA vaccine); Moderna (mRNA vaccine); and Astrazeneca (DNA vaccine). All of these vaccines target the S-Spike protein. I do believe that they are most likely as effective as they are promoted to be, which is an unheard of efficacy (effectiveness) rate of over 90%. To be clear, these mRNA & DNA vaccines are brand new vaccine technologies never before used on humans, and have sailed through development and safety trials at a record speed. At initial glance, one could conclude that these are “healthcare miracles”, enabled by the advent of advancing technology, and artificial intelligence driven research assistance.
However, there are some very apparent “flies-in-the-ointment” regarding this rushed technology. The level of adverse reactions, including extremely severe allergic reactions, is higher than previously recorded in a vaccine rollout. While mRNA vaccines are claimed to not cause inheritable genetic changes (they can’t be passed off to offspring), there is some evidence that changes to RNA can destabilize DNA (17), which could then lead to unforseen longer term mutations in Human genetics. The scientific community is also not in 100% agreement that DNA vaccines themselves will not cause permanent inheritable genetic changes, and may be paving the way for a new breed of “GMO People”. Considering that full trial data has not been released, and traditional safety studies (2 years) have not been met, it is understandable that there is growing concern of potential long term side effects that have yet to become apparent.
The end result is that there are clearly some safety trade-offs in regards to this new vaccine technology. But all of these risks may pale in comparison to the risk that this vaccine may present when it encounters some of these newly mutated strains (i.e. UK & S. African/Brazilian).
(B.) Vaccine vs. New Strains
The new strains have a mutation at position 501 in the S-spike protein. The vaccines target the S-Spike protein of the virus. This specific mutation increases the odds that the virus has experienced vaccine escape, and could cause complications when previously vaccinated persons are exposed to the new strain. Global health officials and researchers are increasingly warning of the “possibility” that this has occurred. (7) (8) (9)
Some historical data actually points to the “probability” that this will occur, and that in doing so it may very well bring with it some serious consequences. There is a reason that I pointed out the similarity of this Virus to the Original SARS Virus earlier in this article. There is a LOT of existing research (15+ years worth) on the problems of targeting SARS with a vaccine, which is why they were never able to safely come up with one. Here are five excerpts from one scientific article (5) that should get the points of concern across:
Failure of SARS and MERS vaccines in animal trials involved pathogenesis consistent with an immunological priming that could involve autoimmunity in lung tissues due to previous exposure to the SARS and MERS spike protein. Exposure pathogenesis to SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 likely will lead to similar outcomes.
In SARS, a type of “priming” of the immune system was observed during animal studies of SARS spike protein-based vaccines leading to increased morbidity and mortality in vaccinated animals who were subsequently exposed to wild SARS virus.
These types of unfortunate outcomes are sometimes referred to as “immune enhancement”; however, this nearly euphemistic phrase fails to convey the increased risk of illness and death due to prior exposure to the SARS spike protein.
Unintended consequences of pathogenesis from vaccines are not new, nor are they unexpected….. The fact that pathogenic priming may be occurring involving autoimmunity against multiple proteins following CoV vaccination is consistent with other observations observed during autoimmunity, including the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and cytokine storm.
Pathogenic priming may be more or less severe in vaccine or infection induced immune responses to some proteins than for others due to original antigenic sin. (See Sect. III)
As previously mentioned, there is already evidence of reinfection. Here is an excerpt from a recent Forbes article:
While Covid-19 reinfections have been reported and confirmed previously, the case of one 45-year-old woman in Brazil is the first to involve the mutation E484K, a defining feature of the South African variant 501.V2. It is also a mutation experts fear might evade even a robust immune response. The woman reinfected is a health executive who lives in the coastal city of Salvador, Bahia and kept an extensive record of her symptoms. According to the preprint study documenting her case, her first infection, which began mid-May 2020 and lasted about seven days, caused diarrhea, muscle pain, and fatigue. She took a corticosteroid called prednisone to treat it, and in three weeks was back to business as usual. The second time around, however, was much worse. It began nearly 150 days later in late October and involved severe symptoms on top of ones she had already experienced—among them a sore throat, belabored breathing, and exhaustion.” (6)
This worsening second infection is potential evidence of something far more serious than simple viral/vaccine escape. It indicates the potential for an Original Antigenic Sin (OAS) Event, which if occurring would be indicative of a “perfect storm” relationship developing between the new Mutation Strains, the Vaccines currently being distributed, and people previously infected.
