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Will new variants of the coronavirus keep coming?

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The world is asking will new variants keep emerging in the months and possibly years to come, but nowhere is it more on people’s minds than in the United States, as science, the medical community and yes, King Fauci keep changing their opinions and failing to adequately answer these question. Many doctors will tell you that it is unlikely more strains will be as dangerous, other than delta, but the fact is, like Influenza, COVID-19 will continue to evolve (that’s what viruses do) and the world will need to stay prepared, and that may mean yearly inoculations. The Associated Press has the story:

Half the world is not vaccinated and the virus will likely keep infecting people as it evolves and replicates   

WASHINGTON (AP) — Can new variants of the coronavirus keep emerging?

Will new variants of the coronavirus keep emerging? (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

Yes, as long as the virus that caused the pandemic keeps infecting people. But that doesn’t mean new variants will keep emerging as regularly, or that they’ll be more dangerous.

With more than half the world still not vaccinated, the virus will likely keep finding people to infect and replicating inside them for several months or years to come. And each time a virus makes a copy of itself, a small mutation could occur. Those changes could help the virus survive, becoming new variants.

But that doesn’t mean the virus will keep evolving in the same way since it emerged in late 2019.

A health worker inoculates a man at a government hospital in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. India has administered 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine, passing a milestone for the South Asian country where the delta variant fueled its first crushing surge this year. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

When a virus infects a new species, it needs to adapt to the new host to spread more widely, says Andrew Read, a virus expert at Pennsylvania State University.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the delta variant is twice as contagious as earlier versions of the virus. And while it could still mutate to become more infectious, it probably won’t double its transmission rate again, says Dr. Adam Lauring, a virus and infectious disease expert at the University of Michigan.

“We’ve seen a stage of rapid evolution for the virus. It’s been harvesting the low-hanging fruit, but there’s not an infinite number of things it can do,” Lauring says.

FILE – In this May 11, 2021 file photo, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing to examine an update from Federal officials on efforts to combat COVID-19, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Fauci said Sunday, July 11 “it is entirely conceivable, maybe likely” that Americans will need a third booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the coming months, but it was too soon for the government to recommend that now. Fauci, who is President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration did the right thing last week by pushing back against drugmaker Pfizer’s assertion about a booster within 12 months. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via AP, File)

It’s possible that the virus could become more deadly, but there isn’t an evolutionary reason for that to happen. Extremely sick people are also less likely to socialize and spread the virus to others.

Experts are watching to see whether emerging variants could be better at evading the protection people develop from vaccination and infections. As more people get the shots, the virus would have to be able to spread through people who have some immunity for it to survive, says Dr. Joshua Schiffer, a virus expert at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Biden
FILE – In this May 19, 2021 file photo, Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses are prepared for members of the community 12 years and up, at a clinic held by Community of Hope, outside the Washington School for Girls in southeast Washington. Kids aged 5 to 11 will soon be able to get a COVID-19 shot at their pediatrician’s office, local pharmacy and potentially even their school. The White House is detailing plans Wednesday for the expected authorization of the Pfizer shot for younger children in a matter of weeks. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file)

“The virus could take on a mutation that makes the immune response less effective,” he says.

If that happens, scientists may recommend that vaccine formulas be updated periodically, just as annual flu shots are.

By CHRISTINA LARSON

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