The bankrupt, pseudo-medical approach of countries to “vaccinate me first and maybe later we’ll see about others,” has a fresh example of failure, which Americans might want to note. The delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 (B.1.617.2), which spread so quickly through India, has now made inroads into England. This is despite a vaccination program that succeeded in reducing deaths from 1,200/day in late January, to less than 10/day. Around 60% of British subjects have received at least one shot. However, over the last four weeks, new cases of infection have doubled, from around 2,000/day to more than 4,000/day, and about 60% of them are of the delta variant. Health Secretary Matt Hancock says the delta variant is at least 40% more infectious, and the “delta” cases are now doubling every eight days.
Tests indicate that only one dose of the vaccine is one-third less effective against the delta variant than the earlier virus. Second doses are almost equally effective against both versions, which suggests that the delta strain can take advantage of not-fully-vaccinated populations. So far, that has not translated into much change in hospitalizations or deaths, as the most vulnerable, the elderly, are around 90% fully vaccinated. Still, there is no getting around the fact that the virus mutating in one part of the world can disrupt, and may even overthrow vaccination efforts elsewhere. The U.S., where new cases went from 260,000/day on Jan. 8 to 15,000/day presently, is certainly exposed to a similar invasion. Presently, the delta variant is only 6% of the U.S. cases. At the June 8 briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that the slow progress of vaccination in the U.S. opens the door for a breakout. Playing “whack-a-mole” with the coronavirus, is actually a “whack-the-population” Malthusian errand.