(SECT. III) Discussion on Original Antigenic Sin; and Vaccine/Prior Infection Implications.
I wrote a long paper years ago on Original Antigenic Sin (OAS). While long, it is also a good attempt to explain in layman’s terms what OAS is. I’m going to try to summarize in a few paragraphs.
OAS involves an Original Strain (“OS”), and a Mutated Strain (“MS”) in which the MS genetically undergoes antigenic drift far enough to experience viral/vaccine escape, BUT it doesn’t drift enough that the body realizes that the escape has occurred. The body believes that the antibody defenses it has against the Original Strain (whether achieved through natural infection or vaccine) still work. But they do not!
The body, thinking that the OS antibodies still work, goes into hyper-drive, expending all its energy on mounting the WRONG defense to fight the new Mutated Strain. Consequently, the body wears itself out and uses up its defense resources, while the invading army of MS continues to grow stronger. This results in higher viral load, greater incidence of severe disease, and higher fatality rates.
Original Antigenic Sin does not happen in all mutations, but when a virus hits that “sweet spot”, and mutates just far enough away to escape prior immunity, but not far enough that the body realizes it – a rare situation arises in which people previously infected, or previously vaccinated against the Original Strain, actually end up in greater danger of serious disease from the new Mutated Strain.
The previous example of the reinfected Brazilian woman (Quote: “The second time around, however, was much worse… and involved severe symptoms”) is a perfect example of what we would expect to see happening if such an OAS Event is setting up. The most disturbing aspect of such a scenario involves the fact that our global healthcare workers are the group with the highest levels of previous exposure and vaccination rates. If an OAS Event occurs, the hardest hit may be Healthcare Workers, which makes the collapsing health care & infrastructure scenarios I predicted in my WUHAN Part 2 Article much more likely.
TOPIC CONCLUSION: It is not a guarantee that an OAS Event is evolving, but initial evidence does exist to suggest the possibility. At the least, there is evidence that the new strains have undergone vaccine escape. I believe that this information is worth weighing as people consider whether or not to get the existing vaccine. Given the speed of spread, it is highly likely that the new strains will replace the current “G Strain” by early Spring of this year, 2021. Considering that these new Strains are spreading so rapidly in Brazil at this time, and considering that it is close to mid-summer (hot season) down there, this suggests that the U.S. could get a devastating wave of the New Strain that dwarfs the initial Spring of 2020 wave, both in spread and severity. I believe it will be much worse than this predicted Winter Wave. What is coming may be a Perfect Storm that will dwarf anything seen since the Plagues of the Middle Ages.
CLOSING COMMENTS: It is mid summer in South America. They are moving into the harvest season as a devastating pandemic sweeps across those countries. Global food supply could be in greater jeopardy. Supply chains in general could face challenges as countries are already moving to slow travel with Brazil. (16)
Yet in all of this I say, “Fear NOT the Plague itself.” Take your vitamins (D, C, and A primarily). Eat your Quercetin and Zinc. Wash your hands. Social distance when you feel it is applicable. Have some Baking Soda handy to boost your PH. Remember that Elderberry Syrup is delicious if properly prepared. Eat Healthy. Get your Rest. Smile often, and do not worry or be afraid. All of these things are of much greater power and defense against ALL of the variations of Wuhan-CoV, than any vaccine. Train yourself to become a Viral Warrior.
But Be Prepared. A Spring Tsunami is Coming. With the worsening of the plague will come many additional and worsening consequences, in this 2nd year of the Tribulation.
Peace,
– david / publisher
Focus on Big Canoe, GA
* a publication of The Mountains Voice
Be the first to comment